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Both science fiction (SF) and science fiction criticism offer great possibilities for rigorous examination of our ethical assumptions and cultural presuppositions. In his essay, Joshua Matthews argues that Christian literary criticism and pedagogy can benefit from integrating SF into our scholarly activities and our classrooms. Although SF academic criticism tends to downplay religion and theology,…

In the post-9/11 era, numerous scholars and commentators attempted to explain and theorize the relationship between religion and violence. One of the most controversial arguments that was yet again reiterated and heatedly discussed after the 9/11 events was Samuel Huntington’s “the Clash of Civilizations” thesis (1993, 1996). In his 1993 Foreign Affairs piece, Huntington argues…

When Samuel Huntington first published his “Clash of Civilizations?” article in Foreign Affairs in 1993, it was an attempt to map out the future lines of conflict in the wake of the collapse of the bi-polar world following the Cold War. In part this was a call to be mindful that just because the West…

It is a rare event when a scholar makes an argument that garners widespread academic and popular attention—such can become the stuff of legend. In 1993, Samuel Huntington did just that when he penned an article in Foreign Affairs entitled “The Clash of Civilizations?” In it, he posited that the end of the Cold War…

When Al-Qaida attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, Samuel P. Huntington was nearing the end of a distinguished career as a political scientist. He had been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences before the age of 40. Later he became president of the American Political Science Association. His…

The year 2018 marks two milestone anniversaries: the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Samuel Huntington’s original “Clash of Civilizations” essay in Foreign Affairs and the seventeenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. After those attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Huntington’s predictions of Muslim-Western clashes appeared vindicated. But his…

What the French call la revanche de Dieu is now so firmly established in the canon of international relations and the politics of the day-to-day that it can be somewhat taken for granted. Religion is back, not as “epiphenomenal,” not as a catalyst for other, more real, underlying material concerns, but as a motivator and…

Introduction In September of 2016, a 20-year-old student from Russia entered an online auction site to fund university education abroad. What was for sale? Her virginity. The student, who identifies herself as “Ariana,” posted a starting bid of 150,000 euros—enough money for housing, food, and medical school tuition. Moreover, prospective buyers were given the opportunity…

“…I have become a question to myself.” –St. Augustine, Confessions “For a human being, the unexamined life is not worth living.” –Plato, Apology of Socrates In Plato’s Phaedo Socrates expresses frustration with a materialist philosophy that renders him incapable of making sense of his own life, a life dedicated to a personal and civic good…

Tolkien’s short but poignant work Leaf by Niggle is a rich resource for speculation ranging from Platonic metaphysical themes to biographical insights into the intersection of his personal and professional lives. Although the story was composed earlier, it was sent off in 1944 in response to a request from the editor of The Dublin Review…

For well over twenty years, Christian scholars and educators of various disciplines have been engaged in an examination of the nature of Christian and secular higher education. Much of that reflection with regard to the North American context in particular has turned on one of two types of examinations. The first type is comprised of a…

Arnold’s Influence on Hartshorne In his intellectual autobiography, titled The Darkness and the Light (a title that is an allusion to a famous line from William Wordsworth’s poem “The Simplon Pass”), Hartshorne tells us that he grew up in a religious household; his father was an Episcopal minister. The seeds of his difficulties with orthodox…

It is hardly possible to examine comprehensively the state of the evangelical mind today without giving careful attention to the impact of digital media. The rise of digital mediaIn this article I will have in mind a broad definition of “digital media” as digitized content transmitted over the Internet and computer networks. This would include…

My students at Wheaton College in Illinois come from all fifty states and are three-quarters white and one-quarter American ethnic minorities. They offer one snapshot of American evangelicalism today. When I teach classes on race in America and the Civil Rights Movement, students’ first assignments are to write a brief history of the subject. Some…

As the cultural influence of evangelical Christianity in the West wanes, the lack of consensus among evangelicals about their own identity grows. In this paper, I will propose that evangelicals need a more robust theological, biblical, and Christological account of hope that will, in turn, inform an ecclesiology centered on the living Word. Toward that…

If the “evangelical mind” is going to thrive in modern society, one would expect Christian universities to be instrumental in that process. They have mission statements that typically include the promotion of rigorous Christian thinking, and they employ professors who are paid to read, write, and think (among other things). In today’s educational landscape, however,…

Through the church, God commends his gospel to the world and his wisdom to its rulers and principalities (see, for example, Eph. 3:10). The gospel is the authoritative story about the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the declaration of his reign as Lord, which was accomplished through his death and resurrection…

As we near the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mark Noll’s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, those who wish to make sense of its legacy confront a rather curious puzzle. If the book aimed to energize a generation of evangelicals to establish themselves in elite universities, to produce credible, meaningful scholarship, and to leave a record…

American evangelicals have always been innovators in communication technology. Dating at least to the early decades of the Republic, we formed parachurch organizations to leverage business strategies and resources and capitalize on the latest forms of technology in an effort to spread the good news.David Paul Nord, The Evangelical Origins of Mass Media in America,…

At first blush, the idea of thinking fast sounds desirable. In our culture, doing things quickly is often more highly valued than taking time. This preference translates into a tendency to give precedence to activities that do not require deep thought. Although it feels strange to have to make this argument, this preference for shallow…