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Culture is one of those overused words that requires a clear definition to be helpful. Personally, I find one of the most useful definitions comes from H. Richard Niebuhr’s book, Christ and Culture. Every Christian should read Niebuhr’s famous work to help them develop Christian critical thinking about how Christ can and should animate one’s…

One of the odd things about those claiming that major portions of Christian and secular higher education are basically the same is that such a claim reveals an inability to understand complexity. They fail to recognize that key differences go all the way down to the way scholars use basic words. In fact, approaching scholarship…

Today, I want to discuss a second skill that I think should be a major component of advanced forms of Christ-Animated learning, yet I also rarely see it employed. For example, in the five years of editing this blog, I can only recall a few posts on this topic. Every Christian student at a Christian…

This new year, I would like to begin the Christ-Animated Learning Blog by presenting a four-part series about some advanced skills necessary for Christ-animating learning. Today, I begin by discussing one advanced skill that I think should be a major component of advanced forms of Christ-Animated learning, yet I rarely see it. For example, in…

The Christmas tree is tall and wide, and its sharp smell fills the room. It seems to own the space around it, and the rest of us hover in its shadow, coming and going like ghosts or puffs of wind. Somehow, the tree feels more real than the thing we call “reality.” My child self…

If poetry is ever going to matter again to Christians, we’ll need interesting, winsome, accessible teachers and books to explain the value of verse and show us how it works. One doesn’t naturally “develop a taste” for poetry. We must be taught. Abram Van Engen’s Word Made Fresh can refresh our palate and nourish our…

When the angel Gabriel visits Mary to announce Christ’s birth, his final words are “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37 KJV). This proclamation resonates with Genesis 18:14, where the Lord asks Abraham, “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” These two verses also resonate with a time later in Luke, when…

As the new academic year began, it seemed the whole nation turned its attention to artificial intelligence. News feeds such as “White House Announces New AI Education Initiative,” Esther Wickham. “White House Announces New AI Education Initiative,” AOL The Center Square, September 8, 2025, https://www.aol.com/articles/white-house-announces-ai-education-000000126.html. “Confusing School AI Policies Leave Families Guessing,”Megan Morrone. “Confusing School…

Good days rarely feel remarkable when we are in the midst of them. Their goodness is often something we recognize only in hindsight, when loss sharpens memory and meaning. I learned this lesson on what became my sister’s last good day. In the final week of her life, six days before she passed away, my…

Recently, Tamar Shirinian, a University of Tennessee assistant professor of cultural anthropology, filed a lawsuit against the UT administration, contesting termination over social media posts about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.Keenan Thomas, “Tamar Shirinian Sues University of Tennessee for Suspending Her after Charlie Kirk Comment,” Knoxville News Sentinel, October 30, 2025, https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/education/2025/10/30/professor-sues-university-of-tennessee-over-charlie-kirk-comment-suspension/86950647007/ She is not…

Over the past five years, Christians have had much to say about Critical Race Theory (CRT). Unfortunately, the most widely heard voices have tended to favor demonizing over perspective-­taking. Thankfully, there is now an accessible book on CRT that corrects this error. Author Ed Uszynski not only has the academic credentials to write on this…

Though this is a special theme issue of Christian Scholar’s Review, partly under the editorship of a guest editor, the reviews section is not part of the special issue. This does not mean, of course, that the reviews are not special—indeed, we are blessed with a multitude of insightful contributions. It simply means that they…

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2024 is “polarization,” defined as “division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.” Pope Leo XIV, in his first meeting with the media, calls…

The early Greeks saw the essence of education as Paideia: the process of forming a whole person into an ideal citizen. They emphasized the formation of virtues like prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance in preparation for active citizenship. In Plato’s Republic, we read that “The object of education is to teach us to love what…

Amid star-strewn heavens, a woman groans in labor pains as an enormous devourer endangers her, intent on seizing her miraculous child the moment he’s born. So unfolds the vision of Revelation 12:1–5. So too goes a crucial scene in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025). The Revelator retells the…

Leaving our Northwoods dining hall, suitcase in hand, an Au Sable student was heading back to his home in Madagascar. As he approached the exit after breakfast, he turned toward us in the sun’s morning light, saying his farewell: It was wonderful to be here with you these ten weeks! A blessing to be among…

All of us who read the Christian Scholars Review want Christian higher education to survive.  Most of us, anyway, are aware of the growing threats to our survival, both as individual colleges and universities; and to our survival as a collective enterprise. Where is Eastern Nazarene University today, Barrington, or Nyack—to limit ourselves for the…

When I hear scholars say there is little difference between a secular and a Christian approach to a particular area of the academy, I am often baffled. I recently had that happen this past month with someone at an academic event who mentioned architecture. This person claimed that they thought there would be little difference…

We learn to practice virtues in specific contexts. Thus, academics always need to think about how to apply Christian virtues in their particular learning environment in specific ways. In particular, as academics, we should have special reasons to be thankful during this season. Anyone who teaches has received intellectual gifts that God does not bestow…

Editor's Note: Due to a technical issue with WordPress, this essay was published earlier this month without the text, only the tables. We have reposted the corrected version today.  Human culture and consciousness in the Global North have evolved profoundly over the past two millennia, and are conventionally referenced as the overlapping respective eras of…