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The first post in this series pondered problematic modern Christian conceptions of truth, and the second pondered prescribed classic Christian practices of love, arguing for its priority. The focus in both was not on compelling truths about God, nor virtuous love of God or nature. Instead, the conundrum was what Christians believe to be true…

Yesterday’s post unpacked the problematic character of modern positivist Christian conceptualization and prioritization of truth. Though truth undoubtably matters enormously, it was proposed that absolute truth about metaphysical matters is not attainable, that assertions of propositional truth claims are prone to exercising power and producing interpersonal alienation, and that in profound experiential (not necessarily epistemological)…

Part I: Truth My colleague had just finished delivering a public lecture on the challenge that intersex persons—those born with a mix of male and female organs, chromosomes, and hormones—present to the church. A perturbed member of the audience was expressing his disapproval of her call for the Christian church to understand, affirm, and welcome…

If you follow trends in software engineering, you may have encountered the term “vibe coding,” recently popularized by Andrej Karpathy, deep learning researcher and OpenAI co-founder.Kevin, R. (2025, February 27). Not a Coder? With A.I., Just Having an Idea Can Be Enough. New York Times. This is how he defines the approach: There’s a new kind…

Economists generally don’t like tariffs. This was true even before the latest round of tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump. Various surveys have found that around 90 percent of economists believe that tariffs will negatively impact economic welfare, and a similar amount believe that tariffs lead to inflation.As just one example, see https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/policy-brief/framing-next-four-years-tariffs-tax-cuts-and-other-uncertainties-trump. This is…

It is time to look around the corner As in all other spheres of higher education, religious colleges and universities today are experiencing a transformation. These schools must chart a path forward in a complex environment marred by a growing mistrust of the academy, increased skepticism about the value of a college degree, and a…

As Part 1 of this post series mentioned, the liberal arts in early American Christian liberal arts colleges were usually not taught Christianly. By that, I mean they were not framed or analyzed within the larger Christian story or set forth as serving the theologically-articulated end of restoring the image of God and helping further our…

If you ask almost any student or professor what the purpose of the liberal arts is, they will likely not give you an explicitly theologically informed answer. Instead, they will likely discuss how  “it fosters critical thinking,” or helps one “adopt different approaches to understanding,” or “trains one’s mind to be agile.”For samples of this…

I just finished watching the series A Small Light (currently available on Amazon Prime) with my wife and 17-year-old daughter. The three of us are going to the Netherlands in a few days, me for a conference and a bit of sightseeing, and the two of them exclusively for sightseeing during my daughter’s spring break.…

Author’s note: As I read about President Trump’s recent executive order declaring English as the official language of the United States and reflected on its potential implications, I was reminded of a podcast episode in which I interviewed Dr. Grace Inae Blum.  Dr. Blum teaches and writes about humanizing teacher education, teacher preparation for culturally…

Conversations surrounding the practical use of artificial intelligence in student academic work seem to be less straight-forward than those having to do with plagiarism.This is not to say considerations about plagiarism should be one-dimensional. For thoughtful considerations dealing with these topics, I highly recommend Rachel B. Griffis, “Plagiarism as the Language of Ownership: Aligning Academic…

Just as both men and women are created in God’s image, we are also both fallen. Moreover, there can be sex differences among men and women (often simply in terms of percentages and not absolutes) in the ways they demonstrate virtue and vice. What that means and what the redemption of masculinity and femininity might…

The month of March is designated as Women’s History Month. At a time when the word “women” itself is being targeted for censorship by the federal administration, it seems more important than ever to consider how Christian institutions of higher education are drawing upon their theological foundations in order to create environments that allow for…

A few months ago, I found myself in conversation with an accomplished leader. He had all the marks of an impressive and socially privileged individual: as an older, cisgender, heterosexual  white male, he served as the CEO of an organization that was bringing in millions of dollars in grant funding and making powerful international connections.…

April is still a ways off so, no, I’m not trying to pull anyone’s leg. I really do find joy in academic administration…let me explain. My administrative work began as a department chair about 10 years ago when my dean asked if I’d consider serving. Honestly, I was a bit wary of some percolating challenges…

My Canadian wife works extensively with international students at Baylor. Recently, she got to know two different Nigerian students. At one level, one would think that these international students from the same country would love to get together with one another. Yet, that view is premised on North American racial, ethnic, and national categories. It…

In recent years, it has been our technology that has “recognized” us. Our smartphones and laptops are unlocked by fingerprint readers, virtual assistants, like Siri and Alexa, are activated by our voices, and facial recognition technology scans our faces in various security contexts. Recognition and identification technology became prominent, especially with the rise of modern…