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I stood in the student-led chapel service singing along with a worship song that proclaimed, “Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending reckless love of God. Oh, it chases me down, fights till I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine.” Though drawing on the familiar imagery of the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:10-14; Luke 15:4-7), the words of…

While trying to keep my feet as I hefted the burden of the academic semester onto my back this year, shocked again—just like every year—as to how heavy that weight can be, I received an email that had a new opportunity inside of it. It wasn’t even a direct ask. It was only a mention,…

Intercollegiate athletics are often assumed to be a vehicle for character formation without thoughtful consideration of empirical research or underlying pedagogies.Sean Strehlow, “Coaching for Christ: How Faith Informs Coaching and Christian Education,” Christian Scholar’s Review (blog), January 17, 2023, https://christianscholars.com/coaching-for-christ-how-faith-informs-coaching-and-christian-education/. In college athletic departments, resources surrounding spiritual formation in sports are similarly sparse. Although Christianity…

In our previous blog, we discussed how the image of God is our identity and how it helps to answer questions about who we are and how we organize ourselves as members of learning communities. Drawing insights from our doctoral seminar on philosophic issues in education, we provided an overview of some specific texts that…

Who am I? Who are you? Who are we? These are fundamental questions that define our identity and relationships with others. Answers to these questions help explain what matters for our existence. We often try to find value and meaning in external things, whether professional achievements, money, property, or influence over others. The search for…

Every year in my Contemporary Art class, I guide my students through a 1960s manifesto called Society of the Spectacle. Written by the angsty, art-adjacent theorist Guy Debord, it captures the philosophical energies informing contemporary fine art in a pithy and memorable way. Debord’s central thesis (informed by Marxist thought) is this: that modern society…

In yesterday’s post, I shared my journey through finding my way in faith and learning up through graduate school. As perhaps for many of us, I then wrestled through this crisis of faith for the next two years at the University of Chicago and then Northwestern. I found a sympathetic mentor for my PhD program,…

I recently took up an appointment at Samford University as Professor of Early American History after stepping down as Dean of Howard College of Arts and Sciences. I took great joy in serving in that role for seven years after coming to the university in July 2016 from my previous appointment as Associate Dean in…

I find myself writing this post from what I perceive to be a rather unique position. After serving as a librarian at a Christian university for nearly five years, I have recently accepted an appointment to teach theology and apologetics in the school of divinity at that same institution. Reflecting on my time as an…

This year marks 20 years since I became a full-time professor in Christian higher education. As I look back, I recognize two distinct stages in my academic life, not unlike the “two halves of life” described by the Franciscan priest Richard Rohr in his book Falling Upward. The first half of my career involved a…

For what seemed like hours, I stared in shock at the words on my computer screen. In a course feedback comment, a student had written, using a racial slur, that I was not qualified to teach the course because of my Asian identity. There was also the time that a student openly mocked Asian cultures…

“As humans we have two eyes to view the world; their combined binocular vision brings depth not available to either eye on its own.” — Sir John T. HoughtonJohn T. Houghton, In the Eye of the Storm ( Oxford: Lion Hudson, 2013.), 264. While curriculum vitae means “course of one’s life” its academic use normally…

In an earlier blog post, I reported that public higher education enrollment shrank -4% between 2010 and 2019. In comparison, religious institutions only shrank -0.1%. What happens when we add the year 2020? We find that public university enrollment shrank by an astounding -8.4% between the fall of 2010 and 2020. In contrast, religious institutions,…

Ready or not, a new academic year is here! As soon as the calendar flips to August, my mind shifts from vacation to preparing for fall courses and setting goals for the new year. One goal on my list for 2023-2024 is spiritual wellness. Spiritual wellness is critical for my success as a Christian professor.…

As the publisher for Christian Scholar’s Review, I have the privilege of interacting with thought leaders serving in a variety of contexts including colleges and universities, foundations, associations, media outlets, and churches. Despite the challenging times we face in higher education, those conversations provide me with hope about the vocation we hold in trust and—sooner…

Let everyone give as his heart tells him, neither grudgingly nor under compulsion, for God loves the man who gives cheerfully. After all, God can give you everything that you need, so that you may always have sufficient both for yourselves and for giving away to other people. As the scripture says: “He has dispersed…

I am going to start with a controversial claim. I believe the famous phrase, “faith seeking understanding” is the wrong phrase for Christian academics to use to describe Christian education. Instead, a more biblically faithful phrase should be faith seeking excellence (and then understanding). Allow me to explain why. Some time ago David Smith asked…