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In Part 1 of this essay, I argued that the structure of a flame is, at certain levels, similar to the structure of life. The flame suggests that human nature, and even divine nature, is self-gift with a purpose. The stress of burnout may be a sign that the gift is misaligned somehow. But once…

My friend left academia for industry last month. He posted online: “I spent years hearing how ‘flexible’ academic is but now disagree. How often did I tell my family things would ‘slow down’ after X? Academia was unstructured but not flexible. Structure (sick/vacation days!) with good management = flexibility.”Carpenter, Tom. Twitter post. January 25, 2022,…

Like many others, last fall I read with interest, in Christian Scholar’s Review, scholars’ reflections on George Marsden’s The Soul of the American University Revisited and Marsden’s response. The experience was—in no particular order—encouraging, convicting, and depressing. At different points, I, likely along with others, saw reflections of both the successes and challenges of my…

Christians should always reflect critically upon how we use theological language. Yet, we must recognize that sometimes our critical reflection can be corrupted by our cultural location. That is the problem with a recent web article, entitled, “Stop Finding Your Identity in Christ,” by Caleb Morell. The essay contains numerous fallacies and mistakes that provide…

This academic term, my students seem more exhausted than ever (Faculty are tired too. But perhaps that’s a post for another day). My informal assessment “tool” at the beginning of each class— “Hold up fingers to indicate your level of energy today” —has yielded unusually many 1s and 2s, and this is consistent with the…

Having worked in academia for the past two decades, I often take for granted the myriad opportunities it provides for substantive discussion and debate, ubiquitous reading suggestions casually tossed out in hallway conversations, and routinely scheduled lectures and workshops. Like most, I went into teaching as much for that milieu as for anything else this…

A highlight for any college community, especially smaller colleges, includes guest lectures by important people of their times. These can include authors, artists, politicians, journalists, celebrities, and scientists. The best lectures are provocative, inspiring, and certainly memorable. Here is the story of one such event. As the newly-appointed director of the Marshall Space Flight Center…

On the Christianity Today podcast “The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill” disgraced former pastor Mark Driscoll is recorded giving this commentary on the passage in Revelation 19:11ff:  He gets a snapshot, the curtain is pulled back, and, behold, a white horse – I love this! – How many of you grew up watching Westerns?…

Policymakers (and therefore, citizens) in modern democracies confront a knot of intertwining problems, from climate change to nuclear proliferation to terrorism. Many of the threads have formed a rope called human migration, as drought, political instability or corruption, and neocolonial economic policies by the major powers interlace to drive seventy million (and counting) refugees from…

I’ve been teaching college students for almost 16 years. Make that 20 years, if you count teaching assistantships in graduate school! This vocation has had its ups and downs, along with ever-shifting dynamics. When I began, for example, I was almost the same age as my students. Now, I’m old enough to be their mom.…

“The larger the number is, to which that private affection extends, the more apt men are, through the narrowness of their sight, to mistake it for true virtue.”Jonathan Edwards, The Nature of True Virtue (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1960), 88. - Jonathan Edwards “We are looking for moral answers right now because we do…

The South Florida campus where I teach stretches over many acres. It is a lush, sub-tropical paradise of green spaces, palm trees, and variegated shrubs in an explosion of colors. Our easternmost border, affectionately dubbed the “Lower East Side” by several New York transplants, is located across the street from the Intracoastal Waterway. Surrounded by…

Divisions are fracturing our Christian communities, especially in America. Disagreement over Covid vaccinations and policies, black lives matter, women in leadership, and other issues are being exaggerated within our community depleting social distancing practices. The insistent background noise of political schism whining on social media adds to this fracturing. These tensions are raising concerns: Will…

I was recently provoked to fresh reflection on two very familiar passages as I prepared to share them with education students. One is about schooling; the other is about being born anew. I had admired them both, but now gained a fresh sense of their interconnection. Both are drawn from a vivid allegory that predates…

They say that you cannot step into the same river twice, because the water is always changing. A university campus can feel like that, too. Every four years there is an eager freshman and a knowing senior, but they are never the same ones. There are always the same complaints about parking, but the complainers…

At a recent lunch with some of my colleagues, our discussion turned to the topic of the inflation that has developed in the US economy over the past year.  I am sixty-one years old while my lunch companions were in their 40’s and 30’s.  I was surprised to see their lack of knowledge and concern…

The recent movie Don’t Look Up is getting a lot of buzz. Some 152 million streaming hours were logged during one week after its release on Netflix. The movie is a star-studded, satirical allegory for climate change denial told in the context of impending global doom by an approaching comet. Climate reporter Cara Buckley, writing…

I may have Ronald Reagan to thank for my marriage. During the spring of 1995, I visited the Russian city of Kostroma to continue my dissertation research that involved visiting 17 Russian and Ukrainian cities. During that visit, I ended up going to a Russian Orthodox Easter service out in a small country church. The all night…

My path as a Christian paleontologist has been a journey. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it has been marked by peril, especially since I’ve never lost my faith, but it has certainly involved many stumbling blocks along the way. During my years as an undergraduate student at what is now Calvin University, I became increasingly…