Skip to main content
Blog

Review: Bonds of Salvation: How Christianity Inspired and Limited American Abolitionism.

The thesis of this monograph is captured nicely by its subtitle: Christian convictions and motivations both energized and obstructed the crusade to end slavery in the United States. Although in its essence the author’s thesis is not novel—the realization that opponents and defenders of bondage both wielded religious arguments is commonplace—Wright offers a provocative analysis…
January 4, 2022
Blog

The Heart of Christmas

The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ… And He shall reign for ever and ever… King of kings, and Lord of lords. These familiar words from the Hallelujah chorus come at the climax Handel’s Messiah. An apocryphal story tells of how King George II was so…
December 21, 2021
Blog

Guest Post – Scorsese’s Christmas Story

After weeks of shooting footage at a town nearby for his latest project, legendary director Martin Scorsese has finally wrapped up filming. This Advent marks the tenth anniversary of another work of Scorsese’s and my favorite Christmas movie: his Oscar-winning Hugo (2011). Although neither Santas nor Scrooges, neither mangers nor mistletoe appear in the film,…
December 20, 2021
Blog

Advent Meditation IV: Tender

Fra Angelico, The Nativity, Basilica di San Marco, Florence, 1441, https://www.wikiart.org/en/fra-angelico/nativity-1441 It is very difficult, today, for the ordinary, defensive and suspicious human being to understand Christ’s radical vulnerability, from his conception to his death on a cross. However, the mysterious Fra Angelico (literally, “the Angelic Friar”), a Renaissance painter who also happened to be a renowned…
December 17, 2021
Blog

Guest Post – Reflections for Graduates from The Little Prince Part 2

A version of this full essay—offered here as a two-part blog—was initially presented by Biola University Associate Professor, Jane E. Kim, at the commencement ceremony for the Torrey Honors College on May 10, 2019. Please see yesterday’s post for Part 1. Secret Number Three: Only those to whom you give yourself become yours. During his…
December 16, 2021
Blog

Guest Post–Reflections for Graduates from The Little Prince: Part 1

A version of this full essay—offered here as a two-part blog—was initially presented by Biola University Associate Professor, Jane E. Kim, at the commencement ceremony for the Torrey Honors College on May 10, 2019. It has become something of a tradition in my program for faculty to draw from children’s books in sharing words of…
December 15, 2021
Blog

Library Trends and the Future of Christian Scholarship

I have been concerned for quite some time that works of Christian scholarship are not ideally accessible in the marketplace of ideas. Early in my career, I documented that evangelical literature was often not available digitally, and I advocated for publishers and others to address such deficiencies.Gregory A. Smith, “Christian Libraries for the Next Generation:…
December 14, 2021
Blog

The Meaning of Dreams: Creation Through Selection

Sidarta Ribeiro, in The Oracle of Night: The History and Science of Dreams, has written a book that artfully blends multiple disciplines of human experience, from sociology to biochemistry, in pursuit of its fundamental question: Why do we dream? Ribeiro argues against the scientific “default” interpretation that dreams are random firings of neurons without meaning.…
December 13, 2021
Blog

Advent Meditation III: Like Calls to Like

Icon of the Visitation https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-visitation-icon-samuel-epperly.html Pantokrator icon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Pantocrator_(Sinai)#/media/File:Spas_vsederzhitel_sinay.jpg Among all the manifestations of Christ’s church, the Eastern Orthodox tradition has been the most gifted in the realm of visual symbolism. Beginning in the early centuries after Christ, Eastern iconographers crystallized doctrinal truths into pithy visual form. The Pantokrator icon (meaning “Ruler of All”), set the template…
December 10, 2021
Blog

Tis the Season….to write letters of recommendation!

It’s that time of year again. Coming at the end of the long Fall semester, the holiday season is always a rough time for the college professor. There are term papers to read and grade, exams to write and grade, lab projects to check and grade. Did I mention the grading? But wait, there is…
December 9, 2021
Blog

Guest Post – Hospitality and Nursing

In broad terms, hospitality can be defined as “the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers” or “the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.”Dictionary.com, “hospitality,” 2021, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/hospitality The words hospitality and hospital are both derived from the Latin hospes, signifying a guest, stranger, or foreigner—describing…
December 8, 2021
Blog

Rolling in the Deep: Adele and the Argument from Desire

“The main emotion of the adult American who has all the advantages of wealth, education, and culture is disappointment.” ]http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/18712/revolutionary-road John Cheever, novelist Like many fans of Adele, I tuned into her televised outdoor concert at the scenic Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles (Nov. 14, 2021).  With the iconic HOLLYWOOD sign the in the background,…
December 7, 2021
Blog

Learning to Pray

The way we pray says quite a lot about us. Our prayers and the way we form them project a story about what ought to be. When we draw upon the public prayers of others and make our own prayers part of public discourse, prayer becomes one form of teaching and learning. I have been…
December 6, 2021
Blog

Advent Meditation II: The Lady Listens

Simone Martini, The Annunciation with Sts. Margaret and Ansanus, early 14th c., Uffizi Gallery, https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/annunciation-with-st-margaret-and-st-ansanus Also, Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Annunciation, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1898, https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/104384 From the beginning of time, there were whispers. There was rumor even at the Fall, at the cracking of the world, when the face of God was hidden and the great rifting began. But…
December 3, 2021
Blog

It’s a Matter of Trust

What makes for good leadership? There isn’t a straightforward answer. The study and practice of leadership is a bit like Baskin-Robbins with thirty-one or more different flavors. There is valid data to show that effective leaders lead from the front with charismatic personalities. Other, equally valid, studies show that effective leaders function more in the…
December 1, 2021
Blog

Guest Post – Carbon’s Invitation to Wonder

“The heavens declare the glory of God.” With this proclamation David opens Psalm 19, which“celebrates the glory of God as manifested in his works” and “the knowledge of God which shines forth more clearly in his word,” as John Calvin says in his commentary. There is no doubt that this proclamation “includes by synecdoche the…
November 30, 2021
Blog

The gifts of advising day

Receiving another person’s story is always a privilege. Whether in therapy, confession, interview, or conversation, when one person willingly shares a part of their narrative, they are offer vulnerability and intimacy along with their history. It is a privilege to be offered such a human connection. Recently my institution held its once a semester Advising…
November 29, 2021
Blog

Advent Meditation I: St. Hildegard and the Cyclical Song of Angels

(Choirs of Angels, Scivias I.6, https://arthistoryproject.com/artists/hildegard-von-bingen/scivias-i.6-the-choirs-of-angels/) Among medieval Catholic saints (think Catherine of Siena, Anthony of Padua or Joan of Arc), Hildegard of Bingen is one of the most palatable to modern tastes. She was not prone to shocking self-mortifications; she was not embroiled in muddy political disputes; and she has not been subjected to…
November 26, 2021
Blog

Guest Post – The Pilgrims’ “First Thanksgiving” Was Not the One We Remember

Today millions of Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving, and some, at least, will find a historical precedent for what they are doing in the Pilgrims’ celebration on the coast of Massachusetts in 1621. Although frequently embellished and sometimes caricatured, the story of the Pilgrims’ “First Thanksgiving” is rich with insight and inspiration. The Pilgrims were human,…
November 24, 2021