Blog

This essay is the third, and final, part of a series on embodiment and the Christian liberal arts. In the First Part, I argued that mind/body dualism has left students, and many Christians, inhibited in their ability to fully love God with their whole selves. Embodiment is largely a negative experience, in which shame and…

This essay follows my earlier contribution in Part I, in which I argued that Christian embodiment is too often one of hierarchical dualism, alienation, and social separation. As those called to live in the reality of God’s redemptive work, we should seek out for ourselves, and inculcate in students, an embodiment of whole-ness, emotional and…

A colleague in the theology program here at Wheaton College once told me that of all the things she teaches to our Christian students—all the heresies, misunderstandings, failed theologies they bring to college—the thing that most blows their minds is the clear scriptural teaching of the resurrection of the body. It is not that this…

Colossians 3:23 - “Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ.” It was late. Really late. My husband and I were running—literally running—through the airport to…

“And this is explained by collectivism…” I cringe inside every time it occurs. During a presentation or classroom discussion, a student will articulate a cultural difference and follow up with an explanation that, with a certain degree of finality, labels the observed difference as a result of collectivistic or individualistic (C-I) cultures. But the elaboration…

New Christian campuses are emerging all over the nation full of students eager to learn how to minister to their peers. Showing impressive signs of growth and stability, these campuses are currently found in nineteen states with ten more states set to launch soon. Collectively producing thousands of graduates with accredited degrees from over ten…

Christ-Animated Learning could occur in plenty of unexpected domains.  Consider student conduct codes. As part of a larger research project, I have spent time looking at 366 student conduct codes from Protestant colleges and universities in America. One would think that these codes would be an ideal place for some Christian moral education to occur.…

Editor’s Note: Prof. Ndethiu’s post is part of a series of blog posts on the recently published book: Power Women: Stories of Faith, Motherhood, and the Academy. You can find previous posts here, here, here, and here. Motherhood is a profound gift. I was immensely privileged to have the most wonderful biological mother, and then…

In a senior-level course, I require students to read primary texts that many find a stretch in a conservative Christian university. Texts include articles and chapters by a scholar promoting Marxism—James Berlin; a radical black lesbian feminist—bell hooks; a leading voice of post-structuralism—Michel Foucault, and a French academic who was a friend of Derrida and…

Thomas Molnar’s review of Albert Camus and Christianity by Jean Onimus (University of Alabama Press, 1970) was CSR’s first book review. The final review of its first 50 years was T. M. Moore’s look at The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph Henrich (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020). In the intervening decades, CSR has…

With the release of this first issue of our fifty-first volume, we celebrate fifty years of God’s faithfulness to Christian Scholar’s Review. As with any anniversary we look to our past, consider the current status of Christian scholarship, and look forward with thanksgiving and some trepidation to the next fifty years. Looking to the past,…

A recent lectionary reading in my church from Hebrews contained a phrase that never struck me before as very important. The letter opens with, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways…” In various ways! The same afternoon, I read a pertinent quote by Duke theologian Ellen…

Looking over my chapter“Divvying up Love: Scholarly Ambition and Motherhood as Spiritual Formation” in Power Women: Stories of Motherhood, Faith, and the Academy, eds. Nancy Wang Yuen and Deshonna Collier-Goubil (Downers Grove, IL: 2021), pp.11-26. again from Power Women: Stories of Faith, Motherhood, and the Academy induced a set of mixed feelings. On the one…

I was in a heated cell phone discussion with my older brother—a man who loves the Lord, is in full-time ministry, and regularly leads Bible studies at local prisons. However, we were talking politics and our raised voices reflected our deep differences. For us, the issues that made the 2020 presidential election contentious still carry…

In his book The Perfect Mile, Neal Bascomb chronicles the competition between Roger Bannister, John Landy, and Wes Santee to be the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes. Bannister's success as the first man to break this barrier is well-known, but another feat of excellence was accomplished by Landy two years…

Over the decades, Christian environmental exploration and activism have focused on some issues far more than others. Interest in international missions, the continuation of farming as an honored profession in many Christian communities, and the availability of clear Biblical guidance have driven a solid and thoughtful presence in the realms of food production and sustainable…

Time will tell whether the trust we inherited is one we stewarded well in the name of Christian scholarship.  For now, we will pause, celebrate 50 years of efforts made by countless individuals, and then prayerfully develop a strategic plan designed to guide CSR for years to come. 

What is college like? In television and film, there seem to exist mainly two kinds of college. The first is a charming, upstate school with lots of sportscoats and wine and cheese mixers. The second is a big state school, with plenty of fraternity parties. The movies set in prestigious institutions are primarily about the…

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. (1 Peter 3:8) Pride, like love, is a funny thing. Maybe it’s academics in general or Twitter exclusively or the dangerous combination of the two, but it seems like pride is a distinguishing mark of the new…

The academic year 2020-2021 marked the 50th anniversary of the founding of Christian Scholar's Review (CSR). It was born in 1970 out of an earlier academic journal, The Gordon Review, which was created by Gordon College faculty and came in time to be sponsored by that college. The process of transition from The Gordon Review…