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If you want to know what an academic institution truly believes about itself, don’t start with its mission statement. Open a tenure file. Look at which publications are held in esteem, which grants are praised, and which writings are dismissed as mere filler. Long after we articulate our institution’s vision and mission, it’s those decisions…

The theme verse for the Samford University School of Health Professions (SHP) is 1 Peter 4:10, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” Faculty, staff, and students are regularly reminded of this verse, and we endeavor to fulfill 1…

On the front page of my course materials for my advanced writing in the disciplines class is this statement: As Christians we know that the act of taking abstract thoughts and turning them into concrete language originated in the three-person God who used words to literally speak creation into existence. It follows that our ability…

The word vocation today often refers to one’s work or employment in the world. This secularized, individualistic connotation is discernible from definitions like “a strong feeling of suitability for a particular career or occupation” or the use of the word calling to describe such a “feeling.”Lexico, s.v. “vocation,” accessed 29 November 2020, https://www.lexico.com/definition/vocation. Nevertheless, in…

By the middle of spring semester, talk with graduating seniors in my department often include the question: what will you be doing next year? That question reflects the fact that a career is an important aspect of vocation. American Christians often pray about questions of calling such as what work they will do, or who…

Virtue ethics has made impressive inroads into the business academy. However, the prospects of the development of virtues in the actual practice of business remain in doubt. Among the most influential skeptics is Alasdair MacIntyre, who argues that business institutions must focus on “external goods” (material rewards and prestige) which threaten the development of “internal…

If the thousands of global reports of “near-death experiences” (NDEs) are to be believed, they support much in Christian theology, including consciousness surviving physical death and the existence of a supernatural realm, a supreme being of unfathomable love, an intercessor named Jesus, and an afterlife with both glorious and ghastly destinations. Conversely, many NDE reports…

This essay offers lament as a way to address the underrepresentation of minorities in Christian camp ministries in the United States. I propose that diversity may be deficient at majority camps when they function as white spaces, a socio-cultural phenomenon that tends to alienate People of Color. To address this, I contextualize the discipline of…

Almost forty years ago Alvin Plantinga’s memorable “Advice to Christian Philosophers” set out a three-fold challenge to encourage members of his own academic tribe, but also “Christian intellectuals generally.” First, “to display . . . more independence of the rest of the philosophical world”; second, to “display more integrity in the sense of integral wholeness”;…

Almost forty years ago Alvin Plantinga’s memorable “Advice to Christian Philosophers” set out a three-fold challenge to encourage members of his own academic tribe, but also “Christian intellectuals generally.” First, “to display . . . more independence of the rest of the philosophical world”; second, to “display more integrity in the sense of integral wholeness”;…

Communication was a crucial element of E. Stanley Jones’s effectiveness as a missionary, spokesman, and advocate in India and across the world. From friendship with Mahatma Gandhi, his influence on Martin Luther King Jr., to his founding of the worldwide Christian Ashram movement and Round Table conferences, Jones demonstrated that interconnectedness is a necessary aspect…

A prior version of this essay was delivered as the Carl F. H. Henry lecture and plenary address at the “Living Accountably” symposium on Faith and Culture at Baylor University in October 2021 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Christian Scholar’s Review. Joel Carpenter is a historian and former provost at Calvin College, and…

The academic year 2020-2021 marked the 50th anniversary of Christian Scholar’s Review (CSR), one of the leading interdisciplinary Christian academic journals. This paper examines the history of CSR, including its precursor The Gordon Review, and highlights some key leaders and important themes in the journal’s work. It also describes the journal’s ability to evolve along…