Review Symposium

When Dr. Addleman wrote asking me if I might speak at a pre-­conference event for the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities gathering, he suggested the title: “What Age are We Living In?” I’m a historical and cultural sociologist, and in my writing and teaching, I like working with a big canvas. His suggestion offered…

Thanks to John Addleman, for inviting me to be a part of this conversation. I am Joe Creech, and it’s my privilege to serve as the executive director of the Lilly Network of Church-­Related Colleges and Universities. John asked me to say just a word about what that organization is. Since 1991, the Lilly Network—formerly…

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…

How can Christian intellectual institutions—institutions dedicated to pursuing and understanding the good, the true, and the beautiful in the name of Christ—respond to an age of nihilism? That is the question raised by Dr. Hunter’s address, and it is the question I want to take up. In some ways, this can seem like a question…

Earlier this year, the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) invited James Davison Hunter, the LaBrosse-­Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory at the University of Virginia and the executive director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, to its quadrennial global summit to deliver a pre-­conference keynote address at a…

The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship became an instant classic when it was released by Oxford University Press in 1997, but I must admit that I always disliked the title. While it is an effective attention-­grabber, the text itself is far more nuanced and polite than the title presages. Additionally, the word “outrageous” conveys neither…

When George Marsden published The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship in 1997, I was a couple years away from completing my PhD in English. I was a young Christian studying at a state university in exactly the kind of academic environment hostile to religious faith that Marsden addresses in his book. Having been educated entirely…

The first edition of George Marsden’s book The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship appeared the same year I completed my doctorate. I eagerly read it and it immediately became a touchstone book for my early career. And so, it was with great enthusiasm that I began reading the second edition. How have the ideas aged?…

The primary claims of the first edition of George Marsden’s book, The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, remain as salient and persuasive as they were thirty years ago: First, Christian academics may—I will argue should—be doing their scholarship from a Christian point of view (more shortly on what that might mean in practice), and second,…

I wish to begin by thanking Christian Scholar’s Review for the opportunity and privilege to comment on the second edition of George Marsden’s Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship. I first read this book as a student at Grove City College in the mid-­2000s, where it was assigned in an upper-­level history seminar. I have been…

I am very grateful to Christian Scholar’s Review for sponsoring this forum and to the contributors for their kind and constructive remarks. I am especially gratified that the consensus among the commentators seems to be that, while both mainstream academia and American Christianity have changed dramatically in the past three decades, the principles of Christian…

“Beyond the Mind” by Todd C. Ream Taylor University recently began a new campaign with the motto of “Beyond the Mind.” Billboards brandished these words along with images of students. Atfirst glance I must admit I was somewhat perplexed by this effort. Passing one of these billboards on Interstate 69 in northeastern Indiana I thought,…