Sunday, on the last official day of spring, we released our spring issue online, coinciding with the expected arrival of the journal’s paper copies in the mailboxes of subscribers and faculty members at our institutional partners. We pride ourselves here at Christian Scholar’s Review, with our small volunteer editorial team and a single paid graduate student, on being almost clockwork for fifty-five years in turning out our quarterly journal every four months. But alas, our faithful printing partner cannot always guarantee a printing date given their schedule, so we are a bit chagrined about the late delivery of our spring issue. My co-author of today’s blog, Bryan Gill, encouraged me to remember that it was still spring when the articles were posted. For my own soul, I was reminded that it wasn’t just boilerplate when Paul reminds the Thessalonian believers to give thanks in everything. I, too, give thanks, even when I can’t control the printing schedule, that we continue our legacy of publishing thoughtful and thought-provoking work by those who claim the vocation of Christian Scholar.
In addition to the quarterly journal and weekday blog, our publisher, Tood Ream, has hosted our Saturdays at Seven podcasts, featuring Christians from across the spectrum of academic disciplines and countries, exploring how they live out God’s calling in their lives. These conversations are rich, as administrators, faculty, and church leaders, along with musicians, journalists, and poets, talk with Todd about how they understand the God-given meaning and purpose of their life’s work. Yet across Christian academia, we tend to see less deep theological engagement among faculty in schools of health or nursing schools about what it means to live out their Christian vocation beyond the typical topics of kindness, servant leadership, and excellence in practice.
Last year, the faculty in the College of Health Sciences (CHS) at Samford University took a different tack and came together to discuss their work through the theological lens of the imago Dei – what the image of God entails, how students and faculty understand that image in their lives and vocation, and how they see it in their patients as they participate in the vocation of restoration. Their study and conversations were captured in the articles in this themed issue. These articles offer readers an inside view of how one Christian university has intentionally brought Christian thought and formation to the forefront of both its curriculum and co-curricular life—particularly within the health sciences, where questions of faith–learning integration have received relatively limited attention.
While rooted in the particular context of Samford University, the practices described here point toward a broader possibility: that theological convictions such as the imago Dei can shape not only what is taught in healthcare education but also how students are theologically and spiritually formed to serve others. Bryan Gill, Director of the Office of Faith, Learning, and Vocation at Samford University, coordinated these scholarly works and served as the guest editor of this issue. We hope these examples encourage other institutions to create faculty working groups that reflect on how their curricula and formative practices can be more intentionally and comprehensively grounded in Christian thought. – MD
OVERVIEW of the THEMED ARTICLES
To see someone as created in the imago Dei is to see them as known and loved by God. In this themed issue, faculty members from all four schools within CHS explain how they help students see the imago Dei in themselves and in those they will serve after graduation, as people deeply loved and cared for by God. Following my initial article on the tension between suffering and flourishing in the imago Dei for health care providers, the articles focus on how faculty and students live out these tensions in each of their schools within CHS: the McWhorter School of Pharmacy, the School of Public Health, the School of Health Professions, and the Moffett & Sanders School of Nursing. The goal of each school in Samford’s CHS is to provide high-quality academics to its students, reflecting its liberal arts foundation, and to participate in the vocation of restoration by seeing those they serve as people made in the image of God. This position requires careful attention not only to what is taught but, as its mission states, to also address the whole-person “development of intellect, creativity, faith and personhood” of its graduates.1
A COMMITMENT TO CHRIST-CENTERED EDUCATION
As one of the demonstrated commitments to Christ-centered education, each school in CHS has adopted a theme verse to serve as a reminder and a north star, guiding its practices through scripture. While these verses are unique to each school and appear on the walls of the CHS building, as well as on t-shirts and printed materials, they are more than banners and merch; they shape the faculty’s pedagogical imagination and Christian formation. Throughout CHS, the shared theological conviction that every person bears the imago Dei guides faculty in how they teach, mentor, and prepare students to serve patients, communities, and colleagues with skill, compassion, and hope.
The McWhorter School of Pharmacy. The school of pharmacy’s Practice and Team-Ready curriculum centers on the theme of “running.” This shared language runs throughout each year of a student’s time in pharmacy school. Consistent with the theme of running, the school has adopted Hebrews 12:1 as its theme verse, “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” This verse helps center faculty and students on the bigger purpose behind their studies and grounds them in the hope of Christ. In their article, “Imago Dei: A Pharmacist Perspective,” Amy Broeseker and Caitlin Brown contend that understanding pharmacy education through the lens of the imago Dei forms students to see patients, colleagues, and themselves as bearers of God’s image and thus worthy of dignity, compassion, and faithful care.
The School of Public Health chose Ephesians 2:10 as its theme verse, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Helping students see that they have been created with a purpose is vital to the School of Public Health’s work. Empowering students to recognize that God is equipping them for their vocation helps them find meaning in their work. In their article, “Public Health: Interprofessional Reflections on the Image of God,” Emily Bourne, Amy Cameron, Ashley Licata, Dennis McCay, Rachel Hagues, and Rachel Bailey describe how public health education shaped by the imago Dei forms students to understand their work as a Christian vocation, equipping them to pursue human dignity, justice, and the flourishing of individuals and communities through their professional callings.
The School of Health Professions’ theme verse 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.” This common language shapes the community of students, faculty, and staff, reminding them that their gifts are entrusted for the service of others. In “Imago Dei in Practice: Service, Vocation, and Healthcare Formation at Samford University’s School of Health Professions,” C. Scott Bickel, Brad Cantley, Kameron Carden, Alan Jung, Maegan Powell, and Sarah Ross show how programs in the School of Health Professions integrate theological reflection on the imago Dei with clinical education through initiatives that engage culturally diverse communities, support bilingual families, and involve students in international medical mission work.
The Moffett & Sanders School of Nursing adopted Hebrews 6:10 as its theme verse, “For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.” The school is committed to teaching students that their work is an act of service to God. This approach shapes how they engage with instructional materials, classroom relationships, and those they serve in the clinics. Students offer not only physical care but also a spirit of hope for their patients’ souls. In “The Golden Thread of Caring: Living Out Hebrews 6:10,” Amy Snow, Kristen Johnston, and Ashley Turner describe how the Moffett & Sanders School of Nursing forms students to recognize the imago Dei in patients, families, and fellow learners, cultivating nursing practice that integrates clinical skill with Christ-centered compassion. Through initiatives such as reflective mentoring, where faculty guide students in connecting faith and practice; Thrive, a program that supports students’ spiritual and emotional well-being; and Ida’s Clothes Closet, which provides clothing and essentials for patients in need, the school demonstrates how nursing education can form caregivers who attend to both physical and spiritual needs.
The final article presents a focus group discussion among the faculty authors of these pieces, offering practical ways in which the integration of faith and learning informs their teaching, research, scholarship, and, most importantly, their broader role as faculty members. We hope these pieces will encourage different academic units in your institutions to spend a year together, delving deeply into the theological foundations of the sacred call of Christian academia. –BG
