As recounted in the previous post, Oppenheimer fixated on a rather limited view of the academic vocation. While limited in scope, such a view allowed him to pursue noteworthy excellence. He experienced an especially triumphant phase between the time he accepted his joint appointment at UC Berkeley and Cal Tech and the time he resigned…
As the publisher for Christian Scholar’s Review, I have the privilege of interacting with thought leaders serving in a variety of contexts including colleges and universities, foundations, associations, media outlets, and churches. Despite the challenging times we face in higher education, those conversations provide me with hope about the vocation we hold in trust and—sooner…
In this episode of the Saturdays at Seven Podcast, Todd Ream interviews Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. They begin by talking about the “warming of relations” between Catholics and Protestants, as well as, how many Catholic colleges and universities started. Then, they discuss how Vatican II has influenced Catholic colleges and universities and how the Church and church-related higher ed institutions can be of greater service to each other.
In the seventeenth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Thomas Albert Howard, Professor of Humanities and the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christian Ethics, Valparaiso University. Tal, as he is known to his friends, also serves as a Senior Fellow with the Lilly Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities (until recently, the Lilly Fellows Program). Howard begins by talking about the role theology played in the research university and the ways the German research university and, more recently, the American research university influenced one another. Howard then builds upon those observations concerning theology and the research university as ways of framing his observations about the challenges and opportunities faced by scholars grappling with the relationship shared by faith and learning. Howard’s critically acclaimed writing related to ecumenical and interfaith relations forms the middle of the conversation. Ream and Howard then close their conversation by exploring the virtues that prove most critical to the exercise of the Christian academic vocation.
In the twentieth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Mark A. Noll, the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. Noll opens by discussing which dimensions of his long and distinguished career afforded him with the deepest satisfaction, focusing on the friends he made and the students he served. He offers his insights concerning how he came to understand the Christian academic vocation and what individual and communal practices can enhance that understanding for younger scholars. Noll and Ream talk about the importance of gratitude for the opportunities one receives, what requests one should accept, and what requests one should decline. Noll then concludes by discussing how being invested in the life of the Church and the keeping of the sabbath not only enhance one’s sense of calling but foster a lifetime of service.
In the twenty-first episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Matthew J. Quade, the Kimberly and Aaron P. Graff Professor in Christian Leadership and Business and Director of Christian Leadership and Ethics at Baylor University. Quade begins by talking about the unique opportunities and challenges that come when educating the present generation of students when it comes to ethical deliberation and formation. Ream then asks Quade about his own research and, in particular, about Quade’s research as it applies to the relationship shared by work and other dimensions of one’s life. They then close their conversation by exploring the relationship business professionals and business educators share with the Church and ways that relationship can be brought into closer expressions of mutual service.
In this episode of the Saturdays at Seven Podcast, Todd interviews Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). Walter shares his faith journey which began with an inspiration from Star Wars, lead to serving congregations all over North America, and now drives him in his role as president of NAE. He and Todd discuss what it means to be evangelical and how Christian colleges can serve as examples to evangelical churches in engaging and transforming society.
In this episode of the Saturdays at Seven Podcast, Todd Ream interviews Dr. Steven D. Mason, president of LeTourneau University. They discuss Steve’s journey to becoming an Old Testament scholar then provost and president at LeTourneau University, and also the uniqueness of LeTourneau being the Christian polytechnic university. Steve offers advice to younger colleagues discerning a call towards educational leadership, as well as how to start and manage STEM programs in Christian colleges and universities.
In this episode of the Saturdays at Seven Podcast, Todd Ream interviews Karen Swallow Prior, noted author, compelling teacher, and public intellectual. Todd and Karen first discuss evangelicals’ role in the Victorian age and its literature, as well as, Karen’s vocational journey as an English professor and public intellectual. Karen also talks about her social media, specifically Twitter and Substack, where she’s been able to share her thoughts and research on the intersection of Christianity and culture. Lastly, they discuss Karen’s newest book: The Evangelical Imagination.
In the thirty-third episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Michael D. Wilder, Dean of the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College. Wilder opens by addressing the ways music contributes to the cultivation of an imagination and how music is inherently part of human flourishing.
In the fortieth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Robert J. Wuthnow, the Gerhard R. Andlinger ʼ52 Professor of Social Sciences at Princeton University. Ream and Wuthnow start by discussing the limitations that come with comparisons between recent waves of college student activism and the activism of the 1960s and early 1970s. They transition to exploring Wuthnow’s experience as a doctoral student at the University of California at Berkely, the ways he learned to frame questions, and the ways he learned to determine whether questions merited pursuit. Ream and Wuthnow then discuss the questions Wuthnow pursued over the course of his career and arc of the books he wrote. The end of that arc, ironically, led Wuthnow to explore the changing nature of the social fabric of communities comparable to the one in which he grew up as a child in rural Kansas. Finally, Wuthnow discusses the virtues he believed proved most critical to the exercise of the academic vocation including the role gratitude played for him over the course of his career.
In the nineteenth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Kim S. Phipps, the President of Messiah University. Phipps opens by talking about her calling to the university presidency, the unique qualities of her service at Messiah, and how those qualities contributed to a tenure now in its twentieth year. Ream and Phipps then shift to discuss ways that the declining lengths of service of university presidents could be reversed or at least halted. When discussing ways to reverse those lengths of service, they also discuss ways women can prepare for such roles and what campuses can do to become more welcoming. Ream and Phipps then close their conversation by talking about the theological streams that define Messiah and how those streams influence the relationship faith and learning share in both curricular and co-curricular spaces.
In the forty-sixth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Marc O. DeGirolami, the St. John Henry Newman Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center for Law and the Human Person at Catholic University of America. DeGirolami opens by addressing the current state of conversations concerning human flourishing, what those conversations offer yet also where those conversations may fail due to a lack of theological and philosophical depth. Ream and DeGirolami then talk through how DeGirolami came to appreciate the ways the education he received and the experiences he encountered fostered his calling to study and practice law. They talk through DeGirolami’s eventual appointment to Catholic University of America as well as his short-term and long-term plans as the Co-Director of the Center for Law and the Human Person. They then close their conversation by discussing how DeGirolami has come to define the academic vocation as a legal scholar and what he believes the university and the Church owe the next generation of legal practitioners and scholars as they prepare for lives of service.
In the forty-eighth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with David A. Skeel, Jr., the S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Pennsylvania. Skeel opens the conversation by talking about how his interests in bankruptcy law developed and about the theological commitments that are woven into history of bankruptcy law in the United States. Ream and Skeel then talk about Skeel’s formation as a legal scholar, how his education shaped him, and about how his experience as a clerk, an associate in a large firm, and a young law professor at Temple University and then at the University of Pennsylvania all played important roles. Skeel then offers insights concerning how he makes decisions concerning public service and what led him to his service as Chair of the Financial and Management Oversight Board for Puerto Rico. Ream and Skeel then close their conversation with Skeel offering his understanding of the academic vocation and his advice to aspiring attorneys and legal scholars.
In the first episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Philip Graham Ryken, Professor of Theology and President of Wheaton College. Ryken opens by defining how he Biblically and theologically understands evangelicalism, the global contexts in which evangelicalism exists, and the contributions that Wheaton faculty, staff, and graduates have made to evangelicalism. Although political and social polarization has impacted popular perceptions of evangelicalism in recent years, Ryken expresses his optimism for how Biblical and theological perceptions will endure and serve as a means for rethinking how Christians live and serve within political and social orders. Ream asks Ryken to talk through his calling to ordained ministry and how that calling intersects with his calling to serve as a faculty member and president at Wheaton. Ream and Ryken talk about Ryken’s habit of writing, from where the questions come that he pursues, how those questions are addressed in sermons delivered on campus in chapel and in various churches, and how those sermons often serve as the basis for chapters in books. Ream and Ryken close their conversation by discussing Ryken’s personal understanding of the academic vocation, how the academic vocation is nurtured and exercised amongst educators at Wheaton, and the ways that the relationship shared by the Church and the university are critical for the present and future health of the academic vocation.
This post is a slightly edited version of a recent editorial published in the International Journal of Christianity and Education. Birds are excellent indicators of environmental health and ecosystem integrity…Results from long-term surveys, accounting for both increasing and declining species, reveal a net loss in total abundance of 2.9 billion [95% credible interval (CI) =…
I ended last year with some reflections on how to end a semester. Here I offer some reflections on how to begin one. They were provoked by a chance encounter with an introductory Spanish grammar text. It begins with these two sentences:“Grammar is one of the most difficult (read: boring!) parts of learning a language….
This series is adapted from a chapter in Keith Loftin’s Rekindling an Old Light: The Virtue and Value of Christ-Shaped Liberal Arts Learning (High Bridge Books, 2022, published in conjunction with Moral Apologetics Press). Literature can give us ears to hear and sensitize our eyes to see goodness, truth, and beauty—in fact to effect union…
Strangers and Scapegoats is the culmination of some 20 years of my learning to think sociologically while teaching undergraduate students to cultivate their own sociological imaginations. The concept of imagination—of perceiving old things in new ways—plays a central role in the book, and is, for me, key to addressing the perennial problem of the stranger….
On Friday, March 6, 2020, at 4:05pm, our Vice-Provost sent an email that the remaining classes for Winter Quarter were cancelled at Seattle Pacific University due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Classes wouldn’t meet in-person until September, and even then in a distanced and hybrid teaching model that continues to this day. Seven separate emails sent…
