Shall All Be Saved? David Bentley Hart’s Vision of Universal Reconciliation—An Extended Review Post
Benjamin B. DeVan teaches at Palm Beach Atlantic University. In the episode “Honor” for AMC’s series The Walking Dead, teenage protagonist Carl Grimes suffers a fatal wound. His family tries to make him comfortable and listen to his last words. Carl recounts a vision beneath a shattered stained glass window with its cross still intact. He foresees a new…
Inconclusive Teacher Impact Research: A Biblical Interpretation Post
For all the credence given to the fact that teachers impact student learning, research has yet to pinpoint the exact nature of this supposed causal connection. The veracity of this crucial connection is affirmed both biblically and intuitively but not prescriptively or empirically. After an extensive review of the literature, in this article William F….
Radical Orthodox Economics Post
Steven McMullen notes that in recent years, a number of theologians and philosophers, following John Milbank, have drawn on continental post-modern philosophy to form a critique of capitalism and modern economics. Often called the “Radical Orthodoxy” movement, these scholars argue that the problems with capitalism lie not with its results, but its underlying metaphysics and…
Remembering Hiroshima: The Construction of Communal Memory Post
The survivors of the first atomic bomb used in war, which was dropped in Hiroshima, have been telling their survival stories for many decades. Many of them have found that telling their experiences is empowering, as it gives them a purpose to live and allows them to share their knowledge worldwide with people of all…
James Clerk Maxwell: A Model for Twenty-first Century Physics in the Christian Liberal Arts Post
Physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) is considered by many to have been as important to physics as Newton and Einstein, especially for his work on electricity and magnetism and for being the first director of the Cavendish Laboratory. His technical achievements are significant, but he also offers us a model of the qualities of physics…
Why Protestant Christians Should Not Believe in Mary’s Immaculate Conception: A Response to Mulder Post
E. Jerome Van Kuiken is an Associate Professor of Ministry and Christian Thought at Oklahoma Wesleyan University. Did God force pregnancy on Mary of Nazareth? The Winter 2012 issue of Christian Scholar’s Review presented Jack Mulder Jr.’s argument that non-Catholic Christians risk this startling implication by not accepting the Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception,…
Commending the Gospel: Evangelical Seminaries and Our “Letters of Recommendation” Post
Through the church, God commends his gospel to the world and his wisdom to its rulers and principalities (see, for example, Eph. 3:10). The gospel is the authoritative story about the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the declaration of his reign as Lord, which was accomplished through his death and resurrection…
A Review of The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust Post
If you’re a public health person, and you’re trying to make a decision, you have this very narrow view of what the right decision is, and that is: something that will save a life. Doesn’t matter what else happens. So you attach infinite value to stopping the disease and saving a life. You attach zero…
Telling New Stories Post
Last year a group of provosts convened to engage in conversations about Emerson’s essay, “The American Scholar.” Over the period of a year, we looked for insights into the role of the Christian scholar by reflecting on Emerson’s description of the ideal American scholar. He admonished the American scholar to break free from the European…
The Wholehearted, Daring, Balancing Act of Christian Scholarship Post
The American Scholar On August 31, 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson stepped into the pulpit of First Parish Meetinghouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to deliver what would become one of the defining lectures of his life and legacy, “The American Scholar.” Harvard University, having celebrated its bicentennial anniversary not even a year before, was a bastion of…
The Song of the Law — Lessons from John Witte, Jr’s Table Talk Post
“For we live not only under the rule of law. We live also under the rhythm of law—the ebb and flow, the different paces and places for legal practice[.]” (John Witte, Jr.) Introduction On June 18, 2024, a group of 100 deans of American law schools issued a simple and succinct letter outlining the responsibilities…
The True Story of “The Love of God” is Greater Far Post
I want to tell stories that reveal deep truths. I never want to “tell stories” in the sense of making stuff up. This May, during a devotional for our Faculty Senate meeting, I told my colleagues a story that I hoped was in the former category. And it was—once my colleague helped me see through…
The University and Community Engagement: Recent Approaches Post
If we’re going to do this,” DeAmon Harges told me, “we’re going to have to become friends.” The condition set me back on my heels. Of course, I wasn’t opposed to getting to know this Indianapolis-based nonprofit leader, rapidly becoming a national figure in community development conversations. But though I was far from reluctant to…
One Square Inch We Won’t Concede: Super Bowl Christians and Secular Liturgies, Part I Post
And the Prime Minister sucks ice cream in the company of a happy band of children, while a naked man, sores on his neck, lies for days in Washington Boulevard gnawing chicken bones. . . . And there’s a kung fu movie in every town. . . . And there’s dancing in paradise.-Bruce Cockburn, “Dancing…
Purgatory: What to Make of a Gifted Athlete? (Part 1) Post
In my last post, I focused on the first book of Dante’s Divine Comedy, the Inferno. There I attempted to draw lessons out of Dante’s text regarding the place of courage in sport. Here, I want to extend the examination to the second book of the Divine Comedy, the Purgatory. In this post, I will…
The Outrageous Idea of Christian Teaching: A Response to Elmer John Thiessen Post
Since Elmer John Thiessen is one of the foremost philosophical thinkers in Christian education, we are grateful for his review. Furthermore, considering Thiessen’s contributions and his extensive teaching experience in pluralistic contexts we are similarly grateful for his claim that we “make a significant contribution to providing a more nuanced answer to the question as…
When the Meditations of My Heart Are Not Pleasing: Confessions of a Peer-Reviewer Post
For the past few years, my family has implemented the practice of selecting a Biblical passage to be the “family verse/passage” for the calendar year. For 2023, we have chosen a well-known verse in Psalm 19:14 (ESV): “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O…
Give Them the Gift of Hesed Post
She calls out to the man on the street Sir, can you help me? It’s cold and I’ve nowhere to sleep Is there somewhere you can tell me? He walks on, doesn’t look back He pretends he can’t hear her Starts to whistle as he crosses the street Seems embarrassed to be there Oh, think…
Another Way In: “Near-Death Experiences” as an Apologetic Post
Maria was dead. The hospital staff worked heroically to save her, but the heart attack was just too severe. Somehow, though, Maria saw the whole resuscitation process from above. She saw something else, too, as she drifted from the room. A tennis shoe: Third floor of the hospital, on an outside window ledge. Maria would…