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The Fragile Cultural Foundations of American Democracy (An Extended Review)

August 18, 2025
James Davison Hunter wants us to know things look bad because they are bad and have been so for quite some time: the United States is not only facing stark polarizations in our time, but, he argues, these polarizations are a result of the longstanding fault lines within our foundations for democracy. In this long-awaited…

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The Fragile Cultural Foundations of American Democracy (An Extended Review) Part 2

Hunter’s overall point is well taken, though: new efforts at undergirding democracy became more focused on reason (internally derived ideas) or on natural law (externally derived absolutes), and less so an amalgamation of the two, feeding eventually into a culture war. For instance, John Dewey had great faith in our capacity to reason our way…

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Saturdays at Seven Conversation Series

“Truth Seeking” ft. the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Ian Hutchinson I Saturdays at Seven – Season Three, Episode Nine

In the ninth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Ian Hutchinson, Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hutchinson opens by introducing the legacy of the tokamak in the history of nuclear science. Initially developed by the Soviets, the…
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August 18, 2025

Read Aloud!—For Edification: Pedagogical Reflections Inspired by Kierkegaard

In a passage sure to strike many moderns as charmingly quaint, Augustine confesses genuine puzzlement upon observing one of Saint Ambrose’s reading habits: “When he read, his eyes travelled across the page and his heart sought into the sense, but voice and tongue were silent.Augustine, Confessions, ed. Michael P. Foley, trans. F. J. Sheed (Hacket,…
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August 18, 2025

Election to Community untoMaximizing Shalom as the Heart of Vocation: Wolfhart Pannenberg and Stanley J. Grenz in Dialogue with John G. Stackhouse, Jr.

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…
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August 18, 2025

Why Seek Profits?: A Missional Perspective on Business

For-profit businesses dominate the modern economy. But is there any good reason for the Christian to willingly participate in them? Upon first glance, this seems like a silly question. Despite the way it is often practiced, for-profit business enterprises can be a powerful force for good and can have a variety of positive consequences, both…
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May 19, 2025

Mending the Christian Imagination: Place, Race, and Calling in Christian Higher Education

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…
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May 19, 2025

All Quiet with Darwin: Animal Suffering and Divine Benevolence in Historical Perspective

For many centuries, the belief in God as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe was undisputed in the Western world.For this article, I will use the following definitions: Christians are those who believe that there is someone who created the universe and has been maintaining it ever since; atheists are those who do not…
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May 19, 2025

Making Sense of Christian Learning

Introduction Christian higher education finds itself at a significant crossroads. Cultural upheaval, significant shifts in college enrollment, concerns around the enduring value of a college degree, the impact of artificial intelligence, and many other factors swirl about amidst ongoing financial pressures.Michael Smith, “The Public is Giving Up on Higher Ed,” Chronicle of Higher Education, October…

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The CSR blog is published daily with contributions from over 30 experienced scholars and practitioners discuss how Christ animates learning across a broad range of fields. The CSR blog provides a forum that both creates and curates interdisciplinary conversations about faith and learning in a way that draws and informs leading Christian scholars and practitioners from around the world.

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October 31, 2025

The Fragile Cultural Foundations of American Democracy (An Extended Review) Part 2

Hunter’s overall point is well taken, though: new efforts at undergirding democracy became more focused on reason (internally derived ideas) or on natural law (externally derived absolutes), and less so an amalgamation of the two, feeding eventually into a culture war. For instance, John Dewey had great faith in our capacity to reason our way…
Blog
October 31, 2025

The Fragile Cultural Foundations of American Democracy (An Extended Review) Part 2

Hunter’s overall point is well taken, though: new efforts at undergirding democracy became more focused on reason (internally derived ideas) or on natural law (externally derived absolutes), and less so an amalgamation of the two, feeding eventually into a culture war. For instance, John Dewey had great faith in our capacity to reason our way…
Blog
October 30, 2025

The Fragile Cultural Foundations of American Democracy (An Extended Review) Part 1

James Davison Hunter wants us to know things look bad because they are bad and have been so for quite some time: the United States is not only facing stark polarizations in our time, but, he argues, these polarizations are a result of the longstanding fault lines within our foundations for democracy. In this long-awaited…
Blog
October 28, 2025

Hockey Priest: Giving Greater Thought to Sporting Involvement

Editor's note: Images Courtesy of St. Michael's College School “Why speak of muscular Christianity?” asked an academic to a presenting colleague at a sports history conference I recently attended. The questioner made it clear that, in his opinion, sport historians have no need for religion in their field of study. The statement sounded sensible, as…
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October 27, 2025

“God, Grant Me Extra Perseverance”: A Glimpse into a Professor’s Inner World of Intrusive Thoughts and Brief Prayers During Class   

I am late for class. More precisely, I arrive in the classroom too close to the start time for my liking. I frantically go through the pre-class ritual: log into the podium computer, open my PowerPoint file, lay out lecture notes, grab a few whiteboard markers, find the attendance sheet, and take a big sip…
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October 24, 2025

Netflix Nationalism: Placing the North American Christian Nationalism Discussion in an International Context

Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and other streaming services can provide an insightful international education if you want one. With movies and television shows from any country with enough money to trot them out, one can get a good idea about what appeals to the popular passions of numerous different cultures. As an American viewer, what…

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Established in 1970, Christian Scholar’s Review is a medium for communication among Christians who have been called to an academic vocation. Its primary objective is the publication of peer-reviewed scholarship and research, within and across the disciplines, that advances the integration of faith and learning and contributes to a broader and more unified understanding of the nature of creation, culture, and vocation and the responsibilities of those whom God has created. It also provides a forum for discussion of pedagogical and theoretical issues related to Christian higher education. It invites contributions from Christian scholars of all historic traditions, and from others sympathetic to the task of religiously-informed scholarship, that advance the work of Christian academic communities and enhance mutual understanding with other religious and academic communities.

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