Responding to recent scholarship on writing pedagogy and hospitality, this essay offers a vision for a hospitable First-Year Writing (FYW) course that fits into the story of Scripture: one in which Christian hospitality lays a foundation for assignments, class conversations, student-teacher interactions, and assessment, among other practices. The essay includes reflections on my own attempts…
Andy Crouch first burst onto the Christian scene with his book Culture Making. This volume is his latest work, and it continues with his earlier focus on the impact of technology on our lives. With a title like The Life We’re Looking For, there is an immediate hook of interest, as so many people in…
Mitchell J. Neubert is a Professor of Management and the Chavanne Chair of Christian Ethics in Business at the Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University. I applaud Wong, Baker, and Franz for drawing attention to the need for business professors in Christian colleges and universities to examine their approach to educating students. It also is…
Justin Ariel Bailey is assistant professor of theology at Dordt University. His research explores the intersections of Christian theology, culture, and ministry, and his forthcoming book is entitled Reimagining Apologetics: The Beauty of Faith in a Secular Age (IVP Academic, 2020). Every semester, I teach a Bible survey course, mostly to freshmen undergraduates. Early in…
Reviewed by Tawa J. Anderson, Philosophy, Oklahoma Baptist University The discipline of contemporary Christian apologetics is rapidly gaining prominence. Earlier works by Cornelius Van Til, E. J. Carnell, John Warwick Montgomery, and Francis Schaeffer strongly influenced a new generation of Christian philosophers and apologetics. Lee Strobel’s popular lay-oriented apologetic works both sparked and marked a…
A review of one’s work, especially a fair and kind one, is a gift. An invitation to address the matter further in response is another. In the present case, there is little cause for a response of the crossing swords variety, since Dave Klanderman apparently liked On Christian Teaching: Practicing Faith in the Classroom and…
November 15 marks an important anniversary that will pass unnoticed for most, at least in North America. It is the day on which the author of the following words passed away: It is desired that not just one particular person be fully formed into full humanity, or a few, or even many, but every single…
In February I posted a piece in which I wondered how we think about our students’ vocations and how that might affect how we teach. I pointed to a common Protestant theology of vocation. Christians have a primary vocation to love God in Christ and to love their neighbor. This is worked out through an…
Some time ago, I noticed a poster on a departmental noticeboard at my university bearing the heading “Vocational Retreat.” It invited students to join a retreat at which alumni would share insights and experiences. The speakers, it promised, would address racial reconciliation, peace building, environmental sustainability, and advocacy. They would “give students practical advice about…
William Chillingworth proclaimed in 1638, “The Bible, the Bible only I say, is the religion of the Protestants” (12); this is the sense in which Timothy George’s treatment of the Reformers’ handling of Scripture is played out for the reader. This book is the introductory release from InterVarsity’s upcoming commentary series, which will edit and…
The way we pray says quite a lot about us. Our prayers and the way we form them project a story about what ought to be. When we draw upon the public prayers of others and make our own prayers part of public discourse, prayer becomes one form of teaching and learning. I have been…
Tertullian once asked rhetorically, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” John Mark Reynolds has turned this question on its head and has offered an intelligent apology for embracing both schools of thought in order to defend and develop the Christian dogma. When Athens Met Jerusalem sets forth to be an introduction to Classical and…
This morning a little space opened up in my schedule, and I have been re-reading a long-familiar book. The physical volume is old and worn. In fact, it was re-issued with a fresh title almost three decades ago, and I am holding the original edition, though I bought it used. As my eye has traveled…
In one of Grammarly’s ubiquitous advertisements, a hapless writer uses the popular AI-based editing software to improve an interpersonal communication. The furrowed brows accompanying the initial attempt (“we might be able to find a way to make this happen”) give way to gratified smiles as the sentence becomes “we can find a way to make…
In the preface to her recent book on theological education, Elizabeth Conde-Frazier describes some of the repeating patterns that she experienced during her childhood as a member of a Latin@ church in New York. In her church, children were drawn into ministry early as ushers, visitors of the sick, assistants with communion, deacons, and Sunday…
Efforts toward the integration of Christian theology and academic disciplines are not easy undertakings and can look quite disparate across the disciplines. What can be easily lost in these pursuits are the unique callings that drive integration efforts and the individuals that engage in them. Glendon Moriarty’s book provides a unique reflection on the “integration…
In yesterday’s post, I recounted Burtchaell’s argument about the threats to Christian higher education and my response recorded in the book, Quality with Soul: How Six Premier Colleges and Universities Keep Faith with Their Religious Traditions. Burtchaell’s response to me, in a private letter, was quite complimentary but he claimed I was wrong on two…
As the subtitle suggests, Shirley Mullen’s new book, Claiming the Courageous Middle, invites believers to dare “to live and work together for a more hopeful future.” This applies to all areas of life, from family to church membership, and to jobs as well, even that of professor. I don’t refer to professors as daring; I’d…
Crossing Cultures with the Gospel is about just that, and its wisdom and insight easily extends into Christian college and university classrooms of all subjects. Miriam Adeney’s foreword sums up the book perfectly: Whiteman’s charisma and vitality distilled into wisdom that can be put into practice. Drawing from nearly a half-century of missionary experience, including…
Crossing Cultures with the Gospel is about just that, and its wisdom and insight easily extends into Christian college and university classrooms of all subjects. Miriam Adeney’s foreword sums up the book perfectly: Whiteman’s charisma and vitality distilled into wisdom that can be put into practice. Drawing from nearly a half-century of missionary experience, including…
