When the early Church began building its own educational tradition, it faced the challenge of how developing this new Christian revelation should interact with Greek and Roman thinking. They had to ask, as the early Christian thinker Tertullian did, “What indeed does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?” Various Church Fathers gave three types of…
Joshua R. Canada is Director of Strategic Partnerships in the College of Liberal Arts, Azusa Pacific University. On April 28, 2018, society lost one of its premier scholars. At age 79, James Cone, a central figure in the development of Black liberation theology, went on to glory. Cone’s 1969 book, Black Theology and Black Power,…
Lenore M. Knight Johnson is associate professor of Sociology and co-director of the Honors Program at Trinity Christian College. Crumbling public schools. Gun violence. Loss. Failure. Death. Grief. The stories we commonly hear of Chicago paint a grim picture dominated by all that is broken in the third largest city in the United States. Yet…
Since assuming the general editorship of the Christian Scholar’s Review in 1999, I have been blessed to work with dozens of wonderful associate editors, scores of expert reviewers, Kim McMurtry, our formatter, and Elaine Friedberg, our copy editor. I have especially enjoyed working with David Hoekema, our publisher, Jerry Pattengale, our associate publisher, and Todd…
Robert C. Bishop and Joshua Carr describe and critique a number of assumptions found in recent books by atheist authors arguing against God’s existence. Several of these assump- tions are shared widely by Christians and may be adversely influencing our own work. Mr. Bishop is Associate Professor of Physics and Philosophy and the John and…
Reviewed by Charles Andrews, English, Whitworth University The hoopla in the Charles Dickens bicentenary has sustained a wealth of publications popular and scholarly on this most distinctly English of the great English writers. Gary L. Colledge contributes to this celebration a book that is a curious blending of scholarly intervention and popular plea to Christians…
In this article, we will attempt to build a multi-dimensional vision of rehabilitation, based in Christian understandings of human nature, redemption, and community. By first exploring what rehabilitation means and why it is important, we will then survey three models of restoration and rehabilitation which can be instituted as programs offered within the incarceration system…
Reviewed by Jerry Pattengale, Assistant Provost, Indiana Wesleyan University If Craig Dykstra’s comments on a higher education book prompt a pause, his endorsement of one on vocation should arrest your attention. In this case, his jacket comments both summarize and champion The American College Presidency as Vocation as “a great addition to the expanding literature…
The publisher and editors of the Christian Scholar’s Review are pleased to announce the recipient of its annual award for best article. The winner of the Charles J. Miller Christian Scholar’s Award for volume 42 is Rick Kennedy, professor of history at Point Loma Nazarene University. His article, “Educating Bees: Humility as a Craft in…
Reviewed by Brian R. Bolt, Kinesiology, Calvin College When he wanted to make a point that could be understood by the widest possible audience, the apostle Paul’s metaphor of choice was sport. In sport Paul saw unrivaled tenacity, commitment, sacrifice, affinity, and intense love – all attributes he sought to stir in the hearts of…
A previous article, “Christian Communities and ‘Recovered Memories’ of Abuse” (CSR 41.4 [2012]: 381-400) by Robert J. Priest and Esther E. Cordill, examines the problem of individuals wrongfully found to have committed abuse against minors in a mission context. However, James Evinger and Rich Darr argue the article erroneously describes the methodology of one denomination’s…
As Christ-followers become increasingly active in social justice, what is motivating their efforts? Steve L. Porter argues that the sustainability of Christian social action is ultimately dependent on receptivity to the energizing presence of Christ. Felicia Heykoop, Barbara Miller, and Todd Pickett each reflect on the practicalities of implementing such a model in a college,…
Reviewed by Alice L. Laffey, Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross In the past 35 years this reviewer has read many books in the field of biblical studies and many books on the environment. There has been an occasional book that has combined biblical studies and the environmental crisis, but these usually have been…
Reviewed by Debra Paxton-Buursma, Education, Calvin College Everyone loves stories of transformation, especially when recounting crisis-creating contingencies that line the fabric of life. Despite human capacity and faith-filled living, change and loss lodge in our lives threatening the stability of our core beliefs, logic, and practices. When crisis hits, we often find the doctrine of…
Tom Copeland is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Biola University. Teaching at Christian liberal arts colleges, I have wondered if there is a role for myth or fiction in teaching truths about the social realm, and whether as a result of encountering such stories, students might respond with more enthusiasm to great ideas…
Bethany Keeley-Jonker and Craig Mattson notice that some of their best speech students practice a delivery so controlled it feels uncanny. This essay traces such “zombie speech” not to students’ worldview assumptions but to affective norms in conventional speech pedagogy. The essay appropriates Christian theology to reorient the practice of speech in keeping with a…
Advances in DNA sequencing technologies are revolutionizing our understanding of microbial populations on and within human beings. The goal of this article is to evaluate some of these discoveries in light of the story of scripture. The early chapters of Genesis make clear the relational nature of human being in regards to our connections to…
Todd C. Ream is Professor of Higher Education, Taylor University, and Distinguished Fellow, Excelsia College. By almost any measure, Theodore Martin Hesburgh, C.S.C. (May 25, 1917 –February 26, 2015) was among the greatest university presidents of the twentieth century. Some historians may even go so far as to argue Hesburgh stands amongst the greatest university…
Mackenzi Huyser serves as Executive Director of Chicago Semester. What is the Cost of Segregation in Chicago? This question was explored in a March 2017 report released by the Urban Institute in partnership with the Metropolitan Planning Council. One of the three important findings in this research was that “Chicago continues to struggle as a…
In his Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, the eighteenth-century founder of Methodism, John Wesley, strove for biblical commentary that penetrated deeply yet remained concise and clear. Discontent with mere intellectual insights, Wesley yearned to assist the “learned and unlearned” to understand better God’s ways so that they would progress in joy and character development…
