50th Anniversary Celebration Post
Christian Scholar’s Review is pleased to announce the celebration of its 50th anniversary. On Thursday, October 28, 2021, CSR will release its 50th anniversary issue (51:1) at a reception following an address offered by Joel A. Carpenter, Calvin University’s Provost Emeritus and Senior Research Fellow with the Nagel Institute, as part of Baylor University’s annual…
Review of Public Intellectuals and the Common Good: Christian Thinking for Human Flourishing Post
“America needs more private intellectuals.” So tweeted Baylor University philosopher and occasional public intellectual Francis Beckwith. Perhaps Beckwith had in mind a particular public intellectual’s unfortunate essay or social media misadventure. There is little doubt public intellectuals draw fire from all sides. Scholars wholly dedicated to their guild and the “pure” pursuit of knowledge can…
Thinking Beyond the Ivory Tower: An Interview with Melissa Cain Travis Post
Having worked in academia for the past two decades, I often take for granted the myriad opportunities it provides for substantive discussion and debate, ubiquitous reading suggestions casually tossed out in hallway conversations, and routinely scheduled lectures and workshops. Like most, I went into teaching as much for that milieu as for anything else this…
From Achilles to Christ & Classics and the Bible Post
Having been struck by the title of the former book, I was reading it with a view to reviewing it when I came across the latter, and decided after a preliminary perusal that a review of both together would be more fruitful. As a teacher of the Classics (mostly in translation) at a Christian College,…
Your invitation to publish with Christian Scholar’s Review Post
Over the past 52 years, Christian Scholar’s Review has published over 1,000 articles and is well on its way to reviewing 4,000 books. Published quarterly, each issue usually showcases 4–5 articles and 8–10 book reviews from the full range of academic fields. In our continual mission to further Christ-animated scholarship, we invite you to add…
Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics Post
Reviewed by Edward C. Polson, Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, Messiah College. In Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat examines some of the most significant changes that have occurred in U.S. religious life since the 1950s. He explores the impact that the declining significance of both…
Bringing Sex Into Focus: The Quest for Sexual Integrity Post
Reviewed by Benjamin B. DeVan, Ethics and Theology, Durham University “Of making many books there is no end” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). This aphorism traditionally attributed to King Solomon especially applies to books about sex, which proliferate in print and online faster than the proverbial jackrabbit, and exponentially exceed in number Solomon’s “seven hundred wives of royal…
Changing Signs of Truth: A Christian Introduction to the Semiotics of Communication Post
Reviewed by Christine A. Colón, English, Wheaton College Recently, I read a post by a Christian blogger who, in response to harsh criticism, was trying to defend his use of language regarding women’s roles in marriage. He argued that he never meant to victimize women with his words and then tried to defend himself by…
Afro-Pentecostalism: Black Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in History and Culture Post
Reviewed by Kenneth L. Waters, Sr., Theology, Azusa Pacific University As a phenomenon of the African American church, Afro-Pentecostalism is expressive of an African heritage, a Holiness-liberationist perspective, the pivotal leadership of W. J. Seymour, and the enduring legacy of the Azusa Street Revival. Fourteen scholars come together in an edited volume to explore various…
From Memory to Imagination— A Review Essay Post
Steven R. Guthrie is Associate Professor of Religion at Belmont University. We have reached a decisive moment in Western culture, a moment of monumental consequence, for the church generally and for its practice of music specifically. This claim is at the heart of C. Randall Bradley’s From Memory to Imagination: Reforming the Church’s Music. Bradley…
Moral Minority: The Evangelical Left in an Age of Conservatism Post
Reviewed by Philip D. Byers, Residence Life, Bethel University David R. Swartz has produced a book that is at once innovative historiography and enlivening prose. Using the 1973 Thanksgiving Workshop of Evangelical Social Concern and its resulting “Chicago Declaration” as his framework, Swartz narrates and analyzes the mid-twentieth-century progressive movement in American evangelicalism. Examining many…
Classical Christian Doctrine: Introducing the Essentials of the Ancient Faith Post
Reviewed by Kyle A. Schenkewitz, Theological Studies, Saint Louis University Ronald E. Heine observes a lacuna in undergraduate-focused theology texts. His intention is to provide a “gateway into the beliefs and teachings of the early Christians” that would compliment the growing academic interest in early Christian writers (vii). Heine incorporates the Nicene Creed as the…
The Singing Heart of the World: Creation, Evolution, and Faith Post
Reviewed by Michael Buratovich, Biochemistry, Spring Arbor University Several atheist scientists have written books arguing that their worldview ennobles humanity, engenders a deep appreciation of nature, provides the proper motivation and impetus for habitat and species conservation, and cultivates a reverent wonder of the majesty and intricacies of our planet and the universe. Christian scientists…
The Christian Century and the Rise of the Protestant Mainline Post
Reviewed by Philip D. Byers, Graduate Student in History, Washington University in St. Louis For the latter half of the twentieth century, the ubiquity of the word “evangelical” in common parlance bore little correlation to the degree to which social commentators and water-cooler politicos actually understood the movement. Thankfully, diligent work by a generation of…
Natural Signs and Knowledge of God Post
Reviewed by John Culp, Philosophy, Azusa Pacific University This paperback edition of a work originally published in 2010 responds to the general recognition among both Christians and non-Christians that the traditional arguments from natural theology for God’s existence do not provide conclusive proof that God exists. Despite this recognition, the ongoing revision and debate about…
Reflection: Standing on the Shoulders of Others Post
For sixteen years Don W. King has served as the Editor of the Christian Scholar’s Review. In the first of three short reflections as he completes his service to CSR effective May 1, 2015, he muses on an obvious but nonetheless important truth—all of us owe much to those who have gone before us. Mr….
A Naked Tree: Love Sonnets to C. S. Lewis and Other Poems Post
Reviewed by Marion H. Larson, English, Bethel University Joy Davidman is best known today as the wife of C. S. Lewis, her untimely death poignantly portrayed in the play and subsequent film Shadowlands. Many also know of her through the touching reflections on death and the problem of pain that Lewis penned in A Grief…
Political Agape: Christian Love and Liberal Democracy Post
Reviewed by Micah J. Watson, Political Science, Calvin College Timothy P. Jackson is an intellectual revolutionary disguised as a distinguished professor of Christian ethics at Emory University. Political Agape is the third in a trilogy of books aimed at changing the way we think about a host of first-order subjects. Jackson’s primary goal in this…
Mapping Your Academic Career: Charting the Course of a Professor’s Life Post
Reviewed by Glenn E. Sanders, Anthropology, History, Political Science, Oklahoma Baptist University Gary Burge’s short book ably traces the contours of the traditional American professor’s career, from initial appointment to retirement. Drawing on insights from adult developmental psychology, he describes “the … stages that follow the professorial career and provide[s] practical advice on how to…