Integrity in biology research is essential to positive, forward progress in our understanding of the created world. In this essay, Baker shares her perspective as a biology educator and researcher on the influence that Christian calling can have on the conscious decision to pursue and conduct research with integrity. She provides personal and practical suggestions…
This introduction gives an overview of mimetic theory’s three core ideas as first formulated in the work of René Girard, its general reception in the academy, and its close connection to Christianity. It surveys applications of the theory across the disciplines of the social sciences and humanities (as developed more fully by other articles in this theme issue)…
“The main emotion of the adult American who has all the advantages of wealth, education, and culture is disappointment.” John Cheever, novelist Like many fans of Adele, I tuned into her televised outdoor concert at the scenic Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles (Nov. 14, 2021). With the iconic HOLLYWOOD sign the in the background, the…
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….
Economic growth is controversial. While economists tend to support it, in recent decades economic growth has been vigorously critiqued from multiple points of view, including from Christian theology and ethics. In this article Edd S. Noell and Stephen L. S. Smith analyze economic growth in light of both economics and Christian theology, and make a…
In this episode of the Saturdays at Seven Podcast, Todd Ream interviews Daniel D. Jensen, the Westmont endowed Professor of Engineering and Director of the Engineering Program at Westmont College. Dan shares about getting into aerospace engineering and his transition from serving on the faculty at the United States Air Force Academy for 21 years to now teaching at Westmont.
In the second episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Francis S. Collins, physician-scientist and former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Collins begins by describing the day in November 2020, when he and his colleagues at the NIH unblinded the data related to the clinical trial for the COVID-19 vaccine and found its efficacy rate was 94.5%. In addition to describing his response and the responses of his colleagues to what was an unprecedented success, Collins offers details concerning previous scientific achievements upon which he and his colleagues depended when making such a successful vaccine in such a short period of time. Ream then asks Collins to step back and describe how he came to embrace serving as a physician-scientist as his vocation. While Collins was fortunate to work with several mentors while a medical student, a doctoral student, and an undergraduate, he offers the greatest credit to a high school teacher, Mr. House, who introduced Collins to scientific research as being comparable to being a detective. Collins describes his hopes for his most recent book, The Road to Wisdom, and his desire for people to come together during such a polarized season. Collins then closes by describing his work with operatic-soprano Renée Fleming and how the relationship shared by music and science enhances human health and flourishing.
Susan VanZanten is the Assistant Vice President for Mission and Spiritual Life and Consulting Dean for Christ College, the Honors College at Valparaiso University. She will be retiring in 2022. She has published many essays and books, including Joining the Mission: A Guide for (Mainly) New Faculty Members (Eerdmans, 2011). I have spent over 45…
Rick Langer is the Director of the Office of Faith and Learning at Biola University where he is also Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology and the co-director of the Winsome Conviction Project. His publications have focused on applying theology to a wide variety of disciplines including business leadership, disability, suffering, bioethics, and most recently,…
Recently, the distinctive role that Christianity plays in shaping teaching has become an important focus of conversation in Christian higher education. To help provide an empirical understanding of current practices, Nathan F. Alleman, Perry L. Glanzer, and David S. Guthrie drew upon a survey of 2,309 faculty at 48 institutions in the Council for Christian…
It is a great time to graduate college in America. Unemployment rates are hovering at around 3.7%, as low as they have been since the 1960s and approaching what economists would consider full employment. The hot job market not only provides a great sense of affirmation for newly minted college grads as potential employers woo…
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…
My academic inspiration this summer came from an unlikely source: Apple TV’s Ted Lasso. I know, curveball, right? But I can explain. Two years ago, my husband David and I had just settled into our new home in Houston. We were both assuming new positions at a new school and, like everyone else, navigating the…
The burden of this essay is to argue that while cyberspace technologies do open up profound new possibilities for imagining and inhabiting the world, there is a creational limitation to the human imagination: our bodies. Justin Bailey argues that personhood is always grounded in and governed by norms of embodiment – things like corporeality, locality,…
Devastating as the pandemic has been, it has created space for reflection on important questions. Much of what we considered “normal” before no longer seems viable. As some argue, wealth, social and racial inequality, oppressive work conditions, among other issues not only remain, but have become exacerbated as a result of the on-going pandemic. Arguably,…
“Water is a human right!” read signs held by angry residents in Flint Michigan—a majority-Black city where 40 percent of people live in poverty—complaining of unsafe drinking water. In April 2015—one year after residents started complaining—an independent test done by Virginia Tech researchers found lead levels at 13,200 ppb (water is considered hazardous waste at…
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…
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…
Just this month, the Social Security Administration announced that Social Security benefits for over 66 million Americans will increase by 3.2 percent in 2024. For those who receive benefits, this cost-of-living adjustment will be a welcome step to help them deal with the impact of inflation. Social Security is perhaps the most successful government program…
Much of Christian scholarship has defended the Conception View of personhood, the idea that human beings have intrinsic value that begins at conception. However, modern reproductive technologies have led to new scientific insights into human embryology, without a matching increase in our metaphysical and moral understandings. A rigorous formulation of human nature and personhood is…
