“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” -Colossians 1:16 One of the laboratory procedures we teach to first-year general chemistry students involves measuring the wavelengths of the visible emission…
American confidence in the “value” of higher education is plummeting. In 2015, 57% of Americans had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education, but in 2023 that number fell to a mere 36%. What role might academics play in eroding this trust and how might Christian academics help reverse this…
If the thousands of global reports of “near-death experiences” (NDEs) are to be believed, they support much in Christian theology, including consciousness surviving physical death and the existence of a supernatural realm, a supreme being of unfathomable love, an intercessor named Jesus, and an afterlife with both glorious and ghastly destinations. Conversely, many NDE reports…
This essay recounts the history of The Gordon Review, a journal produced from 1955 to 1970 as an independent effort of several Gordon College faculty. Among Christian scholars from a more evangelical tradition, this journal was the earliest systematic effort to publish interdisciplinary scholarship integrating the Christian faith. The Gordon Review exhibited a particular approach…
The other night before bed, my sons and I were watching the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It was early in the film and two of the Pevensie children, Peter and Susan, were in Professor Kirke’s study because their sister, Lucy, had just caused a ruckus in the middle of…
This article briefly summarizes some recent psychosocial research that describes the posture of grievance from which many young adults operate today. It then recounts three stories of classroom encounters that illustrate how this posture affects the way young adults read classic Christian texts. Next, it analyzes this “hermeneutic of grievance” itself, showing how this reading…
Christianity is best understood as a religion that requires integration throughout a believer’s life. Scriptures such as 1 Corinthians 10:31 and James 1:8 warn against compartmentalizing one’s life into sacred areas that are subject to God’s requirements and secular areas that are outside His purview. Christian business faculty have long called on our students to…
America is a very moralistic country, with entire cable channels devoted to gossiping about moral lapses and crime. Our colleges and universities, by contrast, have a reputation as value-free zones, with professors who refine their skepticism about value judgments and students who are indulged in whatever behaviors they choose. This is how we train our…
Wisdom in the Scriptures speaks explicitly about God’s day-to-day involvement in the governance of His creation. Harry Cook and John R. Wood explore how participants in the religion-science debate have developed theories about the seeming independence of nature and its laws and God’s relationship with nature. The role of chance, the meaning of suffering in…
This May I taught a summer course called “Technology and Freedom.” We read many of the usual suspects, including some great Christian critics of technology like Ivan Illich and Jacques Ellul. But the course wasn’t really about ideas. Informally we called it “the tech-free dorm course.” The students spent the entire month living together in…
In the fifteenth episode of the Saturdays at Seven conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Alister McGrath, a Senior Research Fellow with the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, the Andreos Idreos Professor of Science and Religion Emeritus, and a Fellow Emeritus with Harris Manchester College at the University of Oxford. McGrath opens by talking about his interest in the work of Fr. Tomáš Halík and the relevance of Halík’s work for Christian discipleship in a postsecular age. McGrath then details how he goes about evaluating the merits of intellectual work and how to build bridges between theology and various disciplines and then, in particular, between theology and the natural sciences. Ream and McGrath then close their conversation by talking about contributions Christian scholars can make to the Church and how scholars can persist even when their work appears to be of no immediate interest to the Church.
In the forty-seventh episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Michael W. McConnell, the Richard and Mallery Francis Professor of Law, Director of the Constitutional Law Center, and Senior Fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. McConnell starts by offering details concerning how his preparation for the sixteen cases he argued to date before the Supreme Court differs from his preparation for the cases he argued before other appellate courts. Ream and McConnell then discuss how McConnell’s calling to the study and practice of law emerged and how clerking for Skelly Wright with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for William Brennan with the United States Supreme Court impacted McConnell’s vocation as a legal scholar. Their conversation then shifts to McConnell’s most recent book (co-authored with Nathan Chapman), Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience (Oxford University Press, 2023), cases McConnell argued concerning the Establishment Clause, and how the views of the courts—especially the Supreme Court—changed over time concerning this critical component of the Constitution. Ream and McConnell then close by discussing McConnell’s understanding of the academic vocation and how the his service to his students is still what he values the most.
In the thirteenth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Heather Templeton Dill, the President of the John Templeton Foundation. Heather talks about her vision for the foundation to be a global catalyst that inspires awe and wonder as a result of its focus on investing in efforts to ask the big questions. They also talk about the impact that Heather’s grandfather, Sir John Templeton, and her father, John M. Templeton, Jr. had on the vision and culture of the foundation. They then close by talking about how Church-related colleges and universities can be spaces in our society which cultivate an ability to ask the big questions as well as foster the virtues educators and students need to pursue possible answers to those questions.
In the thirtieth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Aaron Dominguez, Ordinary Professor of Physics and Provost at Catholic University of America. Dominguez opens by explaining the significance of the Higgs boson for non-physicists, the types of experiments that led to its to its discovery, and ongoing research efforts at facilities such as the Large Hadron Collider that seek to build upon it. Ream and Dominguez then shift to discussing Dominguez’s calling to physics and how the scale of research efforts he led afforded him with abilities he now exercises while serving as the chief academic officer of a research university. They then discuss the unique details concerning Catholic University of America’s history and structure as exemplified by the relationship it shares with United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Vatican as well as its presence in Washington, DC. Ream and Dominguez close by talking about how that history and structure influence professional development efforts afforded to all educators called to serve at Catholic University of America.
In the sixteenth century, Martin Luther dramatically reformed the Christian concept of vocation, de-emphasizing the long-standing distinction between the clergy and the laity. Scholars rightly point to Luther as a key figure in this shift; however, he sometimes receives so much attention that one might easily miss the nuanced ways in which some earlier medieval…
Communication was a crucial element of E. Stanley Jones’s effectiveness as a missionary, spokesman, and advocate in India and across the world. From friendship with Mahatma Gandhi, his influence on Martin Luther King Jr., to his founding of the worldwide Christian Ashram movement and Round Table conferences, Jones demonstrated that interconnectedness is a necessary aspect…
Ready or not, a new academic year is here! As soon as the calendar flips to August, my mind shifts from vacation to preparing for fall courses and setting goals for the new year. One goal on my list for 2023-2024 is spiritual wellness. Spiritual wellness is critical for my success as a Christian professor….
In April, the actions of the Washington state legislature were discussed on the SPU faculty e-mail list, which might be a first. We celebrated as SB 5848 “Concerning licensure for music therapists” passed. Several SPU faculty had worked with representatives and constituents for years to establish this licensure, which supports our undergraduate degree in music…
Through the church, God commends his gospel to the world and his wisdom to its rulers and principalities (see, for example, Eph. 3:10). The gospel is the authoritative story about the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the declaration of his reign as Lord, which was accomplished through his death and resurrection…
The title of this review essay should challenge Christians as much as Bruno Latour’s Facing Gaia challenges nearly everything about modern society. Humanity has created a planet that is reacting very unfavorably toward its makers. Latour’s challenge—or rather, Gaia’s—is first to our belief that we are rational and second that our profound irrationality generates collective…
