Review by Jeanne Schindler, Humanities, Villanova University William T. Cavanaugh’s latest book, Migrations of the Holy: God, State, and the Political Meaning of the Church, explores perennial themes of political theology in the context of contemporary political and economic questions. The book consists of essays written between 2004 and 2007 on a variety of subjects,…
As a journal editor, I intermittently see articles submitted that choose as their rhetorical opening some generalization, often alarmist, about “today’s students” and their supposed challenges or deficiencies. As someone who is regularly involved in providing professional development on the topic of teaching and learning, I also sometimes get asked to provide input on the…
Why bother? Among the more important questions we can ask as scholars—as researchers and as teachers—is this question of significance. Is the question that has occurred to me worth pursuing? If so, how far and at what cost? And if I then find out an answer, who cares? Should I try to publish it? Is…
I have recently realized that, despite my best intentions, I am guilty of chronological snobbery. It is a humbling—but helpful—understanding. It has helped me to make sense out of my own bewilderment over these past few years. Let me explain. I teach British literature, specializing in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (but like most professors,…
Reviewed by David McNutt, Biblical and Theological Studies, Wheaton College What is the role of theology in public life? How should theology relate to other aspects of our lives? Those who are keen to explore such vital questions will surely benefit from studying the work of Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920), the Dutch neo-Calvinist pastor, theologian, journalist,…
Given the space limitations with which we work at Christian Scholar’s Review, unfortunately it proves impossible to commission reviews of all of the books meriting such consideration. As a result, books that often get cut include those designed to serve broad audiences and/or a wide range of educational contexts. In order to try to rectify…
I have never missed an Earth Day. That’s only because I was fourteen on April 22, 1970 when the whole thing started. I generally don’t make a big deal out of the annual observance, any more than Presidents Day or College Department Chairs Day (there must be one, right?). It’s not that I don’t care…
Some Christian students in the sciences may encounter apparent tensions at the interface of science and religion, resulting in struggle, doubt, or loss of faith. While the content of these tensions is often addressed in the classroom, the experiential process of struggle is not often addressed. The goal of this paper is to explore two…
We cannot count on academics to study the most important realities in our lives (versus the latest academic fad). Motherhood is one of those important realities. Noble Laureate and University of Chicago economist James J. Heckman recently made this astounding observation, “[W]hat we don’t have—and to me, it’s an amazing deficiency—we don’t any good economic…
Readers of CSR and these blogs are likely familiar with the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) and its mission. If not, or if it’s been a while, I’d like to give you an introduction or an update. I have been a member of the ASA since, well…a long time. I am a Fellow, past Executive Council…
Reviewed by Matthew J. Milliner, Art, Wheaton College What is “theology and art,” this hybrid category of inquiry that has sprung up like bamboo in and across neatly divided academic plots? Should it be categorized as art practice, art history or musicology, philosophy, theology, or something different still? Whatever the answer (and there may not…
Reviewed by Stephen N. Bretsen, Business and Economics, Wheaton College The cover art on Andrew Skotnicki’s book The Last Judgment: Christian Ethics in a Legal Culture is disconcerting. The simple black and white drawing, called Judge Jesus by Mike Gregg, depicts a hollow-eyed Jesus with a beard and long hair bearing the crown of thorns…
A Christian liberal arts education should undermine certitude: something I learned from Dorothy L. Sayers, whose twelve radio plays about Jesus were so cherished by C. S. Lewis that he read them every year until he died. In my new book, Subversive: Christ, Culture, and the Shocking Dorothy L. Sayers (Broadleaf 2020), I recount how…
In a global digital culture of influencers, followers, and attention-deficit disorders, mimetic theory helps show that imitation shapes much more of human behavior than once thought and that even desire is mimetic. People want what they see others wanting, which often means conflict. It is an idea with complex implications, but its kernel is simple…
This collaboration between a social work researcher with expertise in systems of care for those with disabilities and a literary scholar asks whether mimetic theory can shed light on relational dynamics surrounding children with intellectual disabilities. Data came from two sources: field experience with organizations in China and interviews with stakeholders of organizations in Michigan….
In the first installment of this blog series, I established a basic framework for how Christians ought to analyze the place of winning in sports. I argued, following St. Augustine’s claim that virtue is the right “ordering of our loves,” that winning in sport could be loved, as long as it wasn’t loved more than…
During the pandemic, my wife and I often take extended walks around our neighborhood. During one particular walk, we waved to a man and his daughter (must have been around 4 or 5 years old) playing in front of their house, and the man returned the gesture. Immediately after this exchange, his daughter said to…
Matthew 5: Be Complete, Not Perfect I always begin my Humanities Philosophy course by discussing Matthew 5:43–48. In this provocative passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus delivers the most demanding moral command ever uttered: love your enemy. You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell…
According to Big Bang cosmology, time began at the moment of creation, along with energy, matter and space as constrained by the elegant equation E=mc2. Twentieth century astrophysicists quantified the expanse and duration of the cosmos. However, geologists were ahead of them on the duration thing by introducing the concept of deep time in the…
Dear friends, I have decided to stop using the online test monitoring system. I had felt conflicted about it throughout the semester last fall, because I was not convinced that it would prevent cheating and suspected it could worsen equity issues. Now I am finally abandoning it because it is bad for my soul and erodes…
