The Bible is silent about the existence of life on other worlds. With the exception of the angelic host—both good and evil—nowhere in Scripture is it explicitly stated that there are other races of beings anywhere in the universe that might give rise to UFOs. Genesis simply states God created celestial objects, “to divide the…
Economists generally don’t like tariffs. This was true even before the latest round of tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump. Various surveys have found that around 90 percent of economists believe that tariffs will negatively impact economic welfare, and a similar amount believe that tariffs lead to inflation. This is a high degree of agreement…
April is still a ways off so, no, I’m not trying to pull anyone’s leg. I really do find joy in academic administration…let me explain. My administrative work began as a department chair about 10 years ago when my dean asked if I’d consider serving. Honestly, I was a bit wary of some percolating challenges…
“All his life long man is imprisoned by our institutions.” Rousseau, Emile, Book 1 In the last decade, politicians, academics, and activists have called for abolishing various institutions (e.g., “abolish the police,” “abolish USAID”). These calls emerge out of the declining trust in almost every institution, which is at a historic low for particular institutions…
In the thirtieth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Rev. Emmanuel Katongole, Professor of Theology and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Katongole opens by discussing how he came to understand reconciliation and that despite the stubbornness of sin, God is at work in the world, inviting all of us to play a role in that larger story of reconciliation. He then shares how he came to be called to the priesthood, the two times he enrolled in seminary, and how the first time he enrolled yielded a sense of purpose that made all the difference the second time he enrolled. Katongole discusses how he understands home, how he values the childhood and the connections he shares with the people of Uganda, but also how anywhere he lived (including Southern Europe, Northern Europe, the American South, the American Midwest) also contributed to how he understands himself and home. Katongole offers details concerning how his books each respectively seek to deepen how audience members understand that larger story of reconciliation. He then concludes by offering how he understands the academic vocation, the two stories that define it, and ways the Church and the university can be of greater service to one another in the years to come.
In the twenty-ninth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Stephen M. Barr, President of the Society of Catholic Scientists and Professor of Physics Emeritus at the University of Delaware. Barr begins by unpacking the basics of the Grand Unified Theory for non-physicists. He details why the pursuit of such a theory has garnered widespread interest, the explanations that harbor the greatest potential, and the experimental efforts that need to be made to prove or disprove those explanations. Barr then shares that he always knew that mathematics and physics would be fundamental to how he exercised his vocation and that the only real decision he had to make was when choosing particle or high-energy physics as a sub-field. Barr discusses the ways the Society of Catholic Scientists has grown in recent years along with the programming and fellowship they offer including programs for high school students focused on cultivating a love for science as well as an appreciation for the relationship faith and science share. Barr then concludes by discussing his understanding of the academic vocation, the virtues physicists need to cultivate, and the vices against which physicists need to be vigilant.
In the twenty-eighth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Francis Su, the Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College. Su opens by discussing what motivates mathematicians and how the strange, uncanny, wonderful, and unexpected encounters are often the ones that excite them the most. In Su’s opinion, mathematics is defined as a habit of mind that is constantly undergoing formation. When such a process is well-oriented, strange, uncanny, wonderful, and unexpected encounters become sources of joy, inviting new ways to see and experience the world. Su shares that while his own formation as a mathematician eventually took on such an orientation, that process proved challenging, demanding deep reflection upon what he was uniquely called to contribute and the ways mathematics could serve as a means for such contributions. Along those very lines, Su contends that mathematics education often asks too little of students, demanding that they merely perform as human calculators, not as individuals in pursuit of truth to which mathematics is uniquely positioned to contribute. Su closes by sharing how mathematicians and the habits of mind they exhibit can be of greater service to colleagues in other disciplines, how scholars in other disciplines can be of greater service to mathematicians, and how both groups can work together to contribute to the mission of the Church.
“I can learn anything from AI now – why spend four years at a Christian college?” A high school senior asked me this question recently, his phone displaying ChatGPT’s impressive analysis of his calculus homework. It’s a question that echoes in living rooms across the country as families weigh the value of higher education against…
The term “multiverse” has gained popularity in the last decade as a storytelling trope exploring alternate timelines based on different choices characters do, or could, make. Yet, while the term may have found popularity in recent years, particularly due to the popularity of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this existential thought process is…
In the twenty-sixth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Mark Behrens, the John and Margaret McAndrews Professor of Mathematics at the University of Notre Dame. Behrens begins by unpacking the unique ways mathematics provides logical and replicable results. He also notes mathematics can prove mysterious when connections between results one did not expect, or at least initially did not expect, emerge. Identifying those connections, however, yield some of the greatest forms of satisfaction mathematicians can experience. Behrens shifts to talking through the ways various mentors fostered his love for mathematics and eventually his expertise in topology. As one who served as the editor for various prominent mathematics journals, Behrens also offers insights concerning the rapid nature of new results emerging in subdisciplines such as topology. He also discusses how mathematics, once a discipline dominated by individual efforts, is now dominated by collaborative efforts. The conversation then closes with Behrens sharing his understanding of the virtues mathematicians are well served by cultivating, the vices mathematicians are also well-served by confronting, and the ways mathematicians can be of greater service to scholars in other disciplines.
Has something gone awry in Christian political engagement? Are Christians deficient in how they think and act in the political world, especially in the United States? The three books under review in this essay—Daniel Williams’s The Politics of the Cross: A Christian Alternative to Partisanship, Daniel Bennett’s Uneasy Citizenship: Embracing the Tension in Faith and…
“Tryna make ends meet, you’re a slave to money then you die”Bitter Sweet Symphony, The Verve I remember seeing an empirical finding as an undergraduate student in the late 1980s and often thereafter. The finding came from the First Year Survey given annually by the Higher Education Research Institution at UCLA. They gave first-year students…
John Gottman became famous as a psychologist and scholar due to his ability to predict divorces in 90% of cases. He claims one particular vice is an important predictor of divorce. It is the vice of contempt. If he observes one or both spouses demonstrating contempt toward the other one, he considers it the key…
In the twenty-third episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Helen M. Alvaré, the Robert A. Levy Chair in Law and Liberty and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law. Alvaré opens by discussing the impact of the 2022 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, how debates concerning abortion shifted to the states, and the impact of that shift on families and childhood well-being. One of the commitments Alvaré also discusses is how her pro-life commitments and her commitments as a feminist are inextricable from one another and thus even reinforce and strengthen one another. Alvaré then shares details concerning her formation as a steward of the law which includes study as an undergraduate at Villanova, law school at Cornell, and graduate work in theology at Catholic University of America. She also unpacks how her service to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops during the 1990s impacted how she exercises her commitments to serve as a legal scholar and public intellectual. Those lessons then also inform efforts such as her most recent book, Religious Freedom after the Sexual Revolution. Alvaré then concludes by discussing the virtues legal scholars need to strive to cultivate and how those virtues can be aligned in ways that serve the Church and its efforts to put families and children first.
In the twenty-first episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Amanda Hontz Drury, Professor of Theology and Ministry and Director of the Imaginarium at Indiana Wesleyan University. Drury opens by discussing the discernment process that led her to establish the Imaginarium as well as the commitments that animate it. One commitment is a desire to leverage innovation in ways that shares the timeless commitments of the Christian tradition with children and adolescents. Another commitment is children and adolescents have far more to offer in terms of feedback concerning programs focused on their development than is often perceived. Drury then offers details concerning her own faith formation and how a haunting question concerning the persistence rates of adolescents in terms of faith formation proved foundational to how she understands her vocation as a clergyperson and scholar. As someone eventually appointed to the faculty with whom she studied as an undergraduate, Drury also reflects on the key components of that transition and lessons that may be of benefit to faculty members making comparable transitions. Drury then closes by discussing how her understanding of the academic vocation is best exercised by having one foot in academe and one foot in the Church.
In the fourteenth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Morten Lauridsen, Distinguished Professor of Composition Emeritus at the University of Southern California. They open their conversation by talking about Lauridsen’s practice of going down deep, the role that practice plays in his ability to appreciate what a particular text has to offer, and how he sets that text to music. To cultivate a more contemplative and environmentally responsible campus, the value of that practice compelled Lauridsen to lead the charge at the University of Southern California (USC) to eliminate gas powered leaf blowers. The value of that practice also led Lauridsen to spend time on Waldron Island in Washington State’s San Juan Islands where Lauridsen composed some of his most critically acclaimed works. Lauridsen then discusses his calling to compose music, efforts he made when an undergraduate to study at USC, and efforts he made while serving as a faculty member and chair of the composition department at USC (efforts that included establishing the graduate program in film scoring). Lauridsen discusses the details related to some of his compositions including “Lux Aeterna” and “O Magnum Mysterium.” Ream and Lauridsen then close their conversation by discussing the ways poetry played critical roles in Lauridsen’s efforts as a teacher and composer.
In the thirteenth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with J. Michael Hardin, Professor of Quantitative Analysis (and former Provost) at Samford University and a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. Hardin begins by discussing how the history of “Big Data” reaches back to the 1940s and 1950s, what can be learned from that history, and how the use of such data relates to the rise of artificial intelligence. He then also discusses how the disciplines comprising the liberal arts provide the wisdom artificial intelligence needs. Ream and Hardin discuss Hardin’s own experience as a mathematician and data scientist, how his interests in those fields emerged, and the relationship those interests share to degrees he also earned in philosophy and theology. They explore Hardin’s experience as a scholar at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, his experience as an administrator at the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa, and his recently completed tenure as provost at Samford University. Hardin offers details concerning how his article in the fall 2024 issue of Christian Scholar’s Review relates to the leadership he sought to exercise at Samford and the experiences he now hopes to encounter during his service as a full-time faculty member. Ream and Hardin close by discussing Hardin’s understanding of the academic vocation he sought to cultivate at Samford, how Hardin’s emerging interests in musical composition relate to his interests in mathematics, philosophy, and theology, and his experience coaching a football team that defeated a team led by College Football Hall of Fame nominee Nick Saban.
On August 31, 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson greeted the newest members of Harvard University’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter with an address titled “The American Scholar.” Emerson had abandoned Christian orthodoxy and even Unitarianism for Transcendentalism. However, he had yet to emerge as the leading figure of the intellectual collective who eventually congregated out in Concord….
