Can I make human heart proteins in a mouse? Or, restated: Can I make a mouse that produces a human heart protein? The first question is clearly a technical question that focuses on our ability to express human genes in a new context. The second gives clarity to what it is that I am actually…
“We Can’t Go On Together with Suspicious Minds” –Elvis Ever since the Fall, we have experienced gender division and alienation. Whether throughout human history we have improved or are going backward in this area, depends upon what one views as the end or…
In the thirty-second episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Robin Baker, President of George Fox University. Baker opens by discussing the role of innovation in higher education and how that sense of innovation differs from what one may experience in other non-profit institutions as well as for-profit institutions. As an historian, Baker describes his appreciation for the stories and traditions that define and animate colleges and universities. While he contends change is inevitable, he also contends that those stories and traditions afford change with a purpose or direction. Ream and Baker then talk about the practices and habits that afford administrators, staff members, and faculty members with the ability to orient their respective efforts toward a common mission. They close by discussing how the theological commitments that define the Society of Friends or the Quakers influence the George Fox community and the unique ways that community pursues the relationship shared by faith and learning.
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.
The first-year experience (FYE) is a decades-old programmatic initiative aimed at introducing students to campus culture, improving transitions, and promoting retention, often through a course or classroom seminar. Research shows that FYE courses are valuable for students in general, as well as in specific subpopulations (e.g., international, first-gen, etc.) typically in need of additional support…
“Build to-day, then, strong and sure, With a firm and ample base; And ascending and secure Shall to-morrow find its place.” -H.W. Longfellow- Since the ostensible end of the COVID pandemic, and with the return of students to in-person classes, America has seen an interesting shift on law school campuses. Observers note a rising wave of activist students that the National Jurist called “the protest generation.” Examples abound, including the infamous cancelation…
In the twenty-third episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Jim Gash, President of Pepperdine University. Gash opens by discussing his friendship with Tumusiime Henry and how that friendship impacted Gash’s vocation as a lawyer and a legal scholar as well as the expanding array of opportunities students experience at Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law. Ream and Gash then talk about Gash’s calling to serve as an attorney, his appointment to Pepperdine’s law faculty, and how those experiences shaped Gash’s calling to serve as the President of Pepperdine University. They then close their conversation by discussing how the Churches of Christ (or the Restoration movement) impact the relationship shared by faith and learning on the Pepperdine campus and about Gash’s vision for Pepperdine to “to become a preeminent, global Christian University.”
Editor’s Note: We apologize for the recent byline errors and broken links in our posts. Due to the transition associated with the tragic passing of our IT manager, we are experiencing some technical difficulties that we are working to resolve. Thanks for your patience. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior…
In the twenty-second episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Joseph Creech, the Executive Director of the Lilly Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities. Creech begins by talking about the history of the Lilly Network, its service as the first ecumenical organization of Church-related colleges and universities, and its focus on providing professional development opportunities for faculty as well as senior leaders. Ream then asks Creech about his own calling to the Christian academic vocation and how such a calling informs the efforts Creech leads with the Lilly Network. They then close their conversation by talking about the important role the Church plays in shaping Church-related higher education and examples of how to improve the relationship shared by the churches and colleges and universities.
“Every child will have an AI tutor that is infinitely patient, infinitely compassionate, infinitely knowledgeable, infinitely helpful.” These are the words of the web pioneer Marc Andreessen, writing about “Why AI Will Save the World.” Such optimistic claims are not new. The rise of the world wide web came with predictions that it would be…
In the twenty-first episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Matthew J. Quade, the Kimberly and Aaron P. Graff Professor in Christian Leadership and Business and Director of Christian Leadership and Ethics at Baylor University. Quade begins by talking about the unique opportunities and challenges that come when educating the present generation of students when it comes to ethical deliberation and formation. Ream then asks Quade about his own research and, in particular, about Quade’s research as it applies to the relationship shared by work and other dimensions of one’s life. They then close their conversation by exploring the relationship business professionals and business educators share with the Church and ways that relationship can be brought into closer expressions of mutual service.
We illuminate conspiracy rumormongering by viewing it through the lens of Christian psychology. We propose that at the core of the anxiety and anger characteristic of much conspiracist discourse is a fundamentally unbiblical existential understanding of God leading to unbelieving responses to uncertainty and vulnerability stemming from human finitude. One fallen response to uncertainty is…
And the Prime Minister sucks ice cream in the company of a happy band of children, while a naked man, sores on his neck, lies for days in Washington Boulevard gnawing chicken bones. . . . And there’s a kung fu movie in every town. . . . And there’s dancing in paradise.-Bruce Cockburn, “Dancing…
In the nineteenth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Kim S. Phipps, the President of Messiah University. Phipps opens by talking about her calling to the university presidency, the unique qualities of her service at Messiah, and how those qualities contributed to a tenure now in its twentieth year. Ream and Phipps then shift to discuss ways that the declining lengths of service of university presidents could be reversed or at least halted. When discussing ways to reverse those lengths of service, they also discuss ways women can prepare for such roles and what campuses can do to become more welcoming. Ream and Phipps then close their conversation by talking about the theological streams that define Messiah and how those streams influence the relationship faith and learning share in both curricular and co-curricular spaces.
During my sabbatical year of 1985–86 at St. Edmunds College of Cambridge University, I had the good fortune of having many conversations about Christian higher education with James Burtchaell, who also had a year-long sabbatical there. He had recently moved from the provost’s office of Notre Dame to its theology department. I had moved in…
In the eighteenth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Deana Porterfield, President of Seattle Pacific University. Porterfield opens by discussing the discernment process in which she participated when considering whether to embrace the calling to serve as a university president and, in particular the calling to serve as the president of Roberts Wesleyan University for nine years and, as of the 2023-2024 academic year, as the president of Seattle Pacific University. Porterfield then offers advice for younger administrators concerning what practices could help them discern a comparable calling and, should it emerge, prepared them to embrace it. She then discusses the ways the Free Methodist Church and Seattle Pacific relate to one another and enhance one another’s missions. Ream and Porterfield then close their conversation by discussing the theological qualities that define the Wesleyan tradition and in what ways those qualities inform curricular and co-curricular programming on campuses such Seattle Pacific University.
We wish to thank Timothy Larsen for his generous and critical engagement with our book. As a fellow heir of the Pentecostal and academic heritage represented in our book, he is uniquely situated to discern its potential contributions and shortcomings. He rightly notes our desire to develop a Pentecost vision of higher education that asks…
In the fourteenth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Timothy Larsen, the Carolyn and Fred McManis Chair of Christian Thought, Professor of History, and Director of the Faith and Learning at Wheaton College. Tim opens by talking about how his interests as an historian gravitated to the Victorians, what they knew, and what we can learn from them today. Todd and Tim then talk about his understanding of the academic vocation and how Tim goes about discerning what projects to pursue. They then close by talking about Tim’s magisterial effort, The Oxford Handbook of Christmas, and what Christmas as a season of expectation has to offer our understanding of the academic vocation.
In an era when the humanities are taking a beating in academic curricula and in church life, a work arrives to remind us of the revitalizing power of imagination that these disciplines offer. Edgar Allen Poe captures the human longing in his short story Morella: “It is a happiness to wonder; it is a happiness…
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…
