In this paper, I examine the relationship between evangelical Christian faith and the morality of food choices. I explore the extent to which non-human animals deserve moral consideration. I outline three models of moral status that philosophers have debated for the past four decades: (a) the viewpoint that animals lack any moral status and therefore…
Physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) is considered by many to have been as important to physics as Newton and Einstein, especially for his work on electricity and magnetism and for being the first director of the Cavendish Laboratory. His technical achievements are significant, but he also offers us a model of the qualities of physics…
In 2011 Pepperdine University hosted a conference in which Francis S. Collins offered the keynote address. His credentials are extraordinary: Collins is an accomplished research scientist, physician, director of the Human Genome Project, and subsequently director of the National Institutes of Health for three consecutive United States presidents. A devout Christian believer, he authored The…
In the thirty-ninth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Mardell A. Wilson, Provost at Creighton University. Wilson begins by detailing the charisms that define the Jesuit order and how those charisms informed the long-standing investment the Jesuits made in higher education in the United States. Wilson then explores how those charisms translate into a full understanding of truth as expressed in the curriculum as well as a full understanding of what it means to be human as expressed in whole person education. Ream and Wilson discuss Wilson’s upbringing on a farm in central Illinois and how the approach to work exemplified by her parents impacted her approach to work as a college administrator. They then discuss how Wilson’s own search for meaning in education led her to embrace service as a dean at St. Louis University and then as the provost at Creighton University. Ream and Wilson then close out their conversation by discussing the importance of healthy communication and the impact such communication has on the ability of students and faculty to thrive. While faculty, in particular, often come to campus with a firm foundation for success in their respective fields, what they also need—especially in those early years—are clear, consistent visions of the academic vocation that weave together teaching, service, and research in light of an institution’s mission.
Adults demonstrate exquisite sensitivity to the characteristics of the human face; indeed, it is one of the few visual categories for which we exhibit near-universal expertise. However, despite this expertise, our recognition abilities for the faces of individuals of different racial backgrounds and ages are significantly impaired, which can negatively affect our interactions with others….
The Christian affirmation of human personhood is based on a philosophical and theological understanding of human beings made in the image and likeness of a Creator-God. Yet, as Dennis M. Sullivan points out, not all participants in ethics discussions share these preconceptions, leading to contentious debates over human value at both the beginning and end…
Reviewed by Jeremy Scott Case, Mathematics, Taylor University The study of worldviews has been a mainstay of Christian educational institutions, and a worldview cast as quantification deserves attention in today’s age of data-driven decision making, quantitative science, technology, and statistical rhetoric. Steven J. Osterlind’s book The Error of Truth argues our epistemology has moved toward quantitative thinking….
In this reflection, the author shares some insights he has found in Kuyper that can inform his discipline of computer science and engineering. He begins with a critique of a speculative idea Kuyper proposed about how the “greater things than these” referred to in John 14 might refer to technology. The reflection then presents five…
The classic Protestant teaching about work has led evangelicals to view work as a vocation. In changing economic times, however, Scott Waalkes argues that we should rethink the classic teaching. He analyzes three “ideal type” views of vocation: a Reformational view, focused on “stations” or divine commands; a mystical view, focused on inner meaning; and…
In the forty-third episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Suzanne Allison Davis, President of Greenville University. Davis opens by discussing the roles presidents play in strategic planning processes—offering observations that stretch back to preparing a community to engage in such a planning effort to keeping constituents focused on the details once a plan is well underway. Davis then shares that while she never planned to serve in higher education, she believes her graduate degrees in business and law serve Greenville well as she seeks to provide direction for how a Christian, liberal arts institution can navigate the challenges facing higher education today. Part of Davis’s commitment to Greenville stems from her days as a student and the ways that Greenville professors and coaches walked alongside her during a tragic season in her family’s life. While Davis depends upon large batteries of data to make decisions, her own undergraduate experience reminds her that each datapoint reflects a particular student and his or her experience at Greenville. While data-informed decisions are important, she contends relationships prove critical. Davis then concludes by discussing the qualities that define the academic vocation as exercised at Greenville and the ways those qualities foster relationships that prove transformative for students who call Greenville home.
In the thirty-ninth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Charles W. Pollard, President of John Brown University. Pollard opens by sharing how his vocation was shaped by the study of law and the study of English. Each practice of study allowed Pollard to cultivate his gifts in ways that made it possible for him to navigate the created order while also being of service to others. He then explores how mentors such as his father, fellow students, and teachers contributed to his vocational formation. Pollard shares how those seemingly disparate forms of vocational formation converged through service he offered on various organizational boards and now for over two decades has offered as president of John Brown University. As a president, Pollard discusses how he views himself as a scholar-practitioner who, despite the demands for his time, still regularly co-teaches a course. He also discusses how he views philanthropy as a practice of storytelling and board service as the cultivation of fiduciary community. Pollard then closes by sharing how the university and the Church can be of even greater service to one another in the years to come.
In the thirty-sixth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Candice McQueen, President of Lipscomb University. With extensive service in both K-12 and higher education settings, McQueen starts by discussing the educational benefits that emerge when greater integration between grade levels or years in school occurs. Teachers can more readily engage students in terms of content and content complexity. Students can more readily appreciate the connections between their educational pursuits which ideally come to be understood as a seamless whole. McQueen then speaks about her own discernment to serve as an educator, how it started in a fifth-grade classroom, transitioned to teaching future teachers, and eventually included administrative service as a school dean and commissioner of the state of Tennessee’s Department of Education. McQueen discusses the discernment process that led her to accept the appointment as Lipscomb’s president, her aspirations for the university, and the relationship the university shares with the Churches of Christ or Restoration Movement. McQueen closes by discussing how that relationship influences her understanding of the academic vocation, the formation of educators who serve at Lipscomb, and the ways Lipscomb and the Churches of Christ can grow in service to one another in the years to come.
In the twenty-seventh episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Barry H. Corey, the President of Biola University. Corey opens by discussing his transition from being a senior administrator at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts to the presidency of Biola University in Southern California. Now in his seventeenth year at Biola, Barry reflects upon the opportunities and challenges both of those institutions face in their respective regions when it comes to cultivating Christian discipleship. Ream and Corey then talk through how Biola as a multi-denominational institution identifies the theological commitments that animate it and, in turn, shape the curricular and co-curricular educational experiences it affords its students. Of greatest focus is Biola’s ongoing commitment to revisiting the “Workers’ Register and Articles of Faith” or “The Red Book.” Ream and Corey close their conversation by talking about the relationship Biola shares with the myriad of churches that populate Southern California and how Biola’s health and the health of those churches relate another.
In the twelfth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Gayle D. Beebe, President of Westmont College. Gayle talks about how his approach to leadership emerged over time along with how leading a community through crises impacted it. They talk about the unique opportunities and challenges that come with leading a Christian liberal arts college in California and how Gayle and his colleagues have fostered a host of third way solutions. They then close by talking about the unique contributions the Christian liberal arts college and the Church make to one another and about the mutually reinforcing benefits of their vibrancy.
In this episode of the Saturdays at Seven Podcast, Todd interviews Shirley Hoogstra, the president of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU), on her role in representing Christian higher education institutions, today’s challenges facing the Christian higher education, and the relationship between Christian education and the Church.
A prior version of this essay was delivered as the Carl F. H. Henry lecture and plenary address at the “Living Accountably” symposium on Faith and Culture at Baylor University in October 2021 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Christian Scholar’s Review. Joel Carpenter is a historian and former provost at Calvin College, and…
In the first episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Colleen M. Hanycz, President of Xavier University. Hanycz begins by discussing the opportunities that often go unappreciated or even unseen amidst the challenges presently defining the climate in higher education. While financial models remain a concern over which leaders must be vigilant, Hanycz contends that Jesuit colleges and universities such as Xavier as well as many other Church-related universities have an advantage when cultivating brave spaces for conversation and debate. Challenging matters should not be pushed aside but, when met with disciplined and charitable communication, opportunities for growth can take hold and flourish in such environments. Hanycz then discusses her background as a legal scholar and the discernment process that led her to serve as the president of an Ursuline institution in Brescia University College, a Christian Brothers institution in La Salle University, and now a Jesuit institution in Xavier. That background and her service as the first lay president at two of those three institutions afforded Hanycz with wisdom she shares with other individuals who may also consider appointments as the first lay presidents. Hanycz then closes by discussing her understanding of the academic vocation and the ways Xavier introduces its educators to the charisms defining the Jesuit expression of the academic vocation.
If you ask almost any student or professor what the purpose of the liberal arts is, they will likely not give you an explicitly theologically informed answer. Instead, they will likely discuss how “it fosters critical thinking,” or helps one “adopt different approaches to understanding,” or “trains one’s mind to be agile.” Christians are usually…
In the twentieth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Wendy Wang, the Director of Research for the Institute for Family Studies. Wang opens by discussing the research she and her colleagues conduct concerning the Success Sequence—a set of three steps that when followed in order (high school graduation, employment, and marriage) greatly increase a young person’s chance of flourishing in relation to a variety of measures. Wang offers details concerning her own vocation including her early research experience in China, coming to the United States to do doctoral work in sociology, and lessons she learned when working in a variety of roles for the Pew Research Center. She then shares her insights concerning the ways sociological data can be of benefit to policy makers seeking to improve the lives of families and children, occasions when we may ask too much of data, and occasions when we may ask too little of data. Wang then closes by exploring ways the data she and her colleagues collect can be of benefit to a variety of institutions including the Church, Church-related colleges and universities, and ways the Church and Church-related colleges and universities can work together when striving to improve the lives of families and children.
A Tale of Two Emersons In the little New England town where I grew up, two roads were named after Ralph Waldo Emerson—different roads sharing one name. Our split-level home sat on a half-acre plot by a meadow; while I lived on this quiet Emerson Road, there was another Emerson Road less than a mile…
