The Blessed Inescapability of Service Post

Sometimes students’ reasons for becoming entrepreneurs go beyond the desire for lifestyle freedom. Some young people bristle at the idea of having someone in authority over them. More than autonomy, they want power and immunity from the demands of others, and they imagine being their own boss as equivalent to achieving it. They imagine organizing a business in which they “call the shots” while others “wash the pots”; a business that serves them.  These would-be entrepreneurs evidence a misunderstanding of business. Serving the needs of clients, fellow employees, or others is the very nature of value creation in business. Some may prefer to serve indirectly through an organizational structure while others may prefer to serve more immediately by starting their own business.

Should Christian Universities Issue Public Statements about Current Events? Post

The past few weeks have taught us that we live in an age of moral and political confusion in academia. Administrators at elite universities do not know whether or how to offer moral clarity and wisdom about current events, such as the intentional targeting and butchering of civilians. Unfortunately, the general practice of public statements…

“An Essential Light” ft. the University of Notre Dame’s George M. Marsden I Saturdays at Seven Ep. 5 Post

In this episode of the Saturdays at Seven Podcast, Todd Ream interviews George Marsden, the Francis M. McAnaney Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Todd and George discuss how the Christian Scholar’s Review began and how it has grown over the years. George also talks about his newly published book, An Infinite Fountain of Light: Jonathan Edwards for the 21st Century, as well as the updated version of The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship that will be published soon.

The Body is Not (Merely) Utilitarian Post

I teach a course entitled “Living Well” as a part of our foundational core (i.e., general education) at my Christian university. Often, I’ll poll my classes regarding who has heard sermons or engaged in Bible studies relating to a theology of the body, or more specifically, self-care. My unscientific data collection has yielded dismal results,…

The Promise of Social Enterprise: A Theological Exploration of Faithful Economic Practice Post

One of the leading models for the integration of faith and business is social enterprise and Mark Sampson is among one of its more notable practitioners. Social enterprise, however, is subject to the criticism that it represents an unstable relationship between capitalistic activity and eleemosynary intentions. Modern capitalism has created great efficiency in the economies…

The Promise of Social Enterprise: A Theological Exploration of Faithful Economic Practice Post

One of the leading models for the integration of faith and business is social enterprise and Mark Sampson is among one of its more notable practitioners. Social enterprise, however, is subject to the criticism that it represents an unstable relationship between capitalistic activity and eleemosynary intentions. Modern capitalism has created great efficiency in the economies…

Understanding Work as a Calling: Contributions from Psychological Science Post

Empirical research on work as a calling has grown exponentially over the last two decades; it is now a global and vibrant area of scholarship within the fields of psychology and organizational behavior. Results emerging from research on calling address questions of major interest to Christians, yet remain almost entirely overlooked within contemporary Christian discourse…

Liberation From and For: The Vocation of the Educated Person Post

In light of increasing challenges and pressures in higher education, small liberal arts colleges struggle to maintain their identity and sense of institutional vocation. In too many instances—and stemming from both external attack and internal loss of purpose—liberal arts institutions sometimes seem to have forgotten what it means to offer a broad-based, interdisciplinary, and transformative…

J. Robert Oppenheimer: An Autopsy of the American Academic Vocation, Part 4 Post

Based on the review of Oppenheimer biographies we offered in the last two posts, a set of common themes begins to come to the surface. These themes bring into greater relief how Oppenheimer developed a fragmented understanding of the academic vocation, and what we can do to cultivate a healthier version of it. First, all…

Interdisciplinary Research as a Sharing of Gifts, Part 1 Post

For all their economic vulnerabilities, small Christian colleges, and universities might be the ideal environment for fostering interdisciplinary research. Given that the realities of size, scale, scope, and student load can serve to restrict the kind of projects faculty at these institutions can carry out, it makes sense to recognize our strength in this niche…

The Biblical Worldview and Libraries, Part 4: Library Programs, Services, and Roles Post

In my first post in this series, I explained how I convened a group of colleagues to explore the implications of the biblical worldview for the realm of libraries, using a four-frame model of the biblical narrative: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation. Drawing on insights from the group’s discussion, I outlined in two additional posts…

The Biblical Worldview and Libraries, Part 3: Library Resources Post

This post is the third of a five-part series. In the first post I described how I met with a group of colleagues earlier this year to explore implications of the biblical worldview for the realm of libraries. Our discussion drew on four “frames” of the biblical narrative: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation. In the…

How a Christian Changed One Skeptical Scholar’s Mind: The Power of Patient Friendship Post

In the early twentieth century, American archeology was dominated by radical skepticism toward the Bible. One academic leader perpetuating this approach early in his career was the famed American archaeologist, William Foxwell Albright. Yet, the establishment of an intellectual friendship initiated by an older evangelical archeologist would eventually lead Albright to abandon his radical skepticism…

The Biblical Worldview and Libraries, Part 1: A Group Discussion Process Post

Editor’s Note: This post is the first in a five-part series that will appear every Wednesday for the next five weeks. Archives and libraries are known from manuscript and archeological evidence to have existed in the Ancient Near East long before the time of Abraham, and they clearly played important roles in the Greco-Roman world….

Running to Slow Down: The Gift from God I Almost Failed to See Post

Back in 2001, I got a dog for my fortieth birthday. Balancing my professorship, a husband who traveled too much for his job, and a home with four children attending four different schools, I wanted a creature in my life who asked for little more than food, water, a good brush down, and a walk….

Advice to Christian Historians Post

Almost forty years ago Alvin Plantinga’s memorable “Advice to Christian Philosophers” set out a three-fold challenge to encourage members of his own academic tribe, but also “Christian intellectuals generally.” First, “to display . . . more independence of the rest of the philosophical world”; second, to “display more integrity in the sense of integral wholeness”;…

Keeping First Things First: A Charge to Christian Academics Post

I teach literature today in no small part thanks to Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Stephen Crane’s realistic novella depicting the impoverished conditions of life in the Bowery at the turn of the twentieth century. When I first encountered the story, I was immediately captivated by Crane’s ability to use mere words to bring…

Secular Formation in the Christian College Classroom Post

In the era of declining enrollments, Christian colleges and universities face two perennial questions: what are the defining features of Christian education, and why are they worth a higher tuition rate than the state school down the road? Christian colleges offer many distinctive features, including chapel, single-sex residence halls, and required courses on theology or…

Identity Excellence: A Theory of Moral Expertise for Higher Education Post

Perry Glanzer’s Identity Excellence: A Theory of Moral Expertise for Higher Education is a sequel to his earlier 2022 book, The Dismantling of Moral Education: How Higher Education Reduced the Human Identity. Dismantling offered an extended account, largely historical but occasionally theoretical, of how American academia, especially during the period from 1860–2020, steadily diminished human…