Last year before I took the job of Editor-in-Chief at CSR, I was talking with a higher level administrator at a thriving Christian university. As the person in charge of faculty development in the area of faith and learning, he lamented the fact that he did not have a list of books that he could give new faculty that could help them understand the current faith-learning conversation in their field. Part of the reason I took the position here at CSR is that I thought we were positioned to provide those kinds of resources to Christian administrators and faculty, especially young faculty or graduate students looking for guidance regarding faith-learning conversations.
That’s why I asked Christ-Animated Learning subscribers and the Christ-Animated Learning blog team to put together a list of the top-faith learning books in their discipline. The result is the creation of our new
list of top faith-animating learning books.
The list starts with a few general works related to the academic life in general as well as teaching. The rest of the books focus on faith and learning in a particular discipline. Usually these works can help give the novice an orientation regarding the faith-learning conversation in the particular field. The list purposely left out the fields of Biblical Studies, Theology, and Church History apart from a general list of some classic texts since those will be heavily influenced by theological tradition.
This list is not necessarily a list of books that might exemplify excellent scholarship by Christians in a field (e.g., George Marsden’s biography of Jonathan Edwards). Perhaps in the future we will create such a list. Right now, this list is meant to be a resource for faculty development or Christian graduate students trying to familiarize themselves with the faith-learning conversation in general or the one taking place in their field or discipline. Please feel free to send me further suggestions.