Monthly Newsletter of Christian Scholars Review - Issue #5

 Summer hopefully provided you the space necessary to renew your inspiration. This summer, I found renewal as I coded student interviews and heard them describe how their eyes were opened to the ways Christ animates learning. For example, one student shared the perspective-changing insight she gained from one of our Christ-Animated Learning bloggers, George Yancey. The insight came from his course called Sociology of Race and Ethnicity about which the student shared, “[Professor Yancey] discussed the similarity between Jesus being the reconciler between us and God and us then being agents of reconciliation–that is what we’ve been called to–and how that aligns with racial relations. We are called to pursue unity and to pursue reconciliation not only between us and God but also between us and one another…the process of reconciliation comes from the same motivation–reconciliation between us and God.” I pray your summer brought you similar inspiration to be a Christ-animated agent of reconciliation as you teach this coming academic year.

A CSR print article that received significant attention this past quarter is, “'I am Inclined to Look at Everything as Resulting from Designed Laws’: Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species as a Specimen of Natural Theology.” The authors, Gijsbert van den Brink and Harry Cook, make the  argument that Darwin was not an atheist. Instead, they contend that Darwin saw his work as an extension of natural theology. We encourage you to examine it for possible classroom use this fall.

For those of you looking for a new on-line resource that might help with faith-learning discussions on your campus, we encourage you to look at the Theology Lived website associated with Biola University’s Office for the Integration of Faith and Learning. You’ll find some YouTube videos, podcasts and readings that address the topic.

We want to remind you that we will be holding the 50th anniversary celebration for Christian Scholar’s Review at the upcoming Baylor Institute for Faith and Learning conference on the virtue of accountability (Oct. 27-29). The featured speaker will be Joel Carpenter, senior research fellow and founding director of the Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity at Calvin University. We invite you to join us.

My family and I were canceled repeatedly this summer, but it wasn’t the social media version. Instead, we had trips to multiple foreign countries canceled, a trip to youth camp canceled, vacations canceled and more. I hope you did not experience as many of these as we did. Over the course of the past year and a half we have all been forced to deal with the disappointment of cancelled plans and fellowship. As I brought my own disappointment before the Lord, I was encouraged by a more positive form of cancellation. “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” It is so good to have some things cancelled.