I met with some academic colleagues recently over a meal. It was a lovely group of people but I came away depressed...everyone has done so much. Comparing my meager achievements with what everyone else had accomplished, I felt like my resume was as watertight as a chocolate teapot.
We like to advertise other initiatives that share a similar vision with Faith-in-Scholarship, and today I want to tell you about the Society of Christian Scholars. Actually this organisation hasn't been officially launched yet: it's due to come into existence tomorrow, on 1 March.
This initiative's purpose is prominently stated on its About page. "The Society of Christian Scholars equips missional Christian academics to have a redemptive influence for Christ among their students, colleagues, institutions, and academic disciplines."
Will Allchorn's work in political science leads him to encourage Christians to subvert the radical right by radical inclusion.
It's not too late to book for this coming Saturday's Forming a Christian Mind day conference in Cambridge. The organising team explain what's special about this event, and why you should come.
'A Christian University Is For Lovers', runs the provocative title of the final chapter of this book, James K.A. Smith's first sally in his three-part 'Cultural Liturgies' project. Lovers of what? - you might ask. Of knowledge? Of the life of the mind? Of theology?
As academics, we don’t like looking foolish. We are trained to provide evidence for assertions, and refrain from making them if we can’t provide justification for what we think and believe. But as I have been working through 1 Corinthians over the past few months, I have been convicted and encouraged by Paul’s call to ‘foolishness’.
Epistemic humility is an important intellectual virtue that can help us navigate difficult problems on the faith–science interface, such as evolution and creation.
Last term I had the opportunity to teach undergraduates for the first time, and alongside that I completed the teaching development course offered by the Humanities division here in Oxford. Part of the course involved writing a teaching philosophy, and so I had to consider: what do I think good teaching is? Specifically, what is good teaching in my discipline?
I am a confirmed lover of Christmas. I love fairy lights and frost on the ground, poinsettias and Christmas ornaments, baking and decorating the tree. I love all the frills. Even though none of these things are particularly ‘commercial’, I’ll admit that none of them are necessarily about celebrating Jesus, either! And it seems I’m not alone among Christians: though we get to celebrate Christ’s presence with us every day of the year, it’s hard to deny that there’s something ‘magical’ about this season.
