Suppose for a moment that Jesus really is interested in every aspect of your life.
So begins an excellent little book of Bible studies by Antony Billington and Mark Greene, entitled ‘The Whole of Life for Christ’.
And so begins this short series of blog posts inspired by those studies.
Suppose for a moment that Jesus really is interested in every aspect of your academic life. Not just the number of REF-able publications. Not just the conversations you have with your colleagues about Christianity. But everything: the admin, the marking, the struggling undergraduates, the interactions with colleagues, the caterers, the cleaners, the emeritus readers, the figures and footnotes, the grant applications, the university budget, the Students’ Union – even the REF!
Antony Billington and Mark Greene are based at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC), as the Head of Theology and the Executive Director, respectively. They are well known as enthusiastic believers in whole-life discipleship. The book was published last year (2015) by Keswick Resources and IVP (bulk discounts via LICC), and the studies formed the theme for one week of Keswick 2015 (which we reported on last summer).
The plan for this series of posts is to take each topic in turn, and consider what it means for Christian postgraduates and academics. Here’s a sneak preview of where we might be heading…
- Whole-life gospel (Colossians 1:15-23). Christ’s work of creation and reconciliation touches every academic discipline.
- Whole-life wisdom (Proverbs 31:10-31). A great deal of godly wisdom is needed in order to be a faithful Christian postgraduate.
- Whole-life purpose (Jeremiah 29:1-14). Christian postgraduates can feel that the university is a bit like Babylon. But we have been placed there to ‘seek [its] peace and prosperity’ – its shalom.
- Whole-life fruitfulness (Galatians 5:13-26). Bearing the fruit of the Spirit makes a big difference to academic life.
- Whole-life mission (Matthew 28:16-20). The great commission is about making disciples who submit to Jesus’ authority in every area of life – including academic life.
- Whole-life hope (2 Peter 3:3-14). Our hope for the future of the whole creation transforms the way we live in the present – including our academic lives.
- Whole-life worship (Psalm 18). Academic research gives us lots of things to praise and thank God for – if we have eyes to see them!
Three of us fellows are involved with the Postgraduate Christian Forum (PGCF) in Liverpool, and we’ve been using these studies recently. We haven’t needed to change them significantly to make them ideally suited to an academic context. Why not get hold of a copy and try the same thing where you are?
- From the observatory to the pulpit - August 30, 2016
- Whole-life hope - July 11, 2016
- The Whole of (Academic) Life for Christ - April 25, 2016
