In this post I’d like to reflect on a tension that I consider to be quite widespread within academia. ‘Critical thinking’ is often extolled as one of the core virtues necessary for the intellectual life: much university-level teaching is geared Read more
Is gentleness something academics should aspire to? If a colleague or a peer described you as gentle, would you be pleased, or a little worried? I’ve just had a weekend away with my church, and the teaching focused on the Read more
We believe that Jesus Christ is the head of the whole creation, and that our study and research, like the rest of our lives, can and should be practised for his glory. Many posts on the Faith-in-Scholarship blog explore how our Read more
Today, as I write, it is Pentecost. We marked the festival at church this morning, and the coming of the Holy Spirit is regularly celebrated at churches throughout the world. But what does Pentecost mean for research? Should scholars celebrate Read more
Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert attended séances as early as 1846. In 1861, the year when Prince Albert died, a thirteen-year-old medium, Robert Lees delivered a message from Albert to the Queen in which he called her by Read more
It won’t be news to anyone reading this blog that life as a researcher – perhaps particularly life as a doctoral student – can be, and often is, very isolating. You’re working on a niche topic, which few other people Read more
To find a series of books that join up the dots in whole swathes of one’s previous education is a wonderful experience. That’s my experience of the writings of philosopher Marinus Dirk Stafleu, which I first discovered a year ago. His multi-volume project Philosophy of Dynamic Read more
Jodie Chesney, a young woman, aged 17, was knifed in the back near a playground in Harold Hill, Romford, on March 1, 2019. Police chiefs have recently warned that the scale of knife crime in the UK has become a Read more
‘Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?’ It’s a classic interview question – and one which I’m very glad I’ve not (yet) been asked. Have you ever been tempted to answer it with ‘If it is the Lord’s Read more
Here are fifty questions that I have crafted to help Christians in mission and discipleship. Can you think of any others? 1) How does the Bible begin and how does it end? 2) Can you summarise the biblical story Read more