Christopher Watkin’s new book, Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture, is receiving significant attention. I see it mentioned regularly in blog posts (like this one), email newsletters, and at academic and ministry conferences. With a Foreword by the late Timothy Keller, it’s Read more
I’m kicking off a new series today which we hope will both alert you to another initiative in the field of Christian academic engagement, and provide us and you with food for thought as we engage with the resources that this initiative – IFES Europe’s Good News for the University – is offering.
When I was a young child visiting my grandparents, they often had a detective show on the TV. I can still picture Perry Mason encouraging some distraught woman to give him, “Just the facts, ma’am.” It was believed that if the bare facts themselves became known, the puzzle would certainly Read more
We commonly grant nowadays that most of us live in societies that are pluralistic and largely secular. Many places in the West, as a growing number of writers and thinkers have noted, can be called post-Christian. Secular liberalism of one sort or another is the dominant discourse. The challenge, therefore, Read more
The Territories of Science and Religion by Peter Harrison (2015) is one of the most illuminating books I’ve read recently. I’d like to enthuse with you about a book that gave me much food for thought regarding Christianity as a ‘religion’ as well as the nature of ‘science’. The book’s opening gambit beautifully 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 Development flows from his career as a Christian studying physics and Read more
Christianity and the University Experience should be read by everyone concerned with ministry to students. It’s the outcome of a project in 2009–2012 across thirteen English universities, investigating patterns of religious commitment among undergraduates identifying themselves as Christian. And perhaps the most striking finding of all was that 51% of all respondents identified themselves Read more
‘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? Smith’s answer is: lovers of Read more
For anyone seeking an overview of Western philosophy from a Christian perspective, Bartholomew and Goheen’s latest book will be a welcome starting point. Written in an accessible and entertaining style, it takes us from the Pre-Socratic philosophers to the present day with illuminating commentary that reveals the authors’ wide-ranging expertise as philosopher-theologians in the tradition Read more
Knowledge is a special kind of belief, and the science of statistics provides one approach to gaining knowledge. So does faith have any direct connection to statistics? [1] A couple of months ago Andi Wang wrote about his interest in statistics as a Christian, and now I want to share something of mine. Read more