Faith-in-Scholarship
What scholars and saints have in common
This week Bob Trube of Emerging Scholars Network writes on attentiveness as the hallmark of both holiness and good scholarship.
Faith-in-Scholarship
The Chronophage and the Scholar
Do you ever feel like your time is being nibbled away – like no matter what you do, how carefully you plan and manage, something is always inexorably eating at the time you thought you had? It’s a familiar feeling for academics, and it’s also part of the inspiration behind one of the most striking pieces of public art in Cambridge – the Corpus Clock, or Chronophage.
Faith-in-Scholarship
Biblical – Not Biblicist – Scholarship
Maybe you’ve wondered this too: how does my faith relate to my scholarship? It might be easy to affirm with the Apostle Paul that “in him [Christ] all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17, NIV). But too often, the assumptions in Western twenty-first century culture about what counts as a fact Read more…
Faith-in-Scholarship
How ‘Biblical’ is “Biblical Critical Theory”?
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…
Faith-in-Scholarship
In Conclusion: First Steps in Becoming a Good and Faithful Questioner
My dear postgrad friends, We are quickly approaching the end of this academic year, according to our secular educational calendars. In our church calendar, we’ve just celebrated the cosmos-redeeming feast of Easter. And now we also come to this final installment of our reflections this year on the relationship between Read more…
Faith-in-Scholarship
The Questions Within You
Happy New Year Paul/ette! Thank you for your courage in our seminar today! Many eager and anxious students are quick to speak up about what they think they know with certainty. You were braver today in giving voice among your peers about your questions! In fact, as I’ve come to Read more…
Faith-in-Scholarship
The Discipline of Discernment
Dear Stephan/ie, Your question is such a good one: What difference does it make to my studies that I’m a Christian? I have also found that many churches (and even Christian ministries to students) assume that the only points of contact between scholarship and faith are evangelism and morality. But, yes, Read more…
Faith-in-Scholarship
Do You Know Who’s With You?
Dear Robert/a, I’m so glad you came to see me in my office yesterday. It was good to hear how the year is going for you. It was also good to see your courage on display – it’s not easy to approach your professor with questions like the ones you’re Read more…
Faith-in-Scholarship
Art in times of crisis
Some years ago now, I wrote a post about the relationship between my faith and my love for avant-garde music. One thing I pointed out was the tension between beauty and deliberate discomfort (one might even call it ‘ugliness’) in a lot of this music: I suggested that whilst moments Read more…
Faith-in-Scholarship
Love the Questions
New and returning graduate students, Welcome to this new 2022-2023 academic year! You have come to this place and to this moment from a wide diversity of backgrounds, experiences, achievements, and challenges. But, nonetheless, one thing binds you together with a shared commonness: you have formulated a question. Your research Read more…