Category Archives: Academia

Francis Collins Stepping Down

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Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Research Institute and one of our featured speakers at Following Christ 2008, announced yesterday that he is resigning in order to “explore writing projects and other professional opportunities.” Here is the official news release. 

Dr. Collins has been one of America’s premier scientists, and he is also a Christian.  His book, The Language of God, is subtitled “A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.”  He’s also an incredible speaker, who is very comfortable discussing both his professional work and his personal testimony. 

Back in February, Dr. Collins spoke at Stanford University at an event co-sponsored by the InterVarsity chapter there; you can download audio or video from his talk.  It’s well worth it.  In addition to presenting a clear case for Christianity, his personal testimony is inspiring – from hardcore atheist to devoted Christian, all while being confronted daily with the realities of suffering and death as a practicing physician. Like so many other thoughtful Christians, Collins credits C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity as one of the key influences in his journey toward God. 

I will be very interested to see what he does next.  May God bless him in his endeavors. 

Greatness in the Kingdom of God

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In my work with the Emerging Scholars Network and Faculty Ministry, we call Christian students and faculty to be “redemptive influences within higher education.”  People often ask me what that means, and it’s tempting to paint a picture of thousands of C.S. Lewises, spiritual giants at every college in the country.  First of all, that would be unrealistic – someone like C.S. Lewis comes along once in a century.  But more importantly, it would give a distorted image of what a faithful follower of Christ in the academy looks like.  C.S. Lewis is famous because of his many acclaimed books, now being made into blockbuster movies, and his justified fame as both an apologist and scholar. However, as Lewis himself pointed out in The Great Divorce, greatness in heaven is very different than greatness in the world.  Worldly success, such as that enjoyed by Lewis, is not a guaranteed result of faithfulness to Christ.  The very opposite may be the case. Continue reading →

Religion as a Conflict of Interest?

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This morning, an interesting article from the UC student newspaper caught my eye.  Here’s the lede:

The University of Cincinnati’s Student Government Association and Faculty Senate recently voted to support including “gender identity and expression” in the university’s non-discrimination statement. 

I don’t think that is too surprising: the city of Cincinnati passed a similar law in 2006 and, as the article notes, UC was just following the leads of Ohio U. and Ohio State. 

However, near the end of the article, a comment caught my eye: Continue reading →

ESN: Flourishing in the Academy

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ESNThis December, as a special day-ahead event at Following Christ 2008, we will hold the first ever national gathering of the Emerging Scholars Network!  “Flourishing in the Academy,” December 27-28, will help ESN puzzle out what it means to be called to the academy and how to follow Christ faithfully in this environment.  You can read more about at the official announcement on EmergingScholars.org. 

There are also four other day-ahead events – here is the information about them.  I expect all will be absolutely wonderful. 

What Do You Expect?

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Occasionally, I talk to people who are a little put off by the name of the Emerging Scholars Network.  “I’m not a scholar!” they say, and they don’t think of their children in that way either. 

But an interesting study was just released by the Dept. of Education, entitled “Parent Expectations and Student Achievement.”  Here’s how the Chronicle of Higher Education ($) summarized it:

The Education Department released a report on Tuesday that offers new insights into the factors influencing whether parents expect their children to enroll at four-year colleges, and suggests that many young people who could succeed at such institutions are not being encouraged by their families or schools to apply.

The study found that parental expectations vary widely between different races and income levels, and that many parents think their children won’t be able to finish college when their grades suggest otherwise. 

I had a professor in college who was an incredible teacher.  It made sense, because educational theory was one of his specialties!  He freely admitted that he was not a good student in either high school or college – he had a 2.7 GPA as an undergrad – and he applied to grad school almost on a whim. Once in grad school, though, when he was able to focus on a subject that he was truly interested in, his grades took off.  He earned a PhD and is now a tenured professor.  He also taught me one of my first lessons in academic grace, but that’s a story for another time. 

What are your expectations, either for yourself or your children?Â