Category Archives: Academia

Daniel and the Emerging Scholars Network

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Last Sunday, I spoke at Dixie Valley Church of God in Louisville, at the very gracious request of their pastor, Lindsey Cornett.  He offered me the chance to introduce his church to the Emerging Scholars Network, and the visit resulted in a number of good contacts and good conversations. 

Daniel is one of the Biblical models for ESN: a scholar, devoted to God from his youth, who became a redeeming influence in the kingdom of Babylon.  If you’ve never thought about Daniel as a scholar, noticed how he was chosen to be taken to Babylon. 

 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility-young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service. (Dan. 1:3-5) 

Here in Kentucky, we’re accustomed to hearing the term “brain drain,” when bright young students leave the state for better opportunities elsewhere.  This was not a brain drain – this was a brain vacuum!  Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, purposely sought the best and the brightest among the young Israelites, so that they could be trained in the ways of the Babylonians. 

Daniel and his friends not only persevered: they flourished.  Here is the final assessment at the end of their training. 

 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. (Dan. 1:18-20)

Everything else that Daniel would accomplish was made possible by that early commitment to both God and his studies.  

At the last Following Christ, Harold Dean Trulear gave a truly memorable talk about Daniel.  I’d encouraged you to give it a listen.  More audio from Following Christ 2002 is available online. 

And you think that was good, then check out what’s coming at this year’s Following Christ.

Human Community vs. the Community of the Spirit

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Life Together with many crazy flagsI recently finished reading for the first time Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I purposely say “for the first time” because I suspect that this is only the first of many readings.  When reading, I like to flag passages that speak to me, that I would like to come back to and record for later study.  As you can see, Life Together wound up with many, many such flags. 

Here’s one passage that struck as being particularly appropriate to the university. Bonhoeffer is contrasting a community built on the Word of God in Jesus Christ with a community built on human desires. 

The basis of all spiritual reality is the clear, manifest Word of God in Jesus Christ.  The basis of all human reality is the dark, turbid urges and desires of the human mind.  The basis of the community of the Spirit is truth; the basis of human community of spirit is desire…In the community of the Spirit the Word of God alone rules; in human community of spirit there rules, along with the Word, the man who is furnished with exceptional powers, experience, and magical, suggestive capacities. There God’s Word alone is bring; here, besides the Word, men bind others to themselves.  There all power, honor, and dominion are surrendered to the Holy Spirit; here spheres of power and influence of a personal nature are sought and cultivated.  It is true, in so far as these are devout men, that they do this with the intention of serving the highest and the best, but in actuality the result is to dethrone the Holy Spirit, to relegate Him to  unreality. (Life Together, 31-32, emphasis added)

Doesn’t this reflect the university in many ways?  It is absolutely true that there are many, many “devout men (and women)” within the academy who have “the intention of serving the highest and the best.” And they often succeed.  Consider, as just one example, the incredible life-saving medical advances that university researchers devote their entire careers to.  Yet they neglect the One who truly is the highest and the best.  

The Book of Common Prayer offers the following prayer for universities, colleges, and schools, which points to God as the source and end of all knowledge:

Almighty God, of whose only gift cometh wisdom and understanding: We beseech thee with thy gracious favor to behold our universities, colleges, and schools, that knowledge may be increased among us, and all good learning flourish and abound.  Bless all who teach and all who learn; and grant that in humility of heart they may ever look unto thee, who art the fountain of all wisdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Performance-enhancing drugs: not just for athletes

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The journal Nature ($) recently found evidence of significant drug use among academics for the purpose of improving mental ability and increasing productivity.  The Chronicle of Higher Education’s News Blog summarized Nature’s findings like this:

In an online survey of 1,400 readers, Nature found that 20 percent had taken pharmaceuticals for the nonmedical purpose of improving their concentration, focus, and memory. Most of the people who responded to the survey were involved in science, engineering, or education. “The numbers suggest a significant amount of drug-taking among academics,” the magazine said.

The drugs most commonly used were Ritalin, Provigil (which reduces the need for sleep – here is David Plotz’s account of his experience with the drug), and beta blockers. 

Considering the high-pressure, high-stakes environment that many scholars find themselves in, I don’t think it’s surprising that some are turning to performance-enhancing drugs.  It’s not a new trend, either: consider the number of novelists and poets who have turned to alcohol or narcotics to help their writing come more easily. 

I have mixed feelings about this.  I can sympathize (greatly!) with the desire to accomplish more, write more, read more, and to use “artificial” means to get there.  Isn’t this why I drink 2 cups of coffee each morning, to help me become more alert?  I confess that, if I had access to Provigil, I would be strongly tempted to take it.  I struggle to carve out hours in the day to read and write, and adding 8 more hours overnight would be incredible. 

On the other hand, I wonder where this fits into God’s design for our minds and bodies.  We are made in God’s image, with the ability to reason, meditate, study, ponder.  God’s image also includes the Sabbath rest, and a pattern of engagement and withdrawal.  We see this in Genesis 1 and 2, in the ministry of Jesus, and in the promises given to God’s people.  I have a hard time imagining Jesus using Ritalin to help him prep for the Sermon on the Mount, or suggesting that the disciples use Provigil so they could stay up longer. 

More Free Stuff Online: Lectures and PBS Shows on iTunes

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A while back, I wrote about free books online.  Another great resource available for free is iTunesU.  Universities from around the country, including MIT, Stanford, UC-Berkeley, Yale, Reformed Theological Seminary, and about 30 more schools, offer free lectures – even entire free courses – for download oniTunes.  I’ve recently listened to Thomas Friedman talk about the ideas behind his book The World Is Flat (liked it so much I went out and bought the book) and Merlin Mann of 43 Folders speak about managing your time and attention.  Great stuff.  And now you can download free content from PBS through ITunesU.  These are incredible materials for you autodidacts (like me) who couldn’t fit all the classes you wanted to take into your college schedule.  And, if you’re still like me, now you can add unlistened-to lectures and unwatched documentaries to your guilt list of unread books. 

So Much for the Information Age…

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The Chronicle of Higher Education ran a recent article (sorry – subscription required) called “So Much for the Information Age,” from a college professor lamenting his students’ deplorable grasp of current events and world history. This professor teaches journalism at one of our countries’ top universities, yet here is a sampling of what he found when he surveyed his students:

Nearly half of a recent class could not name a single country that bordered Israel. In an introductory journalism class, 11 of 18 students could not name what country Kabul was in, although we have been at war there for half a decade. Last fall only one in 21 students could name the U.S. secretary of defense. Given a list of four countries — China, Cuba, India, and Japan — not one of those same 21 students could identify India and Japan as democracies. Their grasp of history was little better. The question of when the Civil War was fought invited an array of responses — half a dozen were off by a decade or more. Some students thought that Islam was the principal religion of South America, that Roe v. Wade was about slavery, that 50 justices sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, that the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1975. You get the picture, and it isn’t pretty.

I don’t think this is all that surprising, and it probably says much more about our nation’s primary and secondary educational systems than it does about the university world. 

The professor goes on to express concern about our nation’s future, and about how we as a nation have failed our students, by considering them “educated” when they can’t discuss the front page of The New York Times.  

I hope that Christian students are taking a different approach to their studies, and educating themselves whether or not the system is.  After all, we worship a God who made the world, who loves the world, and who loves the people of the world so much that he sent his Son to die for the world.  That same God then calls us to emulate Him and be formed in the image of Christ.  

Since God loves our neighbors and the world they live in, so should we.  And the first step is to learn about the world in which we find ourselves.Â