Author: Chris Gehrz

Michael Emerson

Michael Emerson on the Role of the Christian University

August 21, 2015

As a member of the Evangelical Covenant Church, I was thrilled to see our denomination’s university, North Park, hire sociologist Michael Emerson as its new provost. Most recently on faculty at Rice University, he taught at Bethel in the mid-to-late Nineties. Probably best known for writing Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America with … More Michael Emerson on the Role of the Christian University

Covenant pastors in 1889

Mission as Friendship: A Call to Deeper Unity for Christian Colleges

August 18, 2015

So there’s a quotation I’ve been thinking about all summer: At the end of his life, Jesus declared his disciples his friends, meaning they shared with him a common passion for his mission in the world (John 15:13-15). Covenanters, as Mission Friends, have broadly understood mission to be the befriending of others, and all that God has … More Mission as Friendship: A Call to Deeper Unity for Christian Colleges

Goshen College gate

Why I Hope Goshen and Eastern Mennonite Stay in the CCCU

August 17, 2015

As one Baptist member abruptly withdraws from Christian higher ed’s leading organization and a Wesleyan school threatens to do so if Goshen and Eastern Mennonite are not expelled from the CCCU by August 31st, I hope many in the Christian college world will join Spring Arbor professor John Hawthorne in supporting the people of those two Anabaptist institutions: I don’t think … More Why I Hope Goshen and Eastern Mennonite Stay in the CCCU

The Golden Gate Bridge

A Hopeful Vision for Christian Higher Education

August 16, 2015

I don’t normally write blog posts in the wee hours of a Sunday morning, but I made the mistake of checking Twitter before bed and couldn’t sleep after reading this from John Mark Reynolds, the former provost of Houston Baptist University: Christian Higher Ed: years of drift, grifters, and failure to change bringing a crisis. … More A Hopeful Vision for Christian Higher Education

Las Vegas in 1952

That Was The Week That Was

August 15, 2015

Here… • The week started peacefully, and oddly, enough with a little piece about North Korea, time zones, imperialism, and Sabbath. • Then I knew that I’d be publishing a guest-post by Devin Manzullo-Thomas providing historical context for Goshen/Eastern Mennonite controversy in the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). • I didn’t know that Devin’s post would become … More That Was The Week That Was

Aerial view of the Oklahoma Wesleyan University campus

Standing with the CCCU

August 14, 2015

World magazine reports that several other members of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) have threatened to quit the organization if, at the end of August, its membership still includes Goshen College and Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) — the two Mennonite schools that announced last month that they would hire faculty and staff in same-sex marriages. Only … More Standing with the CCCU

"Together for the Gospel"

If Not Marriage, What Is “At the Heart of the Gospel?”

August 14, 2015

So, to complete the thought that ended yesterday’s post, is Union University president “Dub” Oliver right that “marriage is at the heart of the Gospel?” I don’t think so, and neither does theologian Kyle Roberts: The conservative Christian rhetoric about “biblical marriage” has, for quite a while now, struck me as close to idolatrous if … More If Not Marriage, What Is “At the Heart of the Gospel?”

Miller Tower, Union University

Quick Thoughts on Union University Withdrawing from the CCCU

August 13, 2015

When I asked Devin Manzullo-Thomas to write a post providing some historical context for two Mennonite schools becoming the first members of the largely evangelical Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) to allow for the hiring of employees in same-sex marriages, I pointed him towards a World magazine story featuring this ominous paragraph: Dub Oliver, president of Union University … More Quick Thoughts on Union University Withdrawing from the CCCU