Martin Luther statue in Worms

What We Mean When We Say We’re Holding to Our Convictions

August 25, 2015

Yesterday Everett Piper, the president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, presented a position paper to his faculty and staff, elaborating on why he feels justified in threatening to pull OKWU out of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities if the CCCU does not expel Goshen and Eastern Mennonite by August 31st. Why would he not want that consortium even to … More What We Mean When We Say We’re Holding to Our Convictions

12th century commentary on Song of Solomon

What Are the Most Neglected Books in the Bible?

August 24, 2015

The current issue of Christianity Today features an interesting interview with Christopher Wright, international ministries director for Langham Partnership International and author of the newest entry in IVP Academic’s “The Bible Speaks Today” series: The Message of Lamentations: Honest to God. Twice in the magazine’s introduction Lamentations is described as one of the Bible’s “most neglected” books, a theme that … More What Are the Most Neglected Books in the Bible?

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