Fides Quaerens Intellectum

Millions of young Christ-followers began their university journey this month.  How will they fare with regard to their worldview and overall approach to life?  Statistics

Marana (my wife) and I recently returned from a cruise vacation to the Bahamas, the purpose of which was to celebrate the completion of the Ph.D. that I started back in the fall of 2000.  Fantastic experience (the cruise, that is); ready to go back.  One afternoon a small advertisement on the wall of the [...]

Each year Del Tackett, author of the Truth Project, comes to facilitate student learning.  I’m always struck by his genuine concern for the millennial generation and the unique challenges faced by its emerging leaders.  Here are his reflections following his spring 2010 visit.

About a year ago one of our students asked me a question that I thought ranked fairly high on the profundity scale, especially given that she was only 18 years old.  “What are the things we do on this earth that we will take with us into eternity?”  As she clarified her question, I discovered [...]

The hot-off-the press issue of the Biola magazine (I did my M.A. at Biola U in CA) features a provocative article–”Is Prayer a Priority in a Twitter World?”  It references the recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life which shows that younger folks (ages 18-29) are the least likely group of [...]

A few days ago a I picked up highly acclaimed atheist Christopher Hitchens’ book god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (no, that’s not a typo…he chose–or perhaps the publisher did– a lower-case “g” in coming up with his title). Hitchens, a visiting professor of liberal studies at the New School for Social Research [...]

Last evening the 2nd class in IMPACT 360 (www.impact360.net) history graduated. Exhausted but joyful, a new class of alumni has launched. Book after book, article upon article, and lecture followed by Socratic discussion on everything from evidence for God’s existence to the purpose of a college education, not to mention all the community service hours [...]

This past week a 19 year-old student sat in my office troubled by a certain aspect of her past, namely the fact that she descends from a long line of conservative Pennsylvania Dutch pacifists. For a few weeks at IMPACT 360 (www.impact360.net) we’ve been working through systems and issues in ethics, and it was only [...]

It’s no secret that academia is, and has been, dominated by politically and socially left-tilting faculty members. For years now David Horowitz has been the most prominent voice on this issue, and indeed at times has been a voice crying in the wilderness. This is not an argument for conservatives to avoid higher education or [...]

This past week at IMPACT 360 (www.impact360.net) saw the awakening of students’ critical thinking capacities as those were brought to bear on the subject of ethics. Too broad? For sure. This was an introductory module to ethics–specifically an introduction to the major systems of ethics, including deontology, utilitarianism and virtue ethics. We also covered moral [...]