Month: July 2013

Christian Higher Education at a Crossroads

  

The last couple days I’ve extolled Christian higher education. I believe in it with a whole heart. Yet that doesn’t mean there aren’t problems. In fact, a battle royal is currently waging for the soul of the Christian college and university. Let me comment on that today. Where does one receive a doctoral degree? Overwhelmingly, if you attain a doctorate, you’ve gotten it from a non-Christian university. Relatively few doctoral programs exist within evangelical Christian universities. I, for instance, have… Read more »

Education vs. Thought Control

  

Universities hold to the fiction that they are temples of reason where honest debate takes place and students hear all sides of an issue. In reality, they are bastions of liberal/progressive thought with little tolerance for Biblical perspectives or political conservatism. Surveys consistently reveal, particularly in the liberal arts, psychology, and sociology programs, that something like 90% of the professors self-identify as either moderate or liberal. Of course, their definition of “moderate” has to be taken into consideration—a moderate in… Read more »

A Teaching Ministry: Worth the Effort

  

As August draws near, my thoughts are beginning to turn once again to the new academic year. All my courses are ready and syllabi complete. I have to admit I always look forward to the fall semester. Fresh new faces showing up in the classroom, very welcome “old” faces, and the opportunity to share God’s truths make it all worthwhile. I am privileged to be at a university like Southeastern where I have liberty to teach without censorship or threat… Read more »

Finney: The Undeniability of Free Will

  

I’ve posted a couple of times comments by C. S. Lewis on free will. Charles Finney also is strong on this doctrine. From his Systematic Theology, he makes the following salient points: Moral agency implies the possession of free will. . . . Free will implies the power of originating and deciding our own choices, and of exercising our own sovereignty, in every instance of choice upon moral questions. . . . That man cannot be under a moral obligation… Read more »

Lewis on Friendship

  

C. S. Lewis abounded in friends, those with whom he could spend many hours enjoying their company. In one of his letters, he wrote, “Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a fire?” He also hinted at the value of friendship in an essay on Hamlet, when he said, “The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.” He expressed perhaps his most penetrating… Read more »

Snyderian Truism #2

  

Last week I introduced “Snyderian Truisms.” These are comments I’ve been making in class for quite some time, so I decided to turn them into official truths that I believe are undeniable. The first one was “Since God gave you a brain, He undoubtedly expects you to use it.” I give that one to my students in my American history survey courses on the very first day of class. Hopefully, it gets their attention and lets them know my expectations… Read more »

The Remedy for Racial Discord

  

Someday, we may be able to leave the George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin case behind us. I know I’m tired of it. Yet it depends on whether others are willing to let it go or whether they are more invested in promoting racial disharmony. We are supposed to be citizens of the United States; we should all be identified as Americans. But what do we see? There is a concerted effort to divide us by ethnicity, gender, age, and whatever new category… Read more »