Christian Faculty and Staff Fellowship meets April 17

Join the Christian Faculty Network for a lunch gathering on 4/17 - Finishing up Love Your God With All Your Mind. 

Come to the Christian Faculty Network lunch meeting on Wednesday, April 17 at 11:45 AM (done by 12:45 PM). We meet at the Baptist Campus Ministries building (University Boulevard and 4th Avenue). 

Plan on the best meal deal in town: You can get lunch there for $1 thanks to the generosity of local churches. Don't forget to thank the church workers for what they do for the students. 

We had an interesting discussion of Chapters 6 and 7 of our book. We'll take up Chapters 8 and 9 on April 17 and discuss meeting on 4/24.  

Our book for this term: Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul by J.P. Moreland (NavPress, 2012). The title is linked to Amazon. Make sure to get the 2012 version.

  • It's an updated version of the book from 1997. If you have the 1997 edition, you'll find Chapters 7-9 are different. The other chapters have few changes. It's OK to use your older copy, however, because there is some good material in those older chapters. We won't include those chapters in the final exam!
  • Moreland makes the case for the intellectual appeal and rigor of Christianity. It has a cultural, worldview, and apologetics outlook and is relevant to us who want to be salt and light in the groves of academe. The book can be a basis for other readings we would do. 

Click here to get outlines of the book chapters. 

It's time to think about a book for next term. 

I created an interest survey of books to consider for next term. Don't worry. There are only 5 books on the list plus one wild card, and I pasted the abstract for each book for your reference.  If you choose the wild card, I'll use my despotic powers and select the book for the term. Otherwise, we'll go with the book ranked most highly by everyone. 

What does a Christian intellectual look like? RR Reno, editor of First Things, has some ideas.

  • "…institutions of higher education are dominated by an aggressively secular culture hostile to faith.
  • "…how should we view our distinctive vocation as intellectuals?"
    • "…avoid overreacting to academic secularism."
    • "A genuine intellectual serves truth, a Christian intellectual all the more so."
    • "Finally, we should embrace our freedom in Christ." 

Some things happened on 4/17:

  • 387 Augustine of Hippo was baptized. He became bishop of Hippo Regius and one of the most important Christian theologians.
  • 1960 United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, a Swedish Christian, wrote: "Forgiveness breaks the chain of causality because he who 'forgives' you-out of love-takes upon himself the consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness, therefore, always entails a sacrifice."

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