Some of you will be familiar with Michael Lindsay’s recently published Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite. Lindsay is a member of the department of sociology at Rice University, and this book is a thoroughly researched and clearly written account of the ascendancy of evangelicals in the public square—in government, in education, in the arts and media, and in the marketplace.

There is much on which to reflect in Lindsay’s book. His distinction between “populist evangelicalism” and “cosmopolitan evangelicalism”; his description of the personal and somewhat informal networks that bind powerful evangelical leaders together; his accounts of evangelicals’ efforts to gain intellectual respectability in, and to bring Christian principles to bear on every aspect of, the broader culture—these are fascinating and important features of his research and deserve to be understood by evangelicals of all stripes. Click to continue »

Virtually every college or university touts its capabilities to produce leaders, men and women who will provide vision, energy, and competence to transform society and culture in some way or other. In recent years, Christian colleges have been especially interested in this focus, and some have even made this the centerpiece of their mission statements: “________ College produces leaders!” The underlying idea is that the church and the cause of Jesus Christ need more characters such as William Wilberforce who take on the challenges of living and leading Christianly in the broader culture, so that the values of the Kingdom of God would permeate every dimension of human life and work.

In one sense this is clearly acceptable and laudable: Christians throughout the ages have been God’s instruments in bringing profound impact for good. We rightly take joy in Wilberforce’s relentless drive to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire, and we also rightly acknowledge others across the centuries who have provided leadership not only in government but also in the arts, in business, in education, in significant religious movements, and in justice and mercy. Click to continue »

In the September 2007 issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Sydney Page, professor of New Testament at Taylor Seminary in Edmonton, AB, presents an array of biblical evidence demonstrating that Satan, although an enemy of God, is in fact a servant of God:

While many texts emphasize the hostility between God and Satan, there is also abundant evidence that the biblical authors believed that Satan was subject to God’s control and was used by God to accomplish his purposes. They represent Satan, not only as God’s adversary, but also as God’s servant. The subordination of Satan to God is most explicit in the prologue of the book of Job, but the Joban conception of Satan exercised significant influence on the rest of the biblical canon (JETS, Vol. 50, No. 3, p. 449).

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Two recent published items prompt this reflection: an article in the PCA’s denominational magazine and a radio broadcast for a well-known Christian family ministry. The article dealt with the challenges that Christian college students face as they attend secular colleges and universities, and the author offered counsel and encouragement for how Christian students can not only survive but thrive in contexts not only different from but often hostile to their Christian faith and values. The author recommended realistic expectations of what they will encounter; intentional preparation for living in the midst of openly sinful behavior and for resisting “four years of liberal propaganda;” connection with a campus ministry and a local church congregation; and reaching out in Christian love and care to those they meet.

The radio broadcast focused on the resources available to Christian students who find themselves harassed, discriminated against, or otherwise treated unfairly, providing real-life examples in which Christian legal help came to the aid of Christian students to defend their rights and privileges. Click to continue »

In a recent essay in the Boston Globe, Yale law professor Anthony Kronman decries the fact that “our top universities have embraced a research-driven ideal that has squeezed the question of life’s meaning from the college curriculum, limiting the range of questions teachers feel they have the right and authority to teach.” This abandonment of asking, and attempting to answer, the “big” questions – why are we here, what living is for, what should we care about and why – has left the rising generations “directionless and vulnerable to being hijacked for political ends.” He exhorts his fellow educators to take up once again the calling to be “shapers of souls,” to address the big questions of life “in all their sprawling grandeur, without reticence or embarrassment,” and offers as an example his own Directed Studies class at Yale, which begins with readings in Herodotus, Homer, and Plato and concludes with Wittgenstein, Eliot, and Arendt.

Kronman’s recommendation comes with an interesting twist: He proposes that we address the big questions independently of religion, providing a meaning-and-morality-seeking alternative to our spiritually impoverished culture: “spiritually serious but nondogmatic, concerned with the soul but agnostic about God.” Click to continue »

The fourth week of September brought a momentous occasion for Covenant College: the visit of the Most Reverend Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Uganda. During the week when the leaders of the American Episcopal church were meeting in New Orleans to figure out their response to the call of worldwide Anglican leaders to stop ordaining homosexual clergy, Archbishop Orombi was speaking to our students about the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Scripture’s call to self-sacrificing witness and obedience. His five messages, over three days, focused on Jesus’ question to his disciples: “But who do you say that I am?” and the words we heard came from the heart of a man who has lived the reality of his declarations that Jesus is the Bread of Life, the Good Shepherd, the Light of the World, the Resurrection and the Life.

Born to Christian parents, Archbishop Henry responded to God’s call to ministry after initial vocational experiments in training to be a mechanic and teaching. After completing his theological education, he served as a youth minister, and God planted deep in his heart a love for young people and for the task of preparing them for faithful and fruitful lives. Then for ten years he served as bishop of a Ugandan province that enjoyed enormous revival as it became the fastest-growing diocese in the country. Click to continue »

In early August, I had the privilege of attending the memorial service for a remarkable man of God. Bob den Dulk served for several years on the Board of Trustees of Covenant College, on our President’s Council, and as a trustee of the Covenant College Foundation. Bob’s deep and enduring commitments to the gospel, the church, Christian education, and the glory of Jesus Christ in all things rightly prompt wonder and praise at God’s sovereign and gracious blessing on his people and encouragement and hope for following his example.

Bob’s life – and more pointedly his death – also rightly prompt us to acknowledge that our lives are always in God’s hands, that every breath we take is due to his sheer mercy and might in sustaining his creation for his gracious purposes. How sad and pitiful that we live our days with so little marvel and reverent awe that each morning rises and each evening falls, each life begins and ends, because of God’s gracious and purposeful providence.

This providence is a treasure to God’s people. It sustains us in the midst of tragedy and amid the undeniable horrors of a creation groaning with anguish to be delivered from the consequences of sin. It causes us to rejoice at happy blessings, and it causes us to worship even as we grieve in times of great loss. It provides us with depths of spiritual strength when we need it most, as we are reminded not of our own resources but of the inexhaustible supply of wisdom and compassion and enduring faith that flow from our Heavenly Father’s hand.

After the shootings at Virginia Tech last April, professor and poet Nikki Giovanni spoke these words to a grieving gathering of the VT campus community:

“We do not understand this tragedy. We did nothing to deserve it, but neither does the baby elephant watching her community being devastated for ivory. We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are the Hokie nation, Virginia Tech!”

And the crowd burst into the familiar chant, “Let’s Go, Hokies!” Click to continue »

As if the blogosphere weren’t sufficiently congested, I’m excited to begin my own blog, in which I will write every other week on various topics of interest to the wider Covenant College community.

One of the joyful burdens of my role is to keep up with daily events, educational news, social and economic trends, cultural and global developments, and theological and church issues. I regularly read journals, books, and news outlets covering a broad range of contexts, and have the opportunity to hear from thoughtful and knowledgeable people. In this blog I will offer my ruminations for your consideration, and I hope that you will comment if you have something to add to the discussion.

As with many such blogs, comments are moderated to ensure that the content and language are appropriate for publication.