Items included for this subject area come from a variety of sources. The perspectives conveyed may or may not express a Lutheran ethos. They can serve our instruction as discussion-starters, examples (positive and negative), and illustrations of intersections between God’s two kingdoms, intersections sometimes characterized by tension, sometimes by congruence. Inclusion does not imply endorsement.
What’s It Like To Be A Squirrel? This brief update (including a great 2 min video of a squirrel with a GoPro!) on Thomas Nagel’s famous essay on consciousness can introduce students to the problem of consciousness, subjectivism, objectivism, and the difficulties of arriving at a common baseline for reality. Students in apologetics should be […]
Reinhold Niebuhr, Washington’s Favorite Theologian: This not entirely sympathetic essay on Reinhold Niebuhr can introduce students to an important modern theologian and to themes in modern world affairs and theology. We may find reasons to agree, disagree, and probe further into this essayist’s views: Individuals were capable of overcoming sin, he [Niebuhr] argued, but groups were […]
Why Religion Is More Durable Than We Thought In Modern Society: (See also the Pew study) Check both the audio and the text versions of this NPR coverage of the Pew data on religion and more education. The new consensus of sociologists and demographers is that modernization and secularization are indeed related, but in complex ways. A […]
In America, Does More Education Equal Less Religion? On one hand, among U.S. adults overall, higher levels of e ducation are linked with lower levels of religious commitment by some measures, such as belief in God, how often people pray and how important they say religion is to them. On the other hand, Americans with college […]
No, The American Church Isn’t ‘in Exile’: Among the many discussions about Rod Dreher’s Benedict Option is this contribution from David Congdon. Students can find links to other commentaries and points of view, using this piece as a point of departure for their own assessment. Says Congdon, “Many Christians have already put down their weapons […]
Predicting Faculty Integration of Faith and Learning: Concern for the secularization of Christian higher education prompts researchers to investigate the extent that faith and learning are integrated at a faculty level and what factors might predict faculty integration. Faculty and administrators concerned with maintaining faith in the classroom may want to consider the contributing factors discussed. […]
Bible classes in schools can lead to Strife Among Neighbors: Frank S. Ravitch, Chair of Law and Religion at Michigan State University, notes that if a public school offers a class that focuses on religion or the Bible, the material must be taught without promoting any particular religious position: “Teach it, don’t preach it.” These classes cross the line […]
Expelling a Student May Violate Pennsylvania’s Public Accommodation Law, Even for a Religious College: A Pennsylvania court decided that a Catholic College could be liable for violating the state’s public accommodation law for expelling a student, underscoring the evolving nature of the intersection of public accommodations and religious liberty rights. The shows how a religious college might […]
College Promise Programs: New York has created a free-tuition-and-books program. This site from the Univ of Pennsylvania catalogs and maps various programs that promote college attainment through forms of free tuition. Religious higher education may need to monitor future developments.
A Springtime of Hope for Catholic Education: This article briefly surveys a collection of small Catholic colleges that have made deliberated revisions in their aim and purpose. “We are seeing a trend in Catholic higher education toward schools…reinvigorated when committed fully to Catholic education.” Each case and this possible trend may merit further study by […]
