Distinctives of the Society of Christian Scholars
The Society of Christian Scholars differs in several ways from other Christian academic societies and ministries. In the previous edition of Addenda, we highlighted one important difference, the Society’s interdisciplinary scope. This issue explains a second key distinction: our society is both local and global.
Local groups of Christian scholars are forming organically around the world. Some meet in loosely formed groups, while others have established local organizations of various kinds (e.g., Comité Impact in Francophone Africa and Shigakukai in Japan). Members of such local groups are among the founding membership of the Society of Christian Scholars. They appreciate the fact that our society will give them and their groups an opportunity to interface with other Christian scholars on a global scale. Until now, there has been no interdisciplinary, global society specifically for Christian scholars.
Curricula
Small groups of Christian scholars often struggle to know what to discuss when they meet. Resources available to such groups or to their individual members are few, expensive, and hard to find. For this reason, we believe that the Society’s curricula will be especially useful.
Our curricula will help members to sort through the vast array of Society library resources. It will also provide evaluative and reflective questions as part of a suggested program of study with introductory, intermediate, and advanced discussion level options. The curricula are not an end in themselves, but are designed to nurture relationships and conversations around what it means to be, think, live, and grow as a missional Christian academic. They can be used in through local small groups or online discussion groups, and they will be integrated into Society-hosted webinars. All Society members will have free access to these curricula.
Society Membership Discount
The Society of Christian Scholars has partnerships with many Christian organizations and ministries. If you are associated with one of our partners (for example, if you are in a Bible study sponsored by one of these organizations), you qualify for a 20% discount on your Society membership. Be sure to obtain the organization’s member code and use it when you register upon the Society’s launch. If you are associated with an organization or ministry that is not currently a partner but is interested in working with us, please have a representative of the organization contact us at kcampbell@societyofchristianscholars.org.
Zoom
Zoom (www.zoom.us) is a powerful video conferencing tool and especially helpful for scholars. It functions better than other video conferencing tools in locales with low Wi-Fi bandwidth. Using Zoom, you can collaborate with one colleague on a secure platform or host webinars for hundreds of students. Valuable features include a whiteboard, on-screen annotation, record and save, text chat, participant “hand raising,” and screen share.
The free, publicly available basic version of Zoom permits unlimited one-to-one meetings but limits group meetings to just 40 minutes. Society of Christian Scholars members will have free access to an enhanced version of Zoom that allows group meetings with up to 100 participants with no time restrictions!
Free Extra Month of Membership
If you pre-register for the Society before January 31, 2019, you will receive access to the Society of Christian Scholars member website and all Society services on February 1, 2019––a month prior to launch––as a beta-tester. Not only will you receive one extra month of access to Society resources for your annual membership fee, but you will also help to identify any issues to be resolved before our official launch on March 1, 2019
.
What Journals do you Read?
We would like to promote the Society of Christian Scholars in local, academic journals that you read. Please help by emailing a list of these journals to jfoster@SocietyofChristianScholars.org.
