Webinar: The Mission of Teaching Business
by Sebastian Văduva (Romania)
The global population is estimated to reach 10 billion people within the next three decades, most of them in the developing world. This growth will put tremendous pressure on the current socio-economic systems, with possible negative effects on the environment, unemployment, education, healthcare, immigration, and even armed conflict.
Business teaching is possibly one of the greatest contributions the Christian community can offer to a distressed world. We have a long-recognized tradition in business and public administration dating back to Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, and Esther, who were used by God to solve their generation’s difficulties. We need to train the business leaders of the 21st century with these same values and principles!
On Thursday, 17 March 2022 at 1400 UTC, Dr Sebastian Văduva, Director of the Griffiths School of Management and IT at Emanuel University of Oradea in Romania, will outline these business principles and values, framing business as mission. Join this important conversation by registering today!
NB: Immediately following the webinar, you will have the opportunity to network and catch up with your colleagues from around the world. So plan to stay on the call for another 10-15 minutes if you would like.
New Society Representative in Asia
We are excited to welcome our newest Regional Representative, serving in Asia: “Sam” (full identity withheld for security reasons). Sam is a citizen of and serves in a secure Asian country. He earned a PhD in religious studies, a master’s degree in philosophy, and a bachelor of law from leading universities in Asia. He is married to “Mary” and has two beautiful children, age 6 and 9. Learn more about and contact Sam through our Society member site.
Society member helps paralysed man walk!
Congratulations to Society member Noeline Prins (pictured right), who has been invited to deliver the annual J. B. Peiris Oration to the Association of Sri Lankan Neurologists.
It’s quite unusual for a biomedical engineer to be selected as keynote speaker for a neurology conference, but Noeline’s work is quite impressive. She and her research colleagues have combined electrical engineering, machine learning, and neurology to enable a paralysed man to walk.
The team’s high-tech methodology bypasses the spinal cord through a brain-machine interface (BMI). After testing the system with monkeys and in non-invasive human experiments, the researchers implanted two electrocorticography strips (i.e., electrodes placed directly on the brain) into a 22-year-old man with spinal cord injury. In the 20 weeks of the study, they trained the BMI to learn what the subject wanted and enabled the subject to control his movements through the BMI by thinking about moving, as well as to perform activities of daily living by using his hand. At the end of the study, the subject was able to go home and do tasks requiring finger movements, which he was unable to do previously.
Noeline’s current work to use this technology in stroke rehabilitation is partly supported by a Society research grant. She also received assistance from the Society’s Editorial Services Department before submitting her paper.
Noeline will deliver her 40-minute message, titled “Monkeys Playing Video Games Lead to a Paralysed Man Walking,” at the association’s annual conference on February 18.
Should you know anyone who might be interested in participating in Noeline’s amazing work, she is currently seeking research assistants. Details are available at http://eie.eng.ruh.ac.lk/brain-computer-interface-clinical-trial/.
Such a Mind as This: Society Member Publishes Book on Thinking
Our intellectual context is very complicated. There are competing pedagogues, divergent epistemological agendas, and flawed participants. The mind is a war zone. The Old Testament depicts a battlefield between the sinful mind and God’s revelation.
Today, many Christians minimize the intellect and do not recognize how sin impacts thinking. Many do not know how to love God with the mind. Many suffer from anti-intellectual inertia. They think like consumers shopping for knowledge, learning formats and instructors that conform to their buying preferences. They prefer junk food for their minds. They often fulfil the role assigned to them by the world—intellectual simplicity, private religiosity and subjective spirituality.
Dr. Richard Smith (Argentina) addresses these issues in his recent book Such a Mind as This: A Biblical-Theological Study of Thinking in the Old Testament. By comprehensively examining Old Testament teaching concerning the mind, this book promotes a spirituality that puts thinking in its proper place. It explains what God requires intellectually of his vice-regents. It shows that our world is a labyrinth, but that God’s revelation is our reliable guide. This book motivates readers to strive for mental piety, wisdom and intellectual development, for the glory of God and the fulfilment of our mandate on earth. Readers will learn from their ancient brethren how to better steward their minds.
Webinar: Indoctrination, Liberal Education, and Evangelism in the University Classroom
by Elmer Thiessen
Christian professors in pluralistic universities who are open about their Christian convictions in the classroom are likely to be accused of indoctrinating students. Indoctrination is typically understood as being the opposite of a liberal education, and thus an immoral form of teaching. How might Christian professors respond in such circumstances?
On Thursday, 17 February 2022 at 1400 UTC/GMT, Prof. Elmer Thiessen, retired professor of philosophy at Medicine Hat College in Alberta, Canada, will contend, drawing upon his own teaching experiences, that neutrality in the classroom is impossible, but that professional and ethical constraints limit what should be done by way of evangelizing students in the classroom. The purpose of this webinar, is to help Christian professors think about what they are doing in the classroom as they seek to both educate students and live out their Christian faith.
In preparation for this webinar, read through the introduction and chapter 9, “Evangelism in Professional Life: The Academy,” of his book The Scandal of Evangelism: A Biblical Study of the Ethics of Evangelism (Cascade, 2018) or this review of the book.
You won’t want to miss this provocative and thought-provoking discussion!
Reflections on our Calling: A Conversation between two Nigerian Christian Scholars
This is a sincere and heartwarming exchange between Dr. Luka Dinshak of the University of Jos, Nigeria and Dr. Alexander Timothy of the University of Calabar, Nigeria, about the Society’s conference last July in The Gambia (shared with permission). The sincerity and beauty of this exchange will set your heart burning. Please read and be blessed.
Dr. Alexander Learns the Nature of His Calling
Dr. Alexander: Each time you [Dr. Luka] make a presentation, it touches the bone. I don’t know about the effect on others. It leaves me in deep thought and the need to act.
Dr. Luka: God will help us.
Dr. Alexander: I have a confession. As a young man, I became a teacher to find a means of livelihood. My joining the university was a career move and there was nothing missional about it. I needed a better-paying job and a prestigious one. I would have joined the army, driven a truck, or been a sailor if I had the opportunity. My driving force was not purpose, but livelihood. As an academic, I was driven by the need to reach the peak of my career, earn a living, have better income. … So I saw all opportunities as God’s way to “give me my daily bread”.
Now comes the Society of Christian Scholars.
Until the Banjul conference of 2021 [in The Gambia], I saw the Society as a good association of Christian scholars. I didn’t understand it as a ministry. Your message these three times or so makes it clear to me that:
- My job is not coincidental; it’s God’s grand design so that I may fulfil his eternal plan through my work and career.
- Henceforth, I should make no career decision without examining how God’s grand purpose may be served by it. In other words, God owns my job; I teach and research for him.
- The Holy Spirit must be consulted and submitted to in all my career decisions.
I have questions, though.
Before now, ministry meant being a pastor, evangelist, teacher, etc. If a meeting of the Society conflicted with a meeting of my congregation, I’d attend the congregational activity, seeing that as my primary ministry. For example, I had an academic engagement which conflicted with attending a worship team rehearsal. It was difficult to explain to the team that my academic responsibility was my ministry to God. How does one communicate to one’s church that, as a scholar, I am also in ministry and may no longer place my activities in the local church above my work as a Christian scholar? Second, must those who are full-time pastors resign to be effective Christian scholars?
Dr. Luka Explains the Scholar’s Call vís-a-vís the Church
Dr. Luka: My brother, I greatly appreciate … I’m not sure any of us are very conversant with this way yet because we are coming along as He is leading us moment by moment. You have been a great source of encouragement to me in this journey in ways I can’t enumerate here now. I appreciate you greatly, my brother.
I will try to respond to your questions this way.
Peter (and the other apostles that walked with Jesus) understood their initial call to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But when they were instructed later to go to all the nations of the world, it was difficult for them to comprehend the new assignment. Despite the vision of the sheet from heaven, Peter still hesitated in Antioch when the circumcision party came there. Paul, on the other hand, understood God’s call to the whole world and devoted his life to it.
This is the situation we find ourselves in today. All our lives, we have believed that ministry is only in church. We have considered full-time ministers to be those trained in theology and ordained as pastors. The rest of us are just followers, and if we want to be serious, we must resign, receive theology training and become full-time church workers as well.
But recently, we are understanding that all believers, whatever their vocations, are called fully by the Lord. This is the truth of the priesthood of all believers, and it is not limited to church buildings or cathedrals. Unfortunately, these buildings have trapped us and made us religious people who are holy in church with no effect on the world outside. Christian scholarship is particularly significant because it has to do with the discovery and dissemination of knowledge. It is the key to opening mankind to God’s truths in every field of knowledge. If a scholar comes to this understanding, every other religious engagement will pale in significance. Someone who doesn’t really see it will hesitate like Peter. But the person who understands this calling will do no less than Paul did. It is a matter of the depth of encounter with the Lord’s vision. In the past two years, the Lord has visited the Society in Africa sufficiently to draw us into total commitment to this call. For me, the more I get engaged in this call, the more I find myself giving up other engagements because I cannot be fully committed to two things.
I may not have fully responded to your questions, but I trust the Lord to do so. We will need to keep interacting and the Lord will increasingly give us light. Amen!
Dr. Alexander: May God bless you. I hear your answers not as intellectual excursions but as the Holy Spirit speaking through you. Your short response has put things in perspective for me. I know many in my congregation will not understand (and it is not necessary for them to understand). One thing I know: I’m called to serve God in my university or anywhere it will please God. I won’t apologize to people. I can only pray that God will find me faithful and give me the grace to do his will.
Dr. Luka: Amen and amen. The Lord, who is our light, will lead us along. Grace and peace to you, my brother.
Society Updates and Opportunities
Looking for a Place in the Society to Serve?
Would you like to curate high-quality resources for Society members through the Library? We’re looking for two curators:
- Someone with expertise in theology who would fill the role of library curator, evaluating resources for the “Theology and the Academy” section
- Someone with expertise in philosophy, history, literature, poetry, and the like who would fill the role of library curator, evaluating resources for the ‘Loving God with the Mind’ section.
If you’re interested, please send your CV to Dr. Stephen Garrett at sgarrett@SocietyofChristianScholars.org.
Call for Book Reviewers
If you would like to write a 1000-word review on one of the following books, please contact Dr. Stephen Garrett at sgarrett@SocietyofChristianScholars.org for further details. Reviews will be highlighted and published in a special section of our Society member site.
