On March 1, we completed three years of serving and equipping scholars all over the world. Over these three years, our services and our member website have evolved in many ways, often thanks to your feedback.
One particularly significant improvement is our Job Search and Missions page. Our Job Search and Missions Coordinator, Prof. Dorothy Oluwagbemi-Jacob, has greatly expanded what started out as just a job listing into a page that promotes cross-cultural mission activity–especially in unreached and underserved areas–and challenges everyone to devote their professional abilities to God. As Dorothy says, “Your motivation primarily should not be the desire for a better job opportunity or better life. It should be seen as God’s call which may carry some hardships along with it.”
We have also expanded our reach by making both our webinars and this Addenda newsletter available to everyone, not only Society members. Obviously, we hope to grow our membership. But we believe that serving the kingdom of God well calls us to offer our gifts as broadly as possible. We trust that as we make high-quality information, instruction and information available to everyone, God will work through appreciative beneficiaries to keep us operating.
If you know colleagues who would be interested in this newsletter or one of our webinars, please share the information with them.
We look forward to serving you this year, and for many years to come!
Jeff Foster
Acquisitions Editor
Editorial Services Aids Young Nigerian Scholar
When Kelechi Charity Lele, a Ph.D. student in environmental science, asked the Society for editing help with her paper on water sampling, she had no idea what expertise would be coming her way.
It so happens that one of our associate editors holds a Ph.D. in agriculture and knows a lot about soil and groundwater research. As a result, Charity received a high-level critique of her methodology and presentation of results, along with suggestions on how to make her work a stronger candidate for publication. She has since received similar input from our expert on a soil science paper.
“These reviews put me on my feet as a researcher,” Charity said. “They are speeding up my work and encouraging me toward better performance. I am happy to recommend the Society to friends, colleagues, and other scholars.”
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!
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.
Webinar: ‘Singing: A Catalyst That Cured to a Talent That Inspired’
by Granville Pillar
“Reading my life story,” says Granville Pillar, “is like reading a tale of the impossible. In human terms, how could an uneducated agnostic, afflicted with a speech disorder, aspire to become a university professor serving in God’s mission in academia to make a redemptive influence in the lives of students?”
On Thursday, 21 April 2022 at 1400 UTC, Dr. Granville Pillar will take us on a journey of how God, in his providence, turned the catalyst that cured his speech affliction–singing–into a talent that inspired him to teach philology at universities in Hungary, Romania, and Ukraine.
Prior to his academic journey, he was an electrician and band singer in Northern Ireland, club entertainer in England and southern Africa, electrical engineer in Germany, and language teacher and church minister in Australia. He enjoys singing, jogging, and walking his dog, and is involved in church ministry through music and preaching. He is married to Ibolya, has two adult children and five grandchildren, and lives in Hungary. You can listen to his music on his YouTube channel or read the introduction to his latest book, From Doing It My Way to Following His Way (2021).
Join us for this exciting webinar to hear how what seems impossible in the eyes of man is possible with God.
Announcement: We host third-party webinars
Be sure to check out the Webinars Page for third-party webinars that are often added with short notice and for updated presenters and topics that may be helpful in equipping you to bring the gospel to bear in your university context.
Meet Our Partner: Focus Kenya
The Society of Christian Scholars partners with Focus Kenya, an umbrella body linking and networking Christian unions from different universities and colleges in Kenya. Their aim is to facilitate mutual support, inter-campus sharing of ideas, and sharpening of leadership capacities for effective Christian work within their affiliated institutions and more generally in the world of work.
Focus Kenya upholds strong Christian principles of accountability and shared leadership. Its mission is to reach and equip students at institutions of higher learning and associates for effective Christian living. Learn more about Focus Kenya.
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.
