Monday, June 15, 2009

Apologetics and the university

Prof. Trevor Cairney posts on the importance of apologetics and the university. Of particular note, he points out the following:
We have even fewer Christians on university campuses who are leaders in their fields and who actually see that their faith has relevance to what they have to say on physics, medicine, law, education, sociology, new media, economics, history and so on. Not surprisingly, there seem to be less and less Christian voices amongst the opinion makers, thought leaders and media spokespeople than ever before. As a university academic I know the challenges in applying one's faith to one's scholarship and how hard it is ensure that one's faith is not simply an adjunct to our intellectual pursuits in the academy. This is the greatest challenge that those who are academics on campus face. But what is clear, is that Christian voices do need to be heard on campus not just from the student body and from the visiting Christian staff workers, but from university academics who teach our students and whose views potentially shape how they view the world, how they view epistemology, what the nature of evidence is and so on. Ultimately, this is the sharp end of their preparation to at least hear and consider the claims of Christ.
Read the rest here.

4 comments:

  1. Patrick,

    If you're in academia, where do you have tenure?

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  2. I would have thought eternal tenure in the Kingdom of God trumps academic tenure every time! Trevor

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  3. Thanks Patrick. I'm (almost) a member at City Reformed (PCA) Church in Pittsburgh. It's located right in the heart of the University of Pittsburgh campus, and one of the founding elders is an associate professor of physics. It's heavily populated by students. I think could be a model for other churches near other city-based universities.

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  4. Sorry, TUAD, I'm just a lowly student. :-(

    Trevor, definitely! :-)

    Thanks for the tip, John (as always)! :-)

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