{"id":2704,"date":"2010-08-09T08:12:45","date_gmt":"2010-08-09T16:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=2704"},"modified":"2010-08-09T08:12:45","modified_gmt":"2010-08-09T16:12:45","slug":"a-professors-advice-to-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2010\/08\/09\/a-professors-advice-to-christians","title":{"rendered":"A Professor\u2019s Advice to Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"final<\/a>In Chris\u00adtians in Acad\u00ademe: A Reply<\/a>, for\u00admer evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcal Adam Kot\u00adsko min\u00adi\u00admizes a very real prob\u00adlem (recall that one study shows that 53% of fac\u00adul\u00adty dis\u00addain evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcals<\/a>), but he nonethe\u00adless says things worth lis\u00adten\u00ading to.<\/p>\n

A few bits stood out to me:<\/p>\n

Above all, par\u00adents and pas\u00adtors need to stop giv\u00ading a blank check to any\u00adthing that pro\u00adfess\u00ades to be \u201cChris\u00adt\u00adian.\u201d Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcals have long been skilled at sniff\u00ading out what they con\u00adsid\u00ader to be pseu\u00addo-Chris\u00adt\u00adian lib\u00ader\u00adals \u2014 devel\u00adop\u00ading some dis\u00adcern\u00adment on the oth\u00ader end of the scale would be a wel\u00adcome shift.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think he and I would dif\u00adfer con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adably on the appli\u00adca\u00adtion of this point, but I like the fact that he brings it up. The truth is that there is a ditch on both sides of the road, and it mat\u00adters lit\u00adtle whether you wreck in the ditch of being too insis\u00adtent on irrel\u00ade\u00advant details (the\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal con\u00adser\u00advatism) or whether you wreck in the ditch of being too uncon\u00adcerned about impor\u00adtant details (the\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal lib\u00ader\u00adal\u00adism). Both will mess you up, yet most evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcals prac\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly ignore the ditch of being too the\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive.<\/p>\n

He goes on:<\/p>\n

For instance, if the pro\u00adfes\u00adsor Larsen describes in his open\u00ading para\u00adgraphs didn\u2019t real\u00adize that he would get a paper like Larsen\u2019s stu\u00addent hand\u00aded in when he assigned an opin\u00adion piece on \u201ctra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal mar\u00adriage,\u201d then he or she was incred\u00adi\u00adbly na\u00efve. Per\u00adson\u00adal\u00adly, I would nev\u00ader assign a paper on abor\u00adtion or evo\u00adlu\u00adtion in an intro-lev\u00adel class, because I know doing so would basi\u00adcal\u00adly mean con\u00addemn\u00ading con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcal stu\u00addents to do poor\u00adly. Many of them would sim\u00adply par\u00adrot the stock argu\u00adments they\u2019d heard from their lead\u00aders with very lit\u00adtle reflec\u00adtion or fresh argu\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtion of their own \u2014 and the inevitable bad grade would only feed the per\u00adse\u00adcu\u00adtion com\u00adplex, turn\u00ading me into yet anoth\u00ader \u201csec\u00adu\u00adlar indoc\u00adtri\u00adna\u00adtor.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All I have to say in response to this is that I wish more pro\u00adfes\u00adsors were as wise as he. I\u2019d like to order that para\u00adgraph to be read to every pro\u00adfes\u00adsor in Amer\u00adi\u00adca once a year.<\/p>\n

But the part I like best is this:<\/p>\n

More imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly, though, if con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcals are not will\u00ading to aban\u00addon their siege men\u00adtal\u00adi\u00adty, I would urge them to at least adopt the prac\u00adtices that the New Tes\u00adta\u00adment authors rec\u00adom\u00admend\u00aded to per\u00adse\u00adcut\u00aded com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties: live qui\u00adet\u00adly, seek to be at peace with all, respect author\u00adi\u00adty, work hard \u2014 in short, keep the moral high ground. The sober advice of the Apos\u00adtles has stood the test of time and will endure long after what\u00adev\u00ader rad\u00adi\u00adcal preach\u00ader is in the ascen\u00addant now is for\u00adgot\u00adten.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is Bib\u00adli\u00adcal and good advice and should be the base\u00adline for Chris\u00adtians at sec\u00adu\u00adlar uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adties. If a uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty actu\u00adal\u00adly pre\u00advents you from obey\u00ading Christ, then by all means take a stand and deploy every peace\u00adful tool in your arse\u00adnal to stymie them (this is to fol\u00adlow the exam\u00adple of the apos\u00adtles \u2014 Acts 5:25\u201332 and Acts 16:36\u201339). But if a uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty is mere\u00adly teach\u00ading you things you con\u00adsid\u00ader to be untrue, then suck it up, mas\u00adter the mate\u00adri\u00adals, and excel aca\u00add\u00ade\u00adm\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly (this is to fol\u00adlow the exam\u00adple of Daniel and his friends in Baby\u00adlon \u2014 Daniel 1:17\u201320). In the long run you will accom\u00adplish far more for the faith by get\u00adting good grades than by caus\u00ading lots of dis\u00adrup\u00adtions in class.<\/p>\n

Kot\u00adsko\u2019s essay is worth read\u00ading and pon\u00adder\u00ading (and so is the piece he is respond\u00ading to, No Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty Please, We\u2019re Aca\u00add\u00ade\u00admics<\/a>). <\/p>\n

As I said, he min\u00adi\u00admizes a real prob\u00adlem. Any\u00adone who thinks that some pro\u00adfes\u00adsors do not seek to destroy the faith of stu\u00addents is sim\u00adply unin\u00adformed, and any\u00adone who does\u00adn\u2019t real\u00adize that huge swaths of uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty cul\u00adture are hos\u00adtile to evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcal sen\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adties has not been pay\u00ading atten\u00adtion. But Kot\u00adsko is right to point out that evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcal stu\u00addents often cre\u00adate their own prob\u00adlems by allow\u00ading the evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcal sub\u00adcul\u00adture to define their rela\u00adtion\u00adship to the uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty rather than allow\u00ading the Bible\u2019s teach\u00ading to pre\u00advail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Chris\u00adtians in Acad\u00ademe: A Reply, for\u00admer evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcal Adam Kot\u00adsko min\u00adi\u00admizes a very real prob\u00adlem (recall that one study shows that 53% of fac\u00adul\u00adty dis\u00addain evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcals), but he nonethe\u00adless says things worth lis\u00adten\u00ading to. A few bits stood out to me: Above all, par\u00adents and pas\u00adtors need to stop giv\u00ading a blank check to any\u00adthing \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u201cA Professor\u2019s Advice to Chris\u00adtians\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rants-opinions-and-general-contrariness"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-HC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2704"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2728,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2704\/revisions\/2728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}