College Faith

My guest today is Mike Schutt, Executive Director of the Worldview Academy. Mike has been thinking, writing, and consulting on worldview formation for over 30 years, including helping law students bring their worldview into the practice of law. His thoughts on worldview and Law have been published in his Redeeming Law: Christian Calling and the Legal Profession (InterVarsity Press, 2007).

In this podcast we discuss:

What a worldview is

Why it is so important to understand worldviews

The benefits of living according to the biblical worldview

How Mike discovered the importance of worldviews during college 

How worldview issues permeate all university classes

Ways Christian students have faltered due to not understanding worldviews (especially related to views of knowledge and truth)

 How we are shaped by our culture’s worldview, often without knowing it

The main worldviews we should understand

Understanding worldview as both ideas and loves

The relationship of worldview to our actions, wisdom and flourishing

Why Christian students struggle so much with the scientific naturalist worldview

How to evaluate worldviews and develop a robust and consistent biblical worldview

Three simple questions to evalue any worldview claim made in classes or conversations

The relationship between spiritual disciplines and living out the biblical worldview

Ways your local church can help you develop your worldview

Two questions to ask others in your church (or on campus) to find worldview mentors (and eventually mentor others)

Why the Christian worldview is superior to all others

Ways students can more fully live out their Christian worldview

Changing ways students are interacting with Scripture

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

Albert Wolters, Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview

James Sire, The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog

Worldview Academy

“How to Watch a Movie, Using Top Gun: Maverick as an Example,” College Faith podcast #23 with Drew Trotter

James K. A. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit

C.S. Lewis, “Meditation in a Toolshed”

C.S. Lewis, Transposition and Other Addresses

Stand to Reason

J.F. Baldwin, The Deadliest Monster: An Introduction to Worldviews

J. Mark Bertrand, (Re)thinking Worldview: Learning to Live, Think, and Speak in the World

Hearts and Mind Books

Ashworth, Becker, et al., A Book for Hearts & Minds: What You Should Read and Why

Paul Copan, "The Reasonableness of Faith: Why Students Should Study Apologetics," October 2022 College Faith podcast

Nancy Pearcy, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity

Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcy, How Now Shall We Live?

J.P. Moreland, Love Your God With All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul

Gene Veith, God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life

Gene Veith, Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture

Carl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution

Carl Trueman, Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution

My guest in this episode is Dr. Drew Trotter. Drew has been speaking on the intersection of “Faith and Film” for several decades in various contexts, weaving together his love of film and his theological training. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from the University of Cambridge.

I’ve asked Drew to help us understand how to watch a movie well, and model this as he reflects on the recent box-office hit Top Gun, Maverick. 

In this podcast we discuss:

Why Drew began evaluating movies as a college student

The central role stories play in shaping us

How movies use stories to shape us without us often knowing this is happening

The relationship between what movies tell us is true and how we live

Evaluating Top Gun: Maverick using Drew’s 10 questions

The difference between watching movies in a theater and at home or online

The future of movies

How even composition of a shot in a movie influences us

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

Francis Schaeffer, Escape From Reason

Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines,  Renovation of the Heart, and The Divine Conspiracy 

Chariots of Fire (movie)

The Godfather (movie)

Brian Godawa, Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment (and here’s a YouTube interview with him on “Hollywood Worldviews”).

William Romanowski’s books

Drew’s movie reviews

Drew’s 10 Evaluative Questions:

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE SCENE AND WHY? WHICH SCENE DO YOU THINK WAS MOST IMPORTANT FOR THE FILMMAKERS? WHY?

WITH WHICH CHARACTER DID YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH AND WHY?

IN ONE SENTENCE WHAT WAS THIS MOVIE ABOUT? WHY DO YOU THINK SO? WHAT ELSE WAS IT TRYING TO SAY?

WHAT IS THE MOVIE’S VIEW OF TRUTH, GOODNESS AND BEAUTY?

DOES THE MOVIE HAVE A VIEWPOINT ON THE NATURE OF GOD? WHAT DO YOU THINK IT IS?

WHAT IS THE MOVIE’S VIEW OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE NATURAL AND THE SUPERNATURAL, IF IT HAS ONE?

WHAT IS ITS VIEW OF MORAL AUTHORITY?

WHAT IS ITS VIEW OF PEOPLE AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS?

WHAT IS ITS VIEW OF EVIL?

WHAT IS ITS VIEW OF THE SOLUTION TO MANKIND’S PROBLEMS?

My guest in this episode is Dr. Mary Poplin. Several months ago she and I discussed her excellent book Is Reality Secular? As we concluded she mentioned that for the past four decades she has been observing Critical Theories develop in higher education, and was herself an early proponent. For the past three decades she has been working to understand and evaluate Critical Theories from a Christian perspective. Given her background and extensive reflection on this topic, I can think of no one better able to help us understand and evaluate these very popular perspectives reverberating throughout higher education and now our broader culture.Dr. Poplin is a Senior Research Fellow and Professor Emerita at Claremont Graduate University's School of Educational Studies. She has also authored numerous books on Christianity and higher education.In this podcast we discuss:Defining Critical Theory (including Critical Race Theory--CRT)How Critical Theory developed and became dominant in higher educationWhy CRT rejects Martin Luther King’s viewsHer journey into feminism and CRT, and why she began to question her viewsWhat CRT gets right--truths CRT is highlightingWhat CRT gets wrong--errors CRT is promotingHow radical feminism started this movement toward divisionHow Critical Theories are changing the university in fundamental waysBlack scholars CRT excludes from the conversation, and whyDifferent approaches to these issues in the humanities, social science, and sciencesWhy Critical Theories are so popular among some Christians, and whether this is justifiedHow students can reflect well and develop their own conclusions about Critical TheoriesHow students can reflected on and engage CRT in their courseworkHow students can reflect on and engage CRT in campus organizationsResources mentioned during our conversation:Mary Poplin, Is Reality Secular? Testing the Assumptions of Four Global WorldviewsChristopher Rufo’s short video summarizing Critical Race Theory Oher resources by Christopher RufoJames Lindsey, Race Marxism: The Truth about Critical Race Theory and PraxisJames Lindsey’s website New DiscoursesHellen Pluckrose & James Lindsey, Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender, and Identity--and Why This Harms EverybodyCarol Swain & Christopher Schorr, Black Eye for America: How Critical Race Theory is Burning Down the HouseStan W. Wallace, “How Should Christians Understand Critical Theory?”

My guest today is Dr. Charles Thaxton, a chemist who is one of the founders of a movement that reframed the debate over evolution and creation. He co-authored The Mystery of Life’s Origin: Reassessing Current Theories, which sparked what has come to be known as the “Intelligent Design” movement in the study of origins. This reframing of the creation/evolution debate has both strong supporters and strong critics. In our conversation we delve into exactly what “ID” is and is not, the data that supports this approach to origins, what critiques are made of this approach, and how he responds to these criticisms.

In this podcast we discuss:

How he came to co-author The Mystery of Life’s Origin: Reassessing Current Theories

How he came to reject the standard chemical explanation of the origin of life (and the experiments that support the standard model, most notably the Miller experiment)

How this new view that emerged from his (and other’s) research came to be called “Intelligent Design” (ID)

A concise description of ID and “specified complexity”

The common scientific methodology between ID and NASA’s search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) program

How discoveries of the DNA code further support the ID thesis

The push-back and controversy ID generated among non-Christians

The pushback received from some Christians who are “theistic evolutionists”

Why he believes all these objections fail

How ID differs from “Creationism”

The philosophical issues underlying the rejection of ID

Why ID is not “religion” or “bringing God into science”

Some of the best resources to better understand ID

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

Charles B. Thaxton, Walter L. Bradley, Roger L. Olson, The Mystery of Life’s Origin: Reassessing Current Theories

Thaxton, Bradley, Olsen, Tour, Meyer, Wells, Gonzalez, Miller, The Mystery of Life’s Origin: The Continuing Controversy

Stephen C. Mayer, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design

The Discovery Institute

Philip E. Johnson, Darwin on Trial

Jonathan Wells, Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution is Wrong

*And be sure to read Dr. Thaxton's autobiography A Leg to Stand On, where he shares more of the story!

Today I’m concluding my four-episode series on campus ministries. My guest is Karl Johnson, the Executive Director of the Consortium of Christian Study Centers, a unique initiative to minister to students on campuses throughout the U.S.

In this podcast we discuss:

Karl’s struggle to integrate his faith and studies while at Cornell

Why and how Karl established a Christian Study Center at Cornell (Chesterton House)

“Residential ministry” as a focus of Chesterton House

What Christian study centers are and their core ministry to students

Where and how to find a Christian study center

The history of Christian Study Centers, going back to L’Abri founded by Francis Schaeffer

How study centers specifically serve undergraduate students

Christian study center Fellows Programs--a form of “intellectual hospitality”

How Christian study centers differ from and compliment other campus ministries

The Consortium of Christian Study Centers' shared Statement of Faith (The Apostle’s Creed)

How the Consortium thinks about labels such as “conservative,” “progressive, ” and “Evangelical” Christianity

Some “heros of the Faith” Christian study centers tend to hold up to students

Forms of idolatry Christian students (and their parents) often fail to see while in college

How students should understand the relationship between their faith and the university

Some examples of how Christian study centers have engaged the university redemptively

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

Consortium of Christian Study Centers

Chesterton House at Cornell University

Octet Collaborative at MIT

Upper House at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Christian Study Center of Gainesville at the University of Florida

Cambridge House Christian Study Center at the College of William and Mary

Ligoneer Ministries (an example of a non-university-based Study center)

Mark Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind

George Marsden, The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship

Charles E. Cotherman, To Think Christianly: A History of L’Abri, Regent College, and the Christian Study Center Movement

James Davidson Hunter, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World

Veritas Forum

Hearts & Minds Bookstore

Dr. Mary Poplin was a self-described “radical progressive Marxist”  professor before coming to faith in Christ by meeting Jesus in a dream. Since then she has worked tirelessly to integrate biblical truth and the field of education as a professor of Education at the Claremont Graduate University. She has also authored numerous books on Christianity and higher education. Here we talk about her most recent book Is Reality Secular? Testing the Assumptions of Four Global Worldviews.

In this podcast we discuss:

Defining a “worldview”

 How she identified the four worldviews and decided to write about them

Summarizing the four worldviews: Materialism, Secular Humanism, Pantheism, and the Judeo-Christian worldview

Why it is so important for Christians to understand these four worldviews

Her journey from a radically secular professor to Christ’s follower

Her time volunteering with Mother Theresa, and how this influenced her

How God convicted her to begin teaching what is true, integrating biblical truth into her teaching

Her assessment of current secular higher education after 40 years as a professor

How she had to rethink ideas of “justice” from a biblical perspective 

Her struggle to distinguish between Secular Humanism and Christian thought

 How Christianity is excluded from higher education

Why professors often promote their worldview as the only answer to life’s big questions

How her Secular Humanist worldview shaped her thinking about training elementary and secondary school teachers, and how her thinking changed once she became a Christian

Advice to students in identifying different worldviews their professors are presenting

The best chapters in her book to read for students in the sciences, in the social sciences, the humanities, and the applied sciences

How the Judeo-Christian worldview best fosters a flourishing university and society

How students can thrive if they have professors promoting other worldviews, and make a difference in the lives of their non-Christian professors

How students can find Christian professors like Mary, and the importance of campus fellowships

Why going to a “Christian” college doesn’t solve the problem for students

Why the university is not really a “marketplace of ideas”

Why it sometimes makes sense not to go to college right after high school

The historic unity of the university, how it is “dis-integrating” and what can be done about it 

Why “getting a job” is not the main reason to go to college

Why Critical Theory is the opposite of all the university stands for

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

Mary Poplin, Is Reality Secular? Testing the Assumptions of Four Global Worldviews

Mary Poplin, Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service

Works by Steven Smith, University of San Diego School of Law, such as The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom, The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse, and Getting over Equality: A Critical Diagnosis of Religious Freedom in America

Julie Reuben, The Making of the Modern University: Intellectual Transformation and the Marginalization of Morality

Dr. Poplin’s email: [email protected]

James Sire, The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalogue

In this episode I continue my series on campus ministries. My guest is Ben Nugent, the National Director of the The Navigator’s campus ministry. As a Navigator staff for 21 years, Ben not only brings the perspective of a senior leader of the ministry to our conversation, but many years in Navigator campus ministry himself. He is the best person I know of to help understand how the Navigators minister to university students. 

In this podcast we discuss:

How Ben first got involved in The Navigators

How The Navigators began

The number and type of universities where The Navigators serve

The Navigators’ Mission

The Navigators’ activities on campus designed to fulfill their Mission

The Navigators’ ministry distinctives

How similar The Navigators’ ministries are campus-to-campus and region-to-region

Who is required to affirm The Navigators’ Statement of Faith

Where The Navigators fall on the “Conservative to Progressive” continuum

“Heros of the Faith” The Navigators hold up to students

What The Navigators believe Christian students need to flourish during college

The Navigators’ greatest strength and weakness in student ministry

How students can take advantage of this strength and compensate for this weakness

Whether The Navigators have as set curriculum students go through

How The Navigators help students develop a lifelong walk with Christ and ministry

The Navigators’ approach to the spiritual disciplines

How The Navigators teaches students to be “in the world but not of the world”

The Navigators’ approach to “hot button” issues on campus like Critical Race Theory

Why “fellowship is always missional”

Why students should consider being involved in The Navigators

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

The Navigators’ website

The Navigators’ Statement of Faith

Dawson Trotman, Born to Reproduce

Dawson Trotman, Dawson Trotman, In His Own Words

“Jim Downing: Navigator #6”

Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness

Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace

Jerry Bridges, The Gospel for Real Life

The Wheel illustration

NavPress

Navigators Summer Training Programs

Welcome to another edition of the College Faith podcast, sponsored by Global Scholars. My guest today is Dr. Sean McDowell, Associate Professor of Christian Apologetics at the Talbot School of Theology, Biola University.

Sean recently wrote Chasing Love: Sex, Love, and Relationships in a Confused Culture. Since every college student I’ve ever known wonders about and struggles with everything in this books’ title, I’ve invited Sean onto the show to share his wisdom on these issues with you.

In this podcast we discuss:

Why Sean wrote this book, and how it can help students navigate sexual issues

Why there is increasing confusion over sexual issues in our culture

The biblical understanding of love, sex, and relationships

Sean’s story of flourishing during college and now in his marriage as he applied the biblical sexual ethic

The important difference between “freedom from” and “freedom for” in sexuality

 How the world would be better if everyone lived out the biblical sexual ethic

God’s boundaries as protection and provision

Why being in a romantic relationship isn’t the answer to being happy and fulfilled

How to avoid and/or resolve conflict over different sexual ethics with your roommate(s)

Balancing love and truth when discussing “hot button” issues in sexual ethics (such as transgenderism) and “blowing up the script”

The pros and cons of the “Purity Culture” movement

Where he sees hope for the future of biblical sexual ethics in both student and cultural flourishing

The power of God’s grace for those who have “blown it” in sexual ethics

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

Sean McDowell, Chasing Love: Sex, Love, and Relationships in a Confused Culture

Lisa Michelle, “Surviving Sexual Abuse and Exploitation” on the Think Biblically podcast with Sean McDowell and Scott Rae

Lisa Michelle, Unlikely Warrior: A Voice Rising Out of the Darkness of Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

Joshua Harris, I Kissed Dating Goodbye

Rachel Joy Welcher, Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rediscovering Faithful Christian Sexuality

Rachel Joy Welcher, “What Purity Culture Got Right and Wrong” on the Think Biblically podcast with Sean McDowell and Scott Rae

Sean’s website SeanMcdowell.org

Sean’s Facebook

Sean’s Twitter

Sean’s Instagram

Sean's TikTok

Sean’s YouTube channel

Sean and Scott Rae’s podcast Think Biblically: Conversations on Faith & Culture

This is the second podcast in a series I’m doing on campus ministries. I am interviewing a leader from each, asking them the same questions so that you have an “apples to apples” comparison of the different ministries’ Missions, emphases, distinctives, approaches, and cultures.

In this episode I interview a leader with CRU’s campus ministry. He is the first guest I’ve had on the show twice. You first met Roger Hershey when we discussed his book The Finishers on Episode #13. As perhaps the longest-serving staff in CRU’s Campus Ministry (now in his 50th year), I can think of no one better to help us understand CRU’s ministry.

Furthermore, Roger is the staff worker who ministered to me during my college years (as well as before and after). Before moving into college ministry he directed CRU’s high school ministry in Cincinnati, which God used to bring me to faith in Christ in 1980. Roger then discipled me during my years at Miami University in the early 80s. Finally, from 1989 to 1992 I had the privilege of serving on Roger’s staff team, and I learned much about leadership from him during those years (I’ve summarized some of what I learned in my article “Three Types of Leaders--Two to Avoid and One to Become”). And even though we haven’t worked together for many years now, I still count him a mentor and dear friend.

In this podcast we discuss: 

How CRU began

CRU’s Mission

CRU’s strategy to accomplish this Mission

How this strategy is implemented on campus

CRUs’ Statement of Faith

CRU’s understanding of women in ministry

Regional differences in CRU’s ministry on campus

Some of the people CRU holds up as role models for students

What CRU believes they should offer students through their ministry

CRU’s strengths, and how to take advantage of these strengths

A unique feature of all CRU conferences  

CRU’s weakness, and how to compensate for this weakness

How CRU has changed since the ‘70s and 80s related to this weakness, and results of this change

The breadth and depth of  CRU’s curriculum taught in small groups

How CRU helps students develop lifelong habits to foster growth in Christ

Spiirtual disciplines CRU helps students develop

Examples of how CRU has shaped students to serve Christ for the rest of their lives

How CRU teaches students to be involved in culture 

How CRU encourages students to engage the racial tensions prevalent on campus these days (including how CRU undersands and engages Critical Race Theory and the relationship between Social Justice and Biblical justice )

Why students should consider being involved in CRU

The challenge of balancing quantity and quality in a CRU campus ministry

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

CRU.org

CRU’s Statement of Faith

U.S. Center for World Mission (now Frontier Ventures)

Josh McDowell (especially More than a Carpenter and Evidence That Demands a Verdict)

Robert Coleman (especially The Master Plan of Evangelism)

Norman Geisler (especially I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist)

C.S. Lewis

William Lane Craig

J.P. Moreland

Ralph Winters

Crawford Loritts

James White

John Piper

Tim Keller

Francis Chan

Paul Tripp

Henry Cloud

Richard Niehuhr, Christ and Culture

Stan Wallace, “Are You an Artist, a Cheerleader, or a Demolition Engineer? Three Ways Christians Relate to Culture”

“CRU Divided Over Emphasis on Race,” Christianity Today, June 3, 2021

“CRU Military Ministry Leader Resigns in Protest of Critical Race Theory,” Capstone Report, August 10, 2021

Stan Wallace, “How Should Christians Understand Critical Theory?”

Thaddeus Williams, Confronting Injustice Without Compromising Truth: 12 Questions Christians Should Ask About Social Justice

The Jesus Film

The Thinking Christianly podcast with J.P. Moreland and Stan Wallace

Global Scholars updates

My guest for this episode is Dr. Tim Muehlhoff, professor of Communication at Biola University. His research, writing, speaking, and consulting focuses on how to have healthy and productive conversations with others, from the home to the church to the university to the public square.  

Due to his understanding of communication theory, as well as spending many years earning three degrees in public universities, I can think of no one better to help us understand our topic today!

In this podcast we discuss: 

How the wrong choice of words can easy sabotage communication and relationships

Why he began researching how to engage difficult conversations 

What a Christian student’s priority in class should be

How to earn the right to be heard in class

Understanding the insecurities of (especially) teaching assistants and adjunct professors, and how best to build credibility with them

The importance of the first thirty seconds when discussing an area of disagreement

 Why the stage of the semester makes a huge difference in responding to challenges

The two levels of communication: content and relational (tone and respect)

The importance of being able to argue the other side of an issue, and “speaking truth in love”

The three questions to ask yourself first in order to communicate well and be heard

Factors to take into account to determine if and when to speak up

The four areas of the “communication climate” essential to having good conversations (including having our perspective heard in class)

Times Tim succeeded and failed in applying these principles, and what he learned

Applying “treat others as you want to be treated” to relationships and conversations

The role of having gratitude and charity toward even those who promote radically anti-Christian views

How to use, and not use, email in communicating with professors and fellows students

The role of humor, presence, good etiquette, and compliments in building bridges and fostering good conversations

A word of encouragement for Christian students at secular universities

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

G.K. Chesterton

Tim Muehlhoff and Richard Langer, Winsome Persuasion: Christian Influence in a Post-Christian World

Craig L. Blomberg, Contagious Holiness: Jesus’ Meal with Sinners

Tim Muehlhoff, Eyes To See: Recognizing God’s Common Grace in an Unsettled World

Other books by Tim Muehlhoff

The Winsome Conviction Project (podcast, articles, devotionals)

Tim Muehlhoff, “Reclaiming Humor in Uncivil Times” in Christian Scholar’s Review (the example of C.K. Chesterton)

Tim Muehlhoff, “How To Have a Difficult Conversation” on YouTube