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Author Archive | Amy James

Jeffery Bilbro

By on November 13, 2012 in Faculty Publications

Bilbro, Jeffrey. “The Ecological Thought.(Book Review).” Christianity and Literature no. 4 (2012): 693.

Abstract: In his latest book, Timothy Morton provides those scholars who are interested in the growing field of ecocriticism but not sure what all the fuss is about with a provocative, accessible introduction to the radical implications and intriguing possibilities that ecology offers for cultural theory. Those looking for literary analysis or an overview ofthe current state of environmental literary theory should turn elsewhere—starting with Lawrence Bueil’s excellent, if now slightly dated. The Future of Environmental Criticism: Environmental Crisis and Literary Imagination (2005). In The Ecological Thought, Morton leaves behind the close textual analysis, high-level theory, and, thankfully, the impenetrable prose, of his previous book. Ecology without Nature: Rethinking Environmental Aesthetics (2007). Instead, he offers a series of probing thought experiments and far-reaching cultural and theoretical analyses that explore ecology’s cultural implications. Morton’s style embodies the provocative irony that he argues the ecological thought demands as he takes on the role of “the irritating Columbo-style guy at the back of the room, the one who asks the unanswerable question” (115). So while many of Morton’s answers suggest that his conception of :he ecological thought is not as radical as he thinks it is, or as it perhaps should be, his questions challenge scholars in the liberal arts to wrestle with the consequences of ecology’s recent scientific discoveries.

Jeffrey Bilbro

By on September 26, 2012 in Faculty Publications

Bilbro, Jeffrey. “Who Are Lost and How They’re Found: Redemption and Theodicy in Wheatley, Newton, and Cowper.” Early American Literature 47, no. 3 (2012): 561–589. doi:10.1353/eal.2012.0054.

Abstract: The article critiques poems which focus on the themes of redemption, theodicy and the African American slave trade, including the poem “On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield,” by Phillis Wheatley, “Olney Hymns,” by John Newton and “Charity,” by William Cowper. The relationship between the poetry of Newton, Wheatley and Cowper and the abolition movement is discussed.

Brent Cline

By on September 26, 2012 in Faculty Publications

Cline, Brent Walter. “‘ You’re Not the Same Kind of Human Being’: The Evolution of Pity to Horror in Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon.” Disability Studies Quarterly 32, no. 4 (2012).

Abstract: Of American novels that engage with the topic of mental disability, few are more popular than Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon. Such popularity seems based on a simplistic reading of the novel where the mentally disabled are objects of good-natured compassion. A more thorough reading of how Charlie Gordon is presented, however, leads to the conclusion that mental disability is the embodiment of death in the novel. Readers are first taught to pity the pre-operative Charlie, but once they come to respond to the ethical voice of the post-operative Charlie, his regression to his original state becomes the rhetorical villain in the novel. At first an object of pity, the mentally disabled Charlie Gordon eventually becomes the metaphorical horror of oblivion that no character has the power to overcome.

Mark Edwards

By on July 25, 2012 in Faculty Publications

Edwards, Mark Thomas. The Right of the Protestant Left: God’s Totalitarianism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

The Right of the Protestant LeftThe Right of the Protestant Left explores the centrality of religious realignment for the development of American and global politics through the story of the ‘Christian Realists’ who led the American Protestant left after World War I. As a public theological community with transnational ties, the Realists attacked modern civilization, preached participatory democratic relations, and called for an ecumenical world Protestantism. Ultimately, in religion as well as in politics, the Realists and their associates at home and abroad proved to be the authentic religious right of their era. This valuable study thus highlights the conservative strain latent within twentieth-century American liberalism.

Robert Woods & Diane Badzinski

By on July 2, 2012 in Faculty Publications

Woods, Robert H., Diane M. Badzinski, Janie M. Harden Fritz, and Sarah E. Yeates. “The ‘Ideal Professor’ and Gender Effects in Christian Higher Education.” Christian Higher Education 11, no. 3 (July 2012): 158–176.

Abstract: A survey was administered to 451 undergraduate students at a private liberal arts Christian university to identify students’ perceptions of the ideal professor. The survey revealed that the ideal professor places great emphasis on the integration of faith and learning, is flexible (and even easy), maintains high academic standards, encourages students, and has an adaptive teaching style. Findings also highlighted gender differences in student perception of the ideal professor. Women perceived an adaptable teaching style, encouragement, and integration of faith and learning as slightly more important than men did in defining the characteristics of an ideal professor. Implications are framed in terms of student expectations for content and relationship dimensions of learning associated with Christian colleges and universities.

Mark Correll

By on December 13, 2011 in Faculty Publications

Correll, Mark R. “The Reformation of Feeling: Shaping the Religious Emotions in Early Modern Germany.” Fides et Historia 43, no. 1 (December 1, 2011): 73–75.

Abstract: In a well-written study, The Reformation of Feeling: Shaping the Religious Emotions in Early Modern Germany, Susan C. Karant-Nunn has introduced a new lens by which to study the Reformations. Karant-Nunn takes a broad range of published sermons from pre-and post-Tridentine Catholics, as well as both Lutheran and Reformed Protestants, and reads them for their affective language. In doing this, she confirms and deepens many other historical interpretations of the Reformation era.

Mark Correll

By on December 1, 2011 in Faculty Publications

Correll, Mark R. “A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy.” Fides et Historia 43, no. 1 (December 1, 2011): 81–84.

Abstract: The Enlightenment has fallen on hard times as an ideological force for change in history. When it is not simply ignored in the developments of early modern Europe, it is described as a product of social forces. In this sharply written essay, A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy, Jonathan Israel sets out an ambitious project to restore the Enlightenment as the central focus for the entire historiography of the eighteenth century and the French Revolution. This work functions as an introduction to his much larger three volume set published by the Oxford University Press. This book is meant for a broader audience than his other works, it has a sharply polemical tone, and his argument does not digress into fine detail typical of a scholarly volume. Nevertheless, it is a powerfully effective challenge to early modern historiography.

Michael Buratovich

By on November 13, 2011 in Faculty Publications

Buratovich, Michael A. “Recent Advances on the Origin of Life–Making Biological Polymers.” Reports of the National Center for Science Education 31, no. 1 (2011).

Abstract: The creationism–evolution debate almost always comes around to discussions about the origin of life. The enormousness of the problem of how organic chemicals (those compounds
that contain the element carbon) reacted to synthesize biological molecules like proteins, nucleic acids, membrane lipids, and others, and how these self-replicated and assembled to form the first protocells, represents an attractive target for critics. In addition, the respectable degree of uncertainty that surrounds present answers to origin-of-life questions, and the large diversity of the proposed solutions, represent ample fodder for those who would question the validity of the entire origin-of-life research program. Consequently, creationists have said a great deal about origin-of-life research, and none of it is positive.

Matthew Hill & Helene Hill

By on September 24, 2011 in Faculty Publications

Hill, Helene, and Matthew Hill. “The ethics of coding: are we committing fraud?.” JAAPA: Official Journal Of The American Academy Of Physician Assistants 24, no. 10 (October 2011): 67-68.

Abstract: A young PA had recently begun working in a busy emergency department, and although he was handling the medical aspect well, he was continuing to get flagged on documentation reports. This PA reviewed the reports and noticed that his documentation had cost his employer about $20,000 in lost charges that year. He began to sense pressure from his employer that if he did not improve his documentation, he might lose his job. One day while discussing a patient’s case with his attending, she mentioned to him that because this patient had been admitted to the hospital, more in‐depth documentation would be required in the chart. She said he would need to go back into the chart and “beef it up.” As the PA turned back to his computer, he thought, “Well, I didn’t exactly look inside this patient’s ears as she had come in for a diabetic foot ulcer. What do I document?”

Tamara Dindoffer

By on September 13, 2011 in Faculty Publications

Dindoffer, Tamara, Barbara Reid, and Shirley Freed. “Women Administrators in Christian Universities: Making Family and Career Co-Central.” Journal of Research on Christian Education 20, no. 3 (September 2011): 281–308. doi:10.1080/10656219.2011.624447.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore how women in administrative positions in Christian higher education integrate their professional and personal lives. Six women in leadership positions in small, faith-based liberal arts colleges were interviewed. Levinson’s (1996) concept of gender-splitting was used as a lens to analyze the data. The women in this study have experienced a number of influences that moderate strict notions of gender-splitting: coming from non-traditional homes with working mothers, husbands who provide substantial support with domestic duties, strong personal motivation to achieve, and mentors who provided support and guidance. The women spoke freely of their work as a ‘calling’ and used their faith in God when meeting a variety of challenges. While gender-splitting was a prevailing influence in the lives of the women in this study there was substantial evidence to show that they were resilient and flexible enough to create pathways to negotiate the commitment to family and the commitment to work in order to manage a successful career in higher education.