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Gregory Robinson

By on March 1, 2014 in Faculty Publications

Robinson, Gregory. “The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights: A Call for Reappraisal.” Steinbeck Review 11, no. 1 (March 2014): 46.

Abstract: John Steinbeck had an ambitious lifelong desire to recast the Arthurian chronicles into a modern version of the epic legends. In fact, “John Steinbeck spent months of his life in England exploring Arthurian locations and living in a medieval cottage in Sommerset rewriting Malory with a biro refill stuck into a goose quill” (Hardyment 10). A significant portion of what he accomplished survives as The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976). The book remains almost universally disparaged by the establishment in academe, both medievalist and Steinbeckian. In my opinion, these judgments are wrong. Steinbeck’s 293-page adaptation stands as a noble literary attempt worthy of accolades, since his narrative perfectly satisfies the medieval Arthurian romance traditions and Steinbeck’s own perceptions of contemporary literature with evocative character relationships and courtly interactions—universally adapted for the interests of a new generation. The Acts conveys the distinctive impression of a medieval saga written with a long-established literary voice, but now in Steinbeck’s modern prose.

John Obradovich

By on January 1, 2014 in Faculty Publications

Gill, Amarjit, Nahum Biger, Léo–Paul Dana, John D. Obradovich, and Ansari Mohamed. “Financial Institutions and the Taxi–cab Industry: An Exploratory Study in Canada.” International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business 22, no. 3 (January 1, 2014): 326–42. doi:10.1504/IJESB.2014.063779

Abstract: A current challenge taxi–cab owner/operators face in Canada is the lack of financing for taxi–cabs. This article examines business opportunities and lending risk; it also provides risk management strategies for financial institutions to manage the risk of lending to the taxi–cab industry. Members of the boards of directors and shareholders from the Canadian taxi–cab industry, and lenders from financial institutions that do not provide financing to taxi–cab owner/operators, were interviewed. Board members and shareholders were asked about their perceptions regarding business opportunity, risk, and their willingness to provide collateral for taxi–cab loans. Lenders of financial institutions were asked about their reasons for not providing taxi–cab loans. The findings of this study show that there is a reasonably attractive opportunity for financial institutions to offer financing for taxi–cab owner/operators. However, the findings also show that there are both systematic and unsystematic risks in lending to the taxi–cab industry. This offers recommendations on risk management strategies for Canadian lenders to mitigate the risk in lending to the Canadian taxi–cab industry. Our findings may be useful for new and existing financial/lending institutions, lenders, investors, and taxi–cab owner/operators.

Jeffrey Bilbro

By on October 16, 2013 in Faculty Publications

Bilbro, Jeffrey. “The Form of the Cross: Milton’s Chiastic Soteriology.” Milton Quarterly 47, no. 3 (2013): 127-148. doi: 10.1111/milt.12043

Abstract: While Milton’s mastery of rhetorical figures has long been admired and discussed (see Pallister, Wood, Broadbent, and George Smith), scant attention has been given to his use of chiasmus. Understanding how Milton employs this figure can illuminate his ideas about the Crucifixion. In turn, recognizing the medieval and Renaissance association between the event of the Crucifixion and the crossing structure of chiasmus can lead to a reassessment of the role the Crucifixion plays in Milton’s soteriology and a new appreciation for the vital connection between Milton’s poetics and his theology. In essence, the inverted shape of chiasmus enables Milton to enact the Son’s overturning work of redemption on the cross, and the contrasts drawn by the repetitions produced by this rhetorical figure depict the way this redemption reconciles seeming opposites.

Thomas Kuntzleman & Bruce Baldwin

By on October 8, 2013 in Faculty Publications

Kuntzleman, Thomas S., Kristen N. Rohrer, Bruce W. Baldwin, Jennifer Kingsley, Charles L. Schaerer, Deborah K. Sayers, and Vivian B. West. “Constructing an Annotated Periodic Table Created with Interlocking Building Blocks: A National Chemistry Week Outreach Activity for all Ages.” Journal of Chemical Education 90, no. 10 (Oct 08, 2013): 1346.

Abstract: An activity for a National Chemistry Week outreach event has been designed in which children construct a periodic table out of LEGO building bricks. During the activity, children followed simple instructions to build the symbol of a particular element onto a 5.25 in. x 5.25 in. LEGO base plate. Squares for all elements were constructed in this manner, resulting in a periodic table composed of over 6000 LEGO pieces. The finished product has been hung on a wall in the science center at Spring Arbor University. The table has unexpectedly become a unique conversation piece that allows for informal chemical education. In addition, high school students and others have added to the charm of the table by designing LEGO creations to place on the squares of certain elements. These LEGO creations are built so as to represent the element on the square on which it is placed. How the table was built, how the construction of the table was used as a hands-on activity at an outreach event, and how people were invited to build LEGO creations to donate to the table are described.

Charles White

By on October 3, 2013 in Faculty Publications

White, Charles Edward. “Charles Wesley and the Making of the English Working Class.” Journal of Markets and Morality 16, no. 2 (2013): 603-614.

Although their workload varied from place to place and from time to time, Europeans in the Middle Ages worked roughly two-thirds of the year, with about 80 full days and 70 partial days off. The leading theologian before the Reformation, Thomas Aquinas, had taught them that work, while not a curse, was a necessary evil to be avoided when possible. When not faced with hunger, often they did avoid it. Max Weber twice cites seventeenth-century Dutch economist Pieter de la Court saying that people only work because, and so long as, they are poor.8 How could workers such as these be induced to work long hours more than 300 days a year in the factories of the industrial revolution? They sang the hymns of Charles Wesley.

Mark Edwards

By on September 15, 2013 in Faculty Publications

Edwards, Mark. “Evangelical Catholicism: The Past, Present, and Future of Christian Reunion.” Historically Speaking 14, no. 4 (2013): 26–27.

Abstract: In 1933 Francis Pickens Miller announced that a “third great period” of Christian history was at hand. In this new epoch, he predicted, Protestants and Catholics would “pool spiritual resources” and become “united in one community.” That might seem a surprising claim coming from a lifelong southern Presbyterian. But Miller made that statement while serving as chairman of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), an interdenominational ecumenical movement whose implicit mission was to replicate and ultimately replace Catholicism’s planetary presence. For Miller, the geopolitical times now demanded that Rome and Geneva repent of their historic habits. Vatican centralism and Protestant individualism had both become hindrances to the advance of a world Christian civilization. Each had to give way to the formation of a new borderless Christendom. It would still take thirty more years and the reforms of Vatican II for Miller to see his way fully toward the reunion of Christianity’s classical combatants. “If John XXIII’s goals can continue to be realized,” Miller concluded in his 1971 autobiography, “the Roman church will resume its traditional leadership of Christendom and the Church Universal which will then emerge—including the Roman, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions—will constitute the best hope of mankind.”

Miller’s remarkable confessions were manifestations of “Evangelical Catholicism.” Because of historians’ relative inattention to Protestants of Miller’s liberal, ecumenical persuasion, Evangelical Catholicism is being touted today as the wave of the future. In the past few years, there has been an explosion of websites dedicated to discussing and tracking the Evangelical Catholic crusade from within Catholicism. Perhaps nothing is bringing more attention to the trend than George Weigel’s Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church (Basic Books, 2013). Conservative evangelicals, one of Weigel’s non-Catholic constituencies, have a strong recent history of interest in Catholic theology and practice. Although Evangelicals and Catholics Together lost momentum after its 1994 declaration, signatories have continued to champion evangelical-Catholic cooperation into the new century—including Weigel, the late Richard John Neuhaus and Charles Colson, and those affiliated with the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology. Leading evangelical and Catholic conservatives remain partners in defense of nuclear family values, while younger Catholics and evangelicals appear more and more comfortable trading spaces out of a common quest for authentic, non-politicized faith.

Naaman Wood

By on September 4, 2013 in Faculty Publications

Wood, Naaman. “Uncle Toms, Massas, and Symbolic Violence: Miles Davis’s Rhetoric of Moral Reconstitution.” Jazz Perspectives 7, no. 1 (2013): 57–75. doi:10.1080/17494060.2013.824645

Abstract: Extending Albert Murray’s presupposition that “performing artists are rhetoricians,” this study applies a rhetorical approach to Miles: the Autobiography. Davis’s rhetoric of moral reconstitutionutilizes the classical means of persuasion—ethos, pathos, and logos—within the epideictic, or ceremonial, genre. As such, Davis focuses his logos of invection on the Uncle Tom insult, where he displays his own, and incites in others, a pathos of insolence. Davis used these discourses to first, explain norms and introduce instability in the jazz community; second, create moral distance from particular figures and elevate himself; and finally, reconstitute the true jazz community around his own ethos of detachment. Based on Christopher Small’s notion of musicking and Phillip Bohlman’s ontological argument of “music as process,” this rhetorical approach extends Murray’s “all performers are rhetoricians” presupposition suggesting, first, that jazz performers can use their musical performances as social criticism and social idealization. And second, the jazz community’s use of logos reveals that musical performances are sites of ongoing struggle over the community’s identity and values. Furthermore, Davis’ rhetoric of moral reconstitution confirms that Miles: the Autobiography is a morally obsessed document but one that condones violent authoritarian rather than dialogic rhetorical strategies. These extensions suggest that jazz is a phenomenon where a rhetorical invention plays a pivotal role and where a rhetorical approach can offer productive insights for further research.

Dale Linton

By on September 4, 2013 in Faculty Publications, General

Linton, Dale. “Ineffective Teachers: A View from the Desk.” Christian School Education 17, no. 1 (2013): 10-12.

Abstract: I have a saying: “Good teaching is good teaching is good teaching.” Essentially, this means that it is rather easy to identify a good teacher from an ineffective one. Effective teachers seamlessly blend together positive personality traits, content knowledge, and pedagogical skillfulness coupled with an in-depth understanding of their students and their learning needs. This entire package is evidenced in the consistent performance of the teachers and the learning achievement of their students. Conversely, ineffective teachers struggle on multiple fronts, typically with glaring deficiencies.

Sally Ingles

By on September 4, 2013 in Faculty Publications

Ingles, Sally. “The Group Assessment Procedure: Predicting Student Teaching Performance.” Journal of Scholastic Inquiry: Education 1, no. 1 (2013): 120-133.

Abstract: many educational reformers presume that teacher quality will improve if teacher preparation programs simply raise standards of academic selection criteria. However, these traditional criteria are poor predictors of student teaching performance. Instead, teacher preparation programs are in need of admission criteria that will identify candidates who are most likely to succeed in student teaching. The Group Assessment Procedure, which measures soft skills, may fulfill that need. As an alternative to the individual interview and a derivative of the assessment center method for selecting managers in the field of business, the Group Assessment Procedure is a 90-minute, simultaneous interview of numerous candidates. Evidence of the Group Assessment Procedure’s validity as a selection tool was limited to teacher candidates attending large public institutions of higher education in both Israel and Utah. The purpose of this study was to validate the Group Assessment Procedure as a viable teacher candidate selection tool at a small, private university in the Midwest. This nonexperimental, predictive validity study examined the relationship between teacher education candidates’ Group Assessment scores and grade point average (GPA) with student teaching performance scores. Findings of this study suggest that Group Assessment Procedure scores are better predictors of student teaching performance scores than GPA at the time of admission. If implemented, these findings will empower teacher education programs to efficiently select teacher education candidates who are most likely to succeed in student teaching.

Jeffrey Bilbro

By on September 3, 2013 in Faculty Publications

Bilbro, Jeffrey. “Lahiri’s Hawthornian Roots: Art and Tradition in “Hema and Kaushik”.” Critique 54, no. 4 (September 2013): 380-394.

Abstract: Hawthorne explores—in “The House of Seven Gables” and particularly “The Marble Faun”—how some artistic methods attempt to fix the past and escape tradition’s grip while others participate in the reformation and revitalization of tradition. Lahiri draws on Hawthorne’s ideas and characters as she probes—in “Hema and Kaushik” and especially its final story, “Going Ashore”—how one’s relation to the past affects and even determines one’s ability to live out a hybrid, postnational identity.