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James Coe

By on September 16, 2008 in Faculty Publications

Coe, James and Paul Carr. “Intuitive Leadership: Embracing A Paradigm of Narrative, Metaphor & Chaos.” Christian Scholar’s Review 38, no. 1 (Fall, 2008): 164-166.

Abstract: Alan Roxburgh begins the “Forward” to this text with an interesting and concise mes- sage regarding why and for whom the book was written and the intended story of the book. While Roxburgh suggests that the book is intended to be a guide for leaders, it appears as though the book may be aimed at pastors or preachers. At the same time, however, it ad- dresses the attributes of leaders in order to incorporate people of many areas of calling. “Forward” suggests the book’s intent: “It doesn’t provide a program or even a set of simple principles that, if properly applied, lead to all the answers. In these pages you will engage with the story of one leader’s journey as he engages those questions I keep hearing leaders asking all over North America” (11).

Dale Linton

By on September 3, 2008 in Faculty Publications

Linton, Dale. “Schools as Communities.” Journal Of Research On Christian Education 17, no. 2 (September 2008): 247-249.

Abstract: Edited by James Drexler, PhD, of Covent College, this book is a compilation of various works by 21 experienced Christian educational practitioners affiliated with several Christian institutions of higher education, the Association of Christian Schools International, or current educational leaders in prominent K-12 Christian schools. Four central themes, “community,” “a grace based perspective,” “the ‘weightier issues of the law,’ and “culturally relevant and engaged,” are integrated throughout the book’s focus on various educational leadership issues and subjects. The book is divided into four sections: Building Community: Foundational Principles; Building Community Among Faculty and Staff; Building Community for Student, and Building Community with Others with Strategic chapters imbedded within each section. A “Now What? Application to Practice” is provided at the end of each chapter allowing the reader(s) a means of reflection and practical application of the principles presented.

Richard Wallace

By on May 16, 2008 in Faculty Publications

Wallace, Richard Cheever. “Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite.” Christian Scholar’s Review 37, no. 4 (Summer, 2008): 515-518.

Abstract: Evangelicals (including elite ones), as well as scholars and students of sociology, political science, communication, and business will likely find this book stimulating both in the facts it presents and the interpretations it offers. Along with the famous names are less well-known but organizationally prominent individuals including U.S. Senators, cabinet officials, entrepreneurs, executives, and major scientists. “Studio executives relied on this office and its Catholic counterpart to ensure that the film industry produced movies that would be well received” (118).\n Cosmopolitan evangelicals often see the “cheesy” subculture itself as a problem in promoting the evangelical cause.

Robert Woods

By on April 16, 2008 in Faculty Publications

Woods, Robert H., Jr. “Review of Communication, Media, and Identity: A Christian Theory of Communication.” Journal of Media and Religion 7, no. 3 (2008): 190-194. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15348420802223213.

Abstract: Reviews the book, Communication, Media, and Identity: A Christian Theory of Communication by Robert S. Fortner (2007). Throughout this scholarly book, which culls from a wide range of literature on the philosophy and theology of communication, Fortner defines some of the basic characteristics or norms of Christian communication. He nicely summarizes these characteristics in chapter 11 on “Implications,” which reads like a manifesto of Christian communication. Readers could begin with chapter 11 before tackling chapters 1-10 as a way to keep the “big ideas” in mind throughout the chapters; it makes for a great introduction to the major issues. The author’s work is ideally suited for anyone teaching communication from a biblical perspective or for those interested in critiquing or conducting faith-based scholarship.

Michael Buratovich

By on February 16, 2008 in Faculty Publications

Buratovich, Michael. “Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America’s Soul/40 Days and 40 Nights: Darwin, Intelligent Design, God, Oxycontin, and Other Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania.” Christian Scholar’s Review 37, no. 2 (Winter, 2008): 253-257.

Abstract: The city of Dover, Pennsylvania is located approximately thirty miles south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. You would not expect this small town to make national news, but on November 19, 2004, the Dover Area School District issued a press release that required biology teachers to read a statement to their ninth-grade biology students that said, in part: “Intelligent Design is an explanation of the origin of the life that differs from Darwin’s view. The reference book, Of Pandas and People, is available for students who might be interested in gaining an understanding of what Intelligent Design actually involves . . . .” This statement sparked the famous Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al. trial, in which John E. Jones, Federal judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, ruled that the Dover Area School Board attempted to introduce religion into public schools and that Intelligent Design (ID) is not science and has no place in a high school biology class.

Michael Buratovich

By on February 16, 2006 in Faculty Publications

Buratovich, Michael. “Dawkin’s God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life.” Christian Scholar’s Review 35, no. 2 (Winter, 2006): 280-283.

Abstract: With respect to Dawkins’ refutation of William’Paley’s “God as the Divine Watchmaker” hypothesis, McGrath points out that Paley’s Natural Theology “represents the late and final flowering of a movement that came into being in the aftermath of the great Newtonian revolution of the late seventeenth century, and which had completely lost its way by the middle of the eighteenth century” (69). Finally, the quote from River out of Eden that speaks of DNA as digital information and creatures as survival machines that act as mere vessels to carry this information can hardly mean that Dawkins wishes to reduce all social behavior to kin selection, since he said as much about human behavior in The Selfish Gene.

Michael Buratovich

By on September 16, 2005 in Faculty Publications

Buratovich, Michael. “A Matter of Days.” Christian Scholar’s Review 35, no. 1 (Fall, 2005): 116-118.

Abstract: Instead of seeing all life as having descended from a common ancestor, Ross is a Progressive Creationist, contending that God episodically created, by divine fiat, different types of plants and animals to inhabit the earth over distinct periods of time; these episodic creations included, most recently, the miraculous creation of mankind. Third, sequencing of mitochondrial DNA from the haplochromines (cichlid fishes) of Lake Victoria, which is only 12,400 years old, has definitively shown that among fourteen fish species from distinct trophic groups (insect-eaters, fish-eaters, algae-scrapers, snail-crushers, shail-shellers and pedophages), only fifteen base substitutions have occurred amongst the more than eight hundred bases examined.

Michael Buratovich

By on April 16, 2005 in Faculty Publications

Buratovich, Michael. “Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing/Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design.” Christian Scholar’s Review 34, no. 3 (Spring, 2005): 382-386.

Abstract: Buratovich reviews Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals who Find Darwinism Unconvincing edited by William A. Dembski and Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design by Barbara Forrest and Paul R. Gross.