Welcome New Subscribers!

My inbox has been buzzing this week

I’m very grateful for the shoutouts I recently received from

Ryan Burge

and

C. Christopher Smith

. I’m never sure how these algorithms work. But I do know that I’ve picked up over 50 subscribers since Saturday so I thought an introductory note would be in order.

I am a retired sociology professor and former administrator living in the Denver area. I served in five different Christian Universities. I earned my PhD from Purdue (Boiler Up!), specializing in the sociology of religion and social psychology. My professional career has added issues in modern higher education as additional fields of interest.

Since starting this SubStack in the summer of 2022, I tried to write every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On the off days, I was working on a manuscript I call “The Fearless Christian University”. It is a re-envisioning of Christian Higher Education that eschews Culture War fights, focusing instead on the issues and needs of Gen Z students.

In November, the book project got picked up by Eerdmans. I’m very excited to be working with them — they published Arthur Holmes’ “The Idea of a Christian College” 50 years ago. I have a February 1st deadline for the manuscript. While I’m making good progress (now working on chapter seven of eight), I decided to cut the SubStack back to one day a week (usually Friday) until I’m done.

If you review the archive you’ll find pieces on politics, media, Christian Higher Ed (of course), criminal justice, evangelicals, and reviews of books I’ve read recently. Once the book is submitted, I’ll return to those topics. It’s actually taken some discipline I don’t normally have to resist writing about all kinds of things in our contemporary culture.

Anyway, for those of you who just showed up, Welcome! For those who have been along for the ride since the beginning, thanks for your interest and support.

In every post, I provide the opportunity for others to subscribe or upgrade to paid or to share the post with a friend. I always create an opportunity for reader comments, which I encourage and try to respond quickly (retirement is great!).