Why should Christians care about academia, and how can they bring the gospel to academics and intellectuals?
Dr. Neil Shenvi holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry from UC-Berkeley and an A.B. in Chemistry from Princeton. He became a Christian in graduate school, and he worked in that field for more than 15 years. Dr. Shenvi visited Southeastern Seminary a few years ago to give a lecture on this important topic.
On Tuesday, March 3, Dr. Shenvi will return to lecture on “Social Justice, Critical Race Theory, and Christianity: Are They Compatible?” Learn more and register now.
Watch his lecture above, or read an excerpt below (edited for clarity).
You have to prepare your congregation and equip them to deal with the kinds of arguments they’re going to hear.
Why we need to think about engaging academia.
“How can we engage people in universities and academia, whether they’re undergraduates, graduate students, or faculty, with the gospel? What questions are they likely to have, and how can we give a defense for the reason we have hope within us?
“You may be wondering why this talk is relevant to you. Many of you are probably employed outside the secular academy… But if you end up going into the pastorate, you probably will have congregants who are in academia (whether they’re graduate students or faculty), you’ll almost certainly have college students who are your congregants, and you’ll definitely have parents in your congregation whose children go away to college.
“You have to prepare your congregation and equip them to deal with the kinds of arguments they’re going to hear. I’ve received a lot of emails from parents saying, ‘My kids were raised Christian. They’re now atheists. How do I talk to them? What do I talk to them about?’ Even more than that, I think that universities are increasingly powerful as culture-shaping institutions. This is where popular ideas are formed and then reinforced. So if we are learning to engage the universities, we’re also learning to engage popular culture.
“I’m not in pastoral ministry, but I’ve been in academia for about 15 years now, so I can give you some of my personal insight.”
On Tuesday, March 3, Dr. Shenvi will return to lecture on “Social Justice, Critical Race Theory, and Christianity: Are They Compatible?” Learn more and register now.
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