The Vatican Billions

How can the Church justify sitting on piles of cash while people around the world are living in poverty? When Her own founder said, “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (Mk 10:21)?

Justin Sanchez | The Harvard Ichthus | Spring 2016

Boundary Lessons From Infants

What happens when I am securely attached to God? I have the freedom to explore, like the securely attached infants who used their mothers as a base from which they explored the room.

Lisa Ann Yu | UC Berkeley TAUG | Spring 2016

Faithful Activism

These forms of resistance are a reflection of that most radical message of all—that each of us is loved and valued and worthy in the eyes of God. No exceptions.

Joyce Tompkins | Swarthmore Peripateo | Spring 2017

God Loves Hip-Hop

Hip-hop will never be a “perfect” platform for God’s message because humans will never be “perfect” vessels for God’s message, yet many of its musicians recognize their God-given blessings and brokenness and are excited to project them into the musical world.

Abigail Rogers-Berner | The Hopkins Dialectic | Spring 2017

Chinese Traditions in a Christian Looking Glass

I thought Christianity was the same story spoken by a different tongue: if you want this, you do as I say, and then you will have it.

Lina Tian | The Columbia Crown & Cross | Fall 2016

Spanish Mass at Harvard

I imagine there are other bilingual students at Harvard who experience these same discouragements at worship services for other faiths. However, this investigation will focus particularly on the experience of Spanish-speaking Catholics.

Marina Spinelli | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2016

The Caring Approach

In showing compassion, sympathy and empathy through His miracles, Jesus also revolutionized the way we approach the sick by demonstrating how powerful these qualities are.

Tori Ranero | The Vanderbilt Synesis | Fall 2016

A Q&A with Gary Habermas

"The basic idea here is that because Jesus was buried in Jerusalem, and that this is also where the apostolic preaching began, critics would simply need to walk over to the tomb to determine whether it was empty, or whether it contained the corpse of a crucifixion victim."

Luke Dickens | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2017

Boundaries

We invite you to look for the beauty that boundaries can create and to heal the wounds cut by divisive boundaries.

Laura Clark | UC Berkeley TAUG | Spring 2016

Porn is Not Private: Why Viewing Pornography Perpetuates Injustice

If we have the social conscience to denounce the lies of sexual objectification or normalizing violence, we cannot let pornography get away with the same ideas.

Brandon Wright | The Harvard Ichthus | Spring 2016

The Theodicy of C.S. Lewis

Lewis’s defense of God’s goodness in the presence of evil rests heavily upon the belief that love given out of free will is more valuable than love given out of forced obedience.

Brian Klein | St Olaf Avodah | Spring 2015

John Calvin and the Case for Refugees

Central to Calvin’s social policy was an intense devotion to the less fortunate in society. However they may present themselves, whether as orphans or widows or refugees, Calvin believed that he had a solemn and God-given duty to care for them.

Noah Black | The Vanderbilt Synesis | Fall 2016

The Weariness and Work of Sloth

Sloth is farther reaching, more insidious, and better at hiding than laziness, arising from a deep emptiness or lack, and can exhibit itself as laziness, but also, counter-intuitively, as excessive busyness.

John Nystrom | The Cornell Claritas | Spring 2017

Sanctuary and the Law

Sanctuary existed as a strong legal tradition from the reign of Theodosius and throughout the medieval period in canon and English common law.

Megan Stater | The Columbia Crown & Cross | Fall 2016

Insights from Professor Chuck Huff

"Do you have any particular examples from your classes where people have really thought through or wrestled with the issues of religion and science?"

Avodah Editorial Staff | St Olaf Avodah | Spring 2015

Black Families and Labor Markets in the Post-Reconstruction Era

Failure to take the Black family on their own terms and in their own contexts has led many cultural critics to assign blame Black culture for the high pover­ty and single-motherhood rates that seem to afflict the poor Black community.

Michael Chen | The Wheaton Pub | Fall 2016

Politics: Where Do We Go From Here?

At its root, politics is not even really about addressing the latest national controversy or advancing a particular agenda, but about bringing us together as citizens to do what we can’t do on our own.

Sam Elder | MIT et Spiritus | Fall 2016

Do Ethnic Communities Have a Place in Christianity?

When I was exposed to different faith traditions and practices in college, I found myself doubting aspects of my home church that I had previously been so fond of.

Amos Jeng | The Hopkins Dialectic | Spring 2017

The Integration of Modern Psychology and the Philosophical Virtues in the Christian Worldview

A psychological professional who is truly concerned for an individual’s well-being ought to awaken them to a sense of their human dignity, to help them recognize disorders in their lives, and to accompany them along the path of healing and self-discovery.

Blake Tamez  | The Vanderbilt Synesis | Fall 2016

Demythologizing Protestant Christianity’s Relationship with Nazi Germany

It is important to realize that the racial anti-Semitism which characterized Nazi Ger­many was not an invention of the National Socialists, but rather a radicalization of many social and religious factors which predated Hitler’s rise to power.

Rebecca Ito | The Wheaton Pub | Fall 2016

Postmodernism and the Paradox of Tolerance

Postmodernism conflates truth and personhood, and in doing so confines the person to a state of perpetual insecurity and vulnerability. It is this fear of violence that prevents modern persons from recognizing the inherent dignity of their peers.

Joshua Tseng-Tham | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2017

What the Debate on Religious Freedom Really Means

In this paper I categorize criticism of religious freedom into two groups and explore how the debate about religious freedom surfaces competing narratives about the purpose of individual choice.

Andrew Shi | Cornell Claritas | Spring 2016

Peace in Toil

The Christian worldview presents a framework for work that resolves many of the issues which arise from Stoicism and Materialism.

Samuel Ching | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2016

The Year of Mercy: A Retrospective

Before the summer of 2016 began, I remember telling my spiritual director that I felt God wanted to teach me about mercy, especially with my favorite job: counseling a local summer camp for kids.

Michael Miskovski | The Columbia Crown & Cross | Spring 2017

On Marilynne Robinson’s Lila

In Marilynne Robinson's Lila, we are meant to see ourselves writ large: pitiful and scared, and not quite sure where we stand with God, or how we found ourselves here, in this house, tending to the garden, living this sort of life.

Kate Massinger | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2016

The Price of Glory

At one point in [Martin Scorsese's film] Silence the Inquisitor sneers at one of the captured priests, “the price for your glory is their suffering!"

Richard Ibekwe | MIT et Spiritus | Spring 2017

The Problem of Christ as a Gift

Late 20th century philosopher Jacques Derrida calls into question the very possibility of gift-giving. The aporia of the gift, its dissipation upon coming into presence, presents a problem not only for philosophy, but also for Christianity.

Dan Ju | The Hopkins Dialectic | Spring 2017

Why States Fail: Lessons from Augustine

If we can ascertain our nature, we can begin to understand what makes societies perpetually problematic.

Jeffrey Poomkudy | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2017

Control//Support

Power, in our modern context, consists of (1) the ability to do things others are not able to do, or (2) the ability to control others’ actions directly.

Andrew Chang | UC Berkeley TAUG | Spring 2017

How to Reject Jesus

There are a number of approaches to rejecting Jesus Christ as being God. I have chosen the four I find most common and most natural to assert.

Bobby Peretti | The Hopkins Dialectic | Fall 2016

“Scientia Potentia Est”

Scientia potentia est, more commonly known as “knowledge is power,” is an aphorism suggesting that higher forms of knowledge correlate with greater power.

Lauren Hall | UC Berkeley TAUG | Spring 2017

Nonviolent Action and the Revolution of the Cross

In fact, in line with this trend of “questioning institutions”, MIT has recently announced a $250,000 award to further encourage “extraordinary civil, non-violent disobedience for the benefit of society.” But why is this all happening?

Matthew Chun | MIT et Spiritus | Spring 2017

Interview with Jim Nooney, a Christian CEO

"It takes confidence that the promises of the Bible are true because our American culture is constantly telling us to keep business and religion apart. But what I have found is that you can put them together."

Nicholas Chuan | The Brown & RISD Cornerstone | Fall 2016

Reconciling Faith and Reason

Biblically, faith is defined as “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” It is noteworthy that in both definitions of faith mentioned, there involves a certain element that extends beyond human perception.

Sarah Liu | The Hopkins Dialectic | Fall 2016

The Autonomous Veneer of Scientific Innovation

Research has pushed the bounds of knowledge and understanding to great lengths, addressing some of the most complex issues in physics, engineering, and medicine, but for what purpose?

Chris Korenczuk | University of Minnesota Between Cities | Fall 2016

The New Dartmouth: From Sacred to Secular

Regardless of the worldview one ascribes to, consideration of the full range of motivations for, and the ensuing effects of, the secularization of Dartmouth is required to fully understand its significance in Dartmouth’s history.

Sara Holston | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2016

The Climate Change Distraction

For me to simply say that the climate is changing does not address the greater issue. The problem is that people are not motivated to care for the environment.

Brad Gordon | University of Minnesota Between Cities | Fall 2016

Understanding God Through Modern Rap: Coloring Book

In this series we want to show that the increased tendency of modern rappers to reference Christian themes in their lyrics represents a desire to use the shared experience of African American Christianity as a vehicle to speak about contemporary life.

Damilare Aboaba, Gaired Jordan, and Emani Pollard | Cornell Claritas | Fall 2016

Augustine Collective Alum Obasi Shaw ’17 Awarded Honors for Rap Thesis at Harvard

Entitled “Liminal Minds,” the album combines such influences as Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper and Geoffrey Chaucer to portray contemporary black life in America. Shaw is the first in Harvard's history to submit a rap album for the senior thesis project.

Augustine Collective News | Augustine Collective | Spring 2017

Reckless Faith: Pursuing God at Any Cost

During my final year at Middlebury, I was asked by Professor Gebarowski-Shafer to give a brief presentation on Pentecostalism in Korea and hold a question and answer session for her Global Pentecostalism class.

David Park | The Middlebury Vine | Fall 2016

Veritas Forum: Selfish Genes, Generous Soul?

Columbia Prof. Hughes then asked UNC Chapel Hill Prof. Sethupathy how there could be no evidence of God. The universe, to Hughes, didn’t seem to require a God.

Crystal Ren | The Columbia Crown & Cross | Fall 2015 (blog)

The Purpose of Prayer: Secular Misconceptions and the Reality of Grace

Right off the bat, Jesus addresses God as “our Father.” This quickly establishes that prayer is relational, personal, and even familial.

Madeline Killen | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2016

Ending Global Poverty: An Interview with Economist Paul Niehaus ’04

"The early 2000s were an incredibly exciting time to study development economics because we were just starting to use experimental testing in a big way – like clinical trials in medicine, or A/B testing in tech."

Peter Hickman | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2016

On the Dignity of Sex

I myself have felt resentment and bitterness towards notions of “purity” and “chastity,” and rejected them as highly antiquated concepts that only objectified people.

A. S. Bethel | UC Berkeley TAUG | Spring 2017

The Diabolically Ridiculous

I assert that up to this point I have made a strong case for why the devil is ridiculous and tragic, but from my description, he does not sound very evil.

John Nystrom | Cornell Claritas | Fall 2016

An Interview with Prof. Anand Gnanadesikan

"Dealing with uncertain environmental problems, where we only see part of the system, has helped me appreciate what we do in a faith sense."

Gabrielle Moss | The Johns Hopkins Dialectic | Fall 2016

Petitionary Prayer: Why it Matters

Why is petitionary prayer necessary? And how are we, if at all, to determine its efficacy?

Jiaying Lim | The Columbia Crown & Cross | Fall 2016

A Non-Concealing Confession

This repentance must come from confession of sins and asking for forgiveness from God through prayer, but I also have come to believe that confession to others is at least a helpful, if not absolutely necessary part of this process.

Nate Lamb | Swarthmore Peripateo | Fall 2016

Who Are the Middle Eastern Christians?

Westerners’ broad concern for Middle Eastern Christians was and is well intentioned, but poorly informed, in part due to apathy and in part due to the lack of resources on the subject.

Christian Šidák | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2016

Highlights from the West Coast Retreat 2017

The 2nd Augustine Collective West Coast Retreat was held in Cambria, CA from March 3rd-4th, 2017.

Augustine Collective | Augustine Collective |