In this podcast, Paul talks about the second “Fruit of the Spirit,” joy. He asserts that biblically informed joy is not to be confused with just “putting on a happy face” or easier for the up-beat personality to experience. Paul offers that the “joy of the Lord” is associated with re-asserting an over-arching truth that even informs times of difficulty …
Reclaiming Reverence
Reclaiming Reverence Gregory Spencer, Ph.D. Professor of Communication Studies, Westmont College Author, Awakening the Quieter Virtues The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom . . . (Proverbs 9:10). At a recent worship service the pastor told the congregation, “you’re about to enter into the presence of deity.” They audibly gasped. The glorious expressions on worshipers’ faces revealed …
Inspiring Consensus in Community: The Faith and Hope in Proximate Speech
Inspiring Consensus in Community: The Faith and Hope in Proximate Speech Joel S. Ward, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Communication Geneva College Abstract: The outlook for our current age seems bleak. We respond by conjuring up thin hopes since this appears to stabilize and sustain human communities. Genuine hope comes from its companion faith, the inner assurance of good things promised. …
Fraudulent Communication Studies?
Fraudulent Communication Studies? Paul A. Creasman, Ph.D. Professor of Communication, Chair of the Department of Communication Studies Arizona Christian University With thousands of colleges and universities migrating their teaching online in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, Tucker Carlson—television news pundit—mused last week about how that would affect education in this country: “An entire nation has just been shown that …
A Note to My Soul
A Note to My Soul with Mark Williams, Ph.D. Professor of Rhetoric California State University, Sacramento Here is the first rule of predicting the future in this moment, by my lights: Almost always we tend to forget or to discount the darkness we carry inside. That means that many of our predictions are likely to assume that we possess that …
Devotional: Getting to the Heart of the Matter
Devotionals on Communication Getting to the Heart of the Matter* Tim Muehlhoff, Ph.D., Biola University There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 16:25) Headline: “British doctors perform heart transplant against wishes of girl.” The Associated Press article tells of a fifteen-year-old girl in England who refused a life-saving …
Education in a time of Plague: Reflections from one Epicenter
Meaning-full Faith: Words, The Word, and a Life of Substance with Mark Williams, Ph.D. Professor of Rhetoric California State University, Sacramento I live in northern California, near one west coast epicenter of the 2020 pandemic—a once-in-every hundred-year-plague that we are all suffering through at the current moment. It knows no political, religious, or economic boundaries. The present moment is like …
“You Are God’s Garden”
In this podcast, Paul begins to offer an interlude of reflections during these challenging, uncertain times provoked by the threat of the coronavirus. His first is to emphasize the over-arching significance of biblically-informed metanarratives that help us understand our story, especially in the midst of struggle. What are the ways we understand our journey, stories worth repeating, regularly to remind …
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Samaritan Ethics and the Art of Compassion
Presenter and Affiliation: Raymond Blanton, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Communication Arts in the School of Media and Design, University of the Incarnate Word When?: Wednesday, March 25, 11 am – 12 pm EST What?: The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the preeminent stories in the book of Luke—if not the entire New Testament. As a story, it …
New Year’s Resolutions in February
New Year’s Resolutions in February I generally do not make New Year’s Resolutions. I am just too tired and worn out after completing another semester with its plethora of grading and then throwing myself in to all the holiday preparations and celebrations. So, at the end of the year I have little energy to even consider resolutions. Therefore, I make …
