42 episodes

67% of high school students head off to college each year, including followers of Christ. Many opportunities and challenges await, both at public universities and private institutions.

This podcast features Christian leaders who understand the people and ideas of higher education. They share their insights and wisdom, helping students flourish intellectually and spiritually during these formative years.

New interviews are posted once a month, discussing topics related to (in no particular order):

*Loving God with the mind (intellectual life on campus, including classroom and study skills, integrating biblical truth and various majors, and engaging other perspectives in healthy and fruitful ways)

*Loving God with the heart (devotional life on campus)

*Understanding the university and one’s place in it

*How to have a redemptive influence on campus

*Finding a healthy church and campus fellowship

*Discerning God’s calling (one’s “vocation,” in the true sense of the word).

The College Faith Podcast is hosted by Dr. Stan Wallace. Dr. Wallace serves as President and CEO of Global Scholars, an international ministry equipping Christian professors to make Christ know on campuses worldwide. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, a Master of Arts in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics, and a Doctor of Ministry in Christian Thought. Dr. Wallace writes and speaks on issues in apologetics, ethics, philosophy, and theology, mostly at ThinkingChristianly.org.

College Faith Stan W. Wallace

    • Education
    • 4.8 • 6 Ratings

67% of high school students head off to college each year, including followers of Christ. Many opportunities and challenges await, both at public universities and private institutions.

This podcast features Christian leaders who understand the people and ideas of higher education. They share their insights and wisdom, helping students flourish intellectually and spiritually during these formative years.

New interviews are posted once a month, discussing topics related to (in no particular order):

*Loving God with the mind (intellectual life on campus, including classroom and study skills, integrating biblical truth and various majors, and engaging other perspectives in healthy and fruitful ways)

*Loving God with the heart (devotional life on campus)

*Understanding the university and one’s place in it

*How to have a redemptive influence on campus

*Finding a healthy church and campus fellowship

*Discerning God’s calling (one’s “vocation,” in the true sense of the word).

The College Faith Podcast is hosted by Dr. Stan Wallace. Dr. Wallace serves as President and CEO of Global Scholars, an international ministry equipping Christian professors to make Christ know on campuses worldwide. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, a Master of Arts in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics, and a Doctor of Ministry in Christian Thought. Dr. Wallace writes and speaks on issues in apologetics, ethics, philosophy, and theology, mostly at ThinkingChristianly.org.

    #42: A Guide to Majoring in the Biological Sciences

    #42: A Guide to Majoring in the Biological Sciences

    My guest in this edition is Jeff Hardin, Ph.D., professor and former chair of the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Wisconsin. He holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from the International School of Theology. In addition to his scholarly work in cell biology and leading textbook on this topic, Jeff has thought much about the intersection of faith and science and regularly addresses these topics in public forums.

     



    In this podcast we discuss:











    How Jeff got interested in studying biology

    The value of exploring various ideas, and noticing God in the process

    How, as a biologist, he benefits from inter-disciplinary conversations

    What career opportunities are available with a degree in the biological sciences

    How to zero in on the area of biology you are interested in

    How he has connected studying biology with his faith, and how he has thrived as a result

    Some challenges of being a biologist and a Christian  

    How he seeks to reveal God in his work as a biologist 

    Thoughts on how Christians can think about evolution and creation

    The role of understanding ethics and broader worldview and religious commitments in studying the biological sciences

    Character qualities/traits that are good indicators that a student will flourish studying the biological sciences

    The overlap of God’s call for us to care for His creation and current conversations in the biological sciences 

    The importance for Christians to thoughtfully engage with the biology of neuroscience

    The importance for Christians to thoughtfully engage with the worldview, ethics, and practice of genome editing

    The growing conversation around “trans-humanism” that will become increasingly important in discussions in the biological sciences

    God’s grace for those called to study the biological sciences

    The value of joining a professional society in the biological sciences, and connecting with other Christians in the field at the society’s meetings

    What Jeff wished his 18-year-old self knew about majoring in the biological sciences

    Why it is important for biologists also to study things outside the biological sciences

    The importance of finding other Christians in the biological sciences, and how to find them







     

    Resources mentioned during our conversation:











    The Isthmus Society

    C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer

    Phillip Johnson, Darwin on Trial

    Gilbert Meilaender, Bioethics, a Primer for Christians

    Scott Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to EthicsJohn Wyatt, Matters of Life and Death: Human Dilemmas in the Light of the Christian Faith

    The American Scientific Affiliation

    BioLogos

    Reasons to  Believe

    The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity

    The Christian Medical & Dental Association

    Francis Collins, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief

    • 1 hr 16 min
    #41: Sex, College, and the Good Life

    #41: Sex, College, and the Good Life

    My guest in this episode is Scott Phelps, Executive Director of the Abstinence & Marriage Education Partnership. For many years now Scott has spoken to students about the great, long-term benefits of saving sex for marriage, and so I’ve invited him onto the show to share some of what he has learned, and how others have found his insights helpful. 



     



    In this podcast we discuss:





    How he got interested in the relationship between living life well, flourishing, and sex



    Principles, or the successful pathway that most often leads to a good life



    Habit formation for life-long intimate relationships



    Hope for students who have already been sexually active



    Other benefits of waiting for sex until marriage



    The example of Joseph, Potiphar’s wife, and Joseph’s future wife (Genesis 37-50)



    The disbelief some have about the possibility of abstinence until marriage, yet their interest



    How to swim against the alternative cultural narrative of “free sex,” which saturates all   media



    How his approach differs from most sex education programs



    The personal value and apologetic force of the biblical view of sex and marriage



    The biggest challenges students face to following the successful pathway to sex, marriage, and the good life



    The acceleration and shift in the cultural narrative about sex since the COVID pandemic



    How parents might tackle this topic with their children



    Simplifying the issue with one simple question



    Sex as fire in a firepit or as a forest fire



    Living together, sex, future marriage, and divorce





     



    Resources mentioned during our conversation:





    Abstinence & Marriage Education Partnership



    Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives



    Scott Phelps, Excel Curriculum and Workbook



    Glenn Stanton, The Ring Makes All The Difference: The Hidden Consequences of Cohabitation and the Strong Benefits of Marriage



    Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher, The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier and Better Off Financially



    Rick Mattson and Stan Wallace, “Finding the Middle Way in the LGBTQ+ Conversation,” a College Faith podcast



    Stan Wallace’s Summary of Virtue Ethics

    • 52 min
    #40: Finding the “Middle Way” in the LGBTQ+ Conversation

    #40: Finding the “Middle Way” in the LGBTQ+ Conversation

    My guest today is Rick Mattson, a national apologetics specialist and evangelism coach with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He often does open “Q and A” sessions on college campuses in which he is asked for insights on how to understand LGBTQ+ issues in ways that embody both truth and love. We discuss some of what he shares on this important topic.

     



    In this podcast we discuss:





    How LGBTQ issues come up in his conversations, and why it’s close to his heart



    The importance of the larger narrative of Scripture in understanding human sexuality and flourishing



    The relation of this issue to the Trinity



    How both the physical and spiritual ramifications of the Fall are often neglected in this conversation



    How to understand the idea that “God made me this way”



    How to understand the idea of a “gay Christian”



    Advice for Christian students with same-sex attraction



    The modern shift toward “expressive Individualism” underlying much of this conversation



    Finding the “middle way” between extreme views of human sexuality



    The centrality of spiritual disciplines in healthy friendships and sexuality



    How we frame conversations to open further LGBTQ discussions



    The importance of having appropriate expectations for our relationships



    How to not be bullied, or be bullies, in LGBTQ conversations



    What the loving thing to do is in specific situations regarding roommates or gender non-conforming dorms



    How to think about attending a gay friend’s wedding



    How to think about the use of preferred pronouns



    A strategy to think through various other LGBTQ-related issues



    How the church can better prepare students to think through these issues



    How parents can better prepare students to think through these issues



    The hardest question he gets on this question on campus



     



    Resources mentioned during our conversation:





    Rick Mattson’s website



    Rick Mattson, Faith is Like Skydiving: And Other Memorable Images for Dialogue with Seekers and Skeptics



    Rick Mattson, Witness in the Academy: A Guide for Graduate Students, Faculty, and Those Who Minister With Them



    Rick’s blog posts on “LGBT+”



    Carl Trueman, Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution



    Carl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to the Sexual Revolution



    Summit Ministries



    “A Practical Guide to Navigating University Culture,” John Stonestreet on the College Faith podcast



    World View Academy



    “Why Christian Students Must Understand Their and Other’s Worldviews,” Mike Schutt on the College Faith podcast



    “How to Choose a College,” David Wunder on the College Faith podcast



    Impact 360

    • 1 hr 23 min
    #39: A Guide to Majoring in The Great Books

    #39: A Guide to Majoring in The Great Books

    This episode continues my sporadic series on the various fields students may choose to study while in college. My guest is Dr. Hannah Eagleson studied the great books at St. John’s College (Annapolis, MD) during her Masters degree, then went on to earn a PhD in Renaissance literature at the University of Delaware.



    She has written study guides to The Lord of the Rings and to works by C. S. Lewis and Dorothy L. Sayers. Dr. Eagleson also develops programming to support Christian scholars as they follow Christ and love their neighbors, including work with Global Scholars, Chesterton House (a Christian study center at Cornell University), and the American Scientific Affiliation (a scholarly and professional society for Christians in the sciences).



     



    In this podcast we discuss:





    What the “Great Books” are



    What “Great Books” university programs are and why they were formed



    Difference between Great Books programs at pluralistic and Christian universities



    Defining the important literary term “canon”



    How Hannah got interested in the Great Books and these university programs



    The value of understanding the classical modes of education: grammar, logic, and rhetoric and Classical Christian Education



    How the classical model of education contributed to interest in Great Book programs



    Hannah’s perspective on the medieval period of intellectual history, as a corrective to our current negative perspectives



    Details of specific Great Books programs



    How Hannah benefitted from being in a Great Books program



    The “seminar” approach to coursework in a Great Books program



    Why “new” is not necessarily “better,” especially concerning books



    How a Great Books program does and does not help you get a job and make a living, and strategies to better your chances



    What a “liberal arts” education is and is not     



    Strengths and weaknesses of Great Books programs



    Suggestions if you want to use a Great Books program to prepare you for graduate studies



    How Hannah’s Great Books program continues to shape her today, and will into the future



    The positives and negatives of how social media encourages us to engage texts



    Defining “literary criticism”





     



    Resources mentioned during our conversation:





    Britannica’s Great Books of the Western World series, compiled by Mortimer Adler and Robert Hutchins of the University of Chicago



    Baylor Great Texts Program, an honors program within a Christian university setting with many different majors



    Biola Torrey Honors College an honors program within a Christian university setting with many different majors



    Columbia University Core Curriculum (a program within a secular Ivy League university that engages with great books)



    Notre Dame Program of Liberal Studies Great Books Seminars, a program within a Catholic university setting with many different majors



    St. John’s College, Annapolis and Santa Fe (the whole program is Great Books)



    Thomas Aquinas College, Catholic (the whole program is Great Books)



    Dorothy Sayers, “The Lost Tools of Learning”



    C. S. Lewis, “On The Reading of Old Books” 



    George Herbert’s poetry



    John Donne’s poetry



    Chesterton House, the Christian Study Center at Cornell University



    “Why You Need to Join the Great Conversation About the Great Books,” The Art of Manliness Podcast #430



    The New Yorker article “What’s So Great About Great-Books Courses?”

    • 53 min
    #38: The Pop-Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ

    #38: The Pop-Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ

    My guest in this edition of the College Faith Podcast is Dr. Ted Turnau, co-author of The Pop-Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ. Ted has spent many years thinking about how to help children (from the early years through young adulthood) understand, evaluate, and flourish in pop culture that is all around us. He shares some of his insights from his study, how his parents helped and didn’t help him, and lessons learned from raising his own children.



     



    In this podcast we discuss:





    What “pop culture” is conceptually and biblically



    The two ways Christians tend to respond to popular culture, and a better “middle way”



     Daniel and his colleagues as examples of a healthy posture toward  popular culture



    The goal of the Christian parent in the midst of pop culture



    How various parenting styles tend to influence a student’s decisions once at college



    The five questions that can help you and your children evaluate things in pop culture



    A case study: Evaluating the extremely popular Baldur’s Gate 3 video game



    Six things to keep in mind when we talk with our children about pop culture





     



    Resources mentioned during our conversation:





    Ted Turnau’s website



    Ted Turnau, E. Stephen Burnett, and Jared Moore, The Pop-Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ



    Ted Turnau, Popologetics: Popular Culture in Christian Perspective



    Ted Turnau, Oasis of Imagination: Engaging Our World Through a Better Creativity



    Ted Turnau and Ruth Naomi Floyd, Imagination Manifesto: A Call to Plant Oases of Imagination



    Andy Crouch, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling



    Christ and Pop Culture (an online magazine and podcast)



    Love Thy Nerd (a website thinking Christianly about pop culture)



    Ask About Games (a website by Andrew Robertson providing a Christian perspective and evaluation of video games)



    Hollywood Jesus: Your Bridge to Pop Culture (a website evaluating streaming shows, movies, and much more from a biblical perspective)



    “A Guide to Majoring in the Arts,” College Faith podcast #34 with Cam Anderson, M.F.A.

    • 1 hr 15 min
    #37: Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air

    #37: Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air

    In this episode we are discussing an idea every student is sure to encounter early and repeatedly during the college years-- the idea of “relativism.” My guest is Greg Koukl, co-author of Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air and the Founder/President of Stand to Reason, a great apologetics ministry.













    In this podcast we discuss:



    The prevalence of relativism on campus today (often seen as “expressive individualism”)

    Some different forms of relativism students will encounter

    Greg’s “inside/outside” distinction, which goes back to the Garden of Eden and the Fall

    How relativism is related to the idea of “truth”

    Why Christians should not talk about “their faith”

    Why we can know “that” something is true without knowing “how” it is true

    Why no one is actually a relativist, and how to help a “relativist” see this

    How to ask good questions as a way to engage in conversations about relativism (and everything else--”gardening” vs. “harvesting”)

    Understanding and discussing the new/current definition of “tolerance”

    Responding to relativism on campus (with friends, in classes, in papers, etc.)

    The importance of finding common ground in conversations

    The value of using this dialogical approach to defend all Christian truth claims









    Resources mentioned during our conversation:



    Greg Kokhl, Street Smarts: Using Questions to Answer Chrisitanity’s Toughest Challenges

    J. Warner Wallace, Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels

    Greg Kokhl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

    Greg Kokhl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

    Francis Schaeffer’s Trilogy

    C.S. Lewis, Perelandra

    Randy Newman, Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People’s Hearts the Way Jesus Did

    Stand to Reason, Greg’s organization

    Greg’s podcasts









    Related College Faith Resources:









    The Reasonableness of Faith: Why Students Should Study Apologetics with Paul Copan (College Faith podcast #25)

    How Asking Good Questions Helps Us Succeed with Randy Newman (College Faith podcast 10)

    Stan Wallace, “When it Comes to Weinstein et al., No One is a Moral Relativist--And That’s a Good Thing!”

    • 55 min

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Helpful, practical, timely wisdom and encouragement

Highly recommend for parents, youth volunteers and ministers, students.

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