eJournal

CACE Faculty Seminar 2024 welcomed 21 faculty participants to its seminar on Political Polarization in the University Classroom.  John Rose, Associate Director of the Civil Discourse Project at Duke University and Timothy Taylor Associate Professor of International Relations at Wheaton College led a workshop that examined teaching controversial issues in undergraduate courses. The interactive seminar reviewed course designs (including sample syllabi), pedagogical techniques, and readings designed to foster civil discourse in disagreement. Faculty were encouraged to share their own approaches and consider adopting new methods in the design of their courses.

CACE Faculty Seminar 2023 welcomed 15 faculty participants to its seminar on AI & the Liberal Arts.  Richard Gibson (English) and Nate Thom (Biology) led a workshop that examined the history and present state of artificial intelligence and the significance of AI for our work as liberal arts educators.  Participants read research scientist in natural language processing Dr. Erik J. Larson's The Myth of Artificial Intelligence (Harvard UP, 2021) and participated in seminar-style discussion, hands-on activities (including MidJourney and DALL-E playtime), and no-stress presentations by participants on pedagogical and research issues. 

CACE Faculty Seminar 2022 drew 12 faculty participants to its seminar on Discovering Creaturely Life with God, engaging with the work and person of Dr. Norman Wirzba. How might our lives change if we think more carefully about ourselves as God’s creatures together with all of creation?  This seminar seeks answers to this and related questions from many disciplines as we work together with Norman Wirzba, author of Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating (Cambridge, 2^nd ed. 2019), Living the Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight (Brazos, 2006), and From Nature to Creation: A Christian Vision for Understanding and Loving Our World (Baker, 2015).

In May of 2021 Dr. George Kalantzis led 13 faculty members in our Spring Faculty seminar on the theme of “Evangelicalism and Christian Nationalism".  The seminar engaged the phenomenon of Christian Nationalism and its relationship to the evangelical movement and explored possible responses in light of polarizing political and social issues from within an Evangelical identity. Each participant read “Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States” and engaged the book and topic from within their own academic disciplines and ecclesial commitments.  Dr. Samuel Perry (co-author with Andrew Whitehead) joined us on the first day of the seminar for a presentation and discussion.

CACE Faculty Seminar 2019 drew 17 faculty participants to its seminar on Speaking the Truth with Grace, co-directed by Dr. Ken Chase and Dr. Theon Hill.  How do we speak now, when standing for truth and giving offense are two-sides of the same cultural coin? What sorts of Christian discourse are appropriate for secular society? And what sorts of counter-cultural discourse are appropriate for Christian institutions? What are the lines we ought not cross when speaking with others, and when ought we cross those lines for the sake of expanding borders and breaking down walls?  Disunity, distrust, and disagreement dominate the Church and society at large. Tensions persist along political, gender, class, and racial lines, turning the beauty of diverse people into an ideological battleground. How can contemporary Christians communicate the love, truth, and justice of Christ in classrooms, churches, and society?

CACE Faculty Seminar 2018 drew 18 faculty participants to its seminar on Evangelical Identity in an Ideological Age, directed by Dr. Timothy Larsen.  The workshop focused on the future of the evangelical movement and brand in America in light of polarizing political and social issues.  Karen Swallow Prior, Professor of English, Liberty University, and Soong-Chan Rah of North Park University for Friday, both contributors to the book also joined the seminar.

2017-18 CACE Faculty Seminar theme centered around addressing race and ethnic diversity.  The seminar invited faculty to consider the following question: How are we to recognize and overcome the legacies of a racial faith that may be embedded within Christianity, evangelicalism, and Wheaton College as an institution of Christian higher education?  The select faculty addressed this question in conversation with Willie James Jennings’ book, The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race.  The Faculty Articles are a result of the time spent in the CACE Seminar.  We publish these articles throughout the year in our eJournal.

“Theater as a Way of Knowing” was the theme of our 2016 CACE faculty seminar.  This seminar we took a different approach by using theater practice/performance to help us discover what it means to embody truth as scholars and teachers. What do we mean when we say that a production or an actor is ‘truthful’? Do we mean only that the words spoken are truthful? In what sense? Is it possible to ‘embody’ truth without using words?  As part of the workshop,  two plays in Chicago were attended.  Participants will be given an opportunity to ‘work out’ responses to these shared experiences in both written and embodied expression.