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Our president, Michael Gulker, wrote an article for the recent CSE (Christian School Education) magazine about finding our way through conflict when teaching about faith and science. Enjoy! We had gathered in hopes of using tough, complex conversations like evolution as occasions to deepen faith and witness to the truth that all things hold together in Christ (Colossians 1:17). But things sure didn't feel like they were holding together as we factionalized into two groups--those insisting on the authority of Scripture and those insisting on the need to take science seriously and teach it with integrity. Things had started so well. We began the two-day retreat in prayer and worship, meditating on Mary's annunciation in Luke 1, reflecting on what it might mean for Christ to be born in us in the midst of a pressured conversation like evolution. Later, we read Psalm 22, the opening line of which Jesus quoted from the cross--"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" How are we to act when we, who have been given authority for both the intellectual and spiritual formation of our students, come face-to-face with challenging conversations that threaten to call our own faith into question? How are we to balance our teaching authority and our confidence in Scripture with openness and vulnerability to new learning? And what, in our culture, did students need to see most--a tidy answer or a faithful question to a God whom we can trust to see things through even we we can't? You can read the rest of the article from CSE here.

We’re thrilled to announce that The Colossian Forum, along with our partners at Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning, received a grant from the John Templeton Foundation to support the next phase of the FAST (Faith and Science Teaching) Project. FAST is a resource to equip high school teachers to engage big questions around faith and science with both confidence and creativity, with the goal of changing the way young people consider these big questions, thereby opening the way for humble inquiry and faithful pursuit of both intellectual and spiritual virtue. The first phase of FAST will conclude this September with the launch of the FAST website. This phase centered around developing alternative and fruitful ways of integrating education at the intersection of faith and science through creation of a web-based curricular resource and training for teachers of science and religion. FAST’s second phase (which this new grant makes possible) will: Nearly double the number of activities provided on the FAST website Produce two short films that creatively illustrate the FAST approach to teaching Embed FAST into a high school, creating a model to inspire other institutions Our goal is that the FAST website will become a trusted source for high quality, creative, and integrated teaching materials that foster discipleship in the context of scientific inquiry. We couldn’t undertake this project without the support of partners like the John Templeton Foundation or without your gifts and prayers as we seek to invite young people to engage potentially thorny topics (like the intersection of faith and science) as occasions to build Christian communities that actually look Christian.

Click article to enlarge or download here.

                           

The Colossian Forum invites you to join us Thursday, June 25 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. at Western Theological Seminary for Transforming Conflicts over Sexuality and Origins. Experience an alternative to the polarized conversations of our day as our panelists engage important topics. Seating is limited; please register here.

TCF recently hosted the third in a forum series on the origins of human existence, this one held at the site of the Scopes Monkey Trial in Dayton, TN. The four-day event included a private gathering of scholars in related fields, as well as a public forum at the Rhea County Courthouse featuring TCF Fellows Todd Wood and Darrel Falk. During our time in Dayton, TCF and our partners were also invited by Bryan College to lead a chapel service for their faculty, staff and students. You can read about the service on the student news site here. The college has also made available an audio recording of the event, posted online here. We are grateful to Bryan College for creating space for this important and difficult conversation.