Critical Faith

Where do Christian faith and politics meet? And how is the church called to address inequality? Once every term, ICS hosts a Scripture, Faith, and Scholarship Seminar where we bring in a scholar, public intellectual, or social activist to talk to the ICS community about the work an/or research that they do and about the way it intersects with their faith lives.   Back in January, we were joined by...

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. -Acts 2:44-45 This week, we're joined by Samir Gassanov, ICS PhD student and former Bay Street property lawyer. In this episode, Sam sheds some light on his unfolding research into a Christian understanding of property, askin...

How do you discern a calling to graduate studies? This week, ICS President and Senior Member in Philosophy of Religion Dr. Ronald A. Kuipers rejoins the podcast to continue the narration of his academic journey. Last time, he reflected on his undergraduate years. This time, he shares with us factors and mentors that shaped his decision to pursue an MA and PhD. Check out this week's Don't Miss This...

What has technology to do with Christianity? This week, we're joined by Dean Dettloff , ICS PhD candidate and podcasting master. Dean is a founding father of Critical Faith, and we were very excited to have him join us once again to share the latest on his journey to ICS, his current dissertation research on technology and Christianity, and his teaching and social activism. After this introduction...

Voila! We're back to our regularly scheduled programming! This week, we're joined by Jim Olthuis , ICS Emeritus professor of philosophical theology and practicing psychotherapist. Jim has been at ICS from the beginning and has spent his life thinking about and living out love. Join us as he leads us through the wild spaces and reflects on his academic journey. Check out this week's Don't Miss This...

What is worldview and why does it matter? This is the final episode in our short series on thinking through some of life's big questions. So far, ICS Junior Member Grace Carhart has interviewed Senior Members Nik Ansell, Ronald A. Kuipers, Rebekah Smick, and Bob Sweetman on the themes of wonder, heartbreak, and hope from within their respective disciplines. This week, Grace and our SMs wrap things...

Is hope dangerous? This is the third in a short series of Critical Faith episodes based on thinking through some of life's big questions. ICS Junior Member Grace Carhart has conducted a series of interviews with ICS Senior Members Nik Ansell, Ronald A. Kuipers, Rebekah Smick, and Bob Sweetman; asking them to reflect on the themes of wonder, heartbreak, hope, and worldview from within their respect...

How do we live with heartbreak--and live well? This is the second in a short series of Critical Faith episodes based on guiding worldview questions. ICS Junior Member Grace Carhart has conducted a series of interviews with ICS Senior Members Nik Ansell, Ronald A. Kuipers, Rebekah Smick, and Bob Sweetman; asking them to reflect on the themes of wonder, heartbreak, hope, and worldview from within th...

Do you ever wonder?  This is the first in a short series of Critical Faith episodes based on guiding worldview questions. ICS Junior Member Grace Carhart has conducted a series of interviews of ICS Senior Members, asking them to reflect on the themes of wonder, heartbreak, hope, and worldview from within their respective disciplines. This week, Grace guides us through a deep and deepening discussi...

To jump into the new year, this week's episode is a change of pace and a chance to highlight some voices of the broader ICS community. For the first portion of this episode, we're taking a moment to express our thanks to those who came to our Open House in December by featuring some vignettes of their hopes for the future of ICS. And in the second portion, we're joined by Senior Member in theology...

Can dead languages yield life-giving and life-guiding principles? Can we see truth in poetic creativity? This week, Mark and Danielle talk with ICS Junior Member, PhD student, and linguistics-lover Julia De Boer about her longstanding fascination with studying the dynamics and structures of language. We want Critical Faith to give you a glimpse into the everyday life of ICS. So we're talking with...

What does it take to enact forgiveness, reconciliation, and processes of social change in climates of violence and oppression? This week, Danielle and Mark talk with Junior Member and Associate Director of the CPRSE Héctor Acero Ferrer about his academic journey and his work researching the ongoing peace process in Colombia, interfaith dialogue in Canada, and our deeply human need for narrative. W...

How do you find your feet when walking among giants? This week, our hosts Mark and Gideon chat with Senior Member and H. Evan Runner Chair in the History of Philosophy  Bob Sweetman  about studying Thomas Aquinas, mining your intuitions, and discerning emulatio (a spiritual practice of emulation) in the contemporary spirit of competition. We want Critical Faith to give you a glimpse into the every...

What's up with the apocalypse? This week, Junior Member hosts Danielle and Mark talk about their undergraduate years, mystery, and the hope of apocalypse with guest Senior Member in theology Nik Ansell. We want Critical Faith to give you a glimpse into the everyday life of ICS. So we're talking with Senior Members, Junior Members, and friends of the Institute to hear about what got them here, what...

Critical Faith is back! For the next while, we're giving you a glimpse into the everyday life of ICS. We're talking with Senior Members, Junior Members, and friends of the Institute to hear about what got them here, what they're working on, and why it matters for them. This week, we were joined by ICS President and Senior Member Ronald A. Kuipers , who reflected on his interest in advocating for f...

Last week, we heard Matt Bernico's lecture "Decolonizing Christian Higher Education." This week, Dean Dettloff poses questions to Bernico, and so do those who were present for the talk. How do we deal with questions of the Western canon? Can we talk about universal knowledge or a shared context while also talking the language of decolonization? What can institutions do beyond just including token...

The Institute for Christian Studies is a unique fixture in the field of Christian higher education, contributing to academia and also trying to transform it with fideilty to Christ. Yet European Christianity has been responsible for colonizing much of the world, creating troubling patterns of social organization and epistemology. As Christians working in academia, what are we to do with this legac...

Critical Faith is back in 2018! Dr. Natasha Duquette of Tyndale University joins ICS Junior Member Julia de Boer to explore Duquette's book Veiled Intent  (Wipf and Stock, 2016). They discuss feminine biblical hermeneutics from the 19th Century, Kant and his female interlocutors, and Jane Austen. From Duquette’s work we are ushered into an understudied area of Christian theological history, and le...

The Institute for Christian Studies is characterized by a conversational, exploratory approach to pedagogy, which spills into coffee shops, hallways, and meet-ups outside the classroom. This week, Junior Member Julia de Boer and ICS alum Andrew Tebbutt give us a window into that atmosphere by gathering around the microphone to talk about French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty, specifically h...

Last week, we heard Kate Hennessy talk about her writing, her life, and her grandmother, Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker. In this episode, Hennessy takes questions from Dean Dettloff and the audience, exploring Hennessy's writing process, life in the Catholic Worker, and what Dorothy Day could mean for a time like ours. Drawing from her book Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved by Beau...

In a moment of political strife and complexities, Christians have no shortage of powerful examples who left behind a creative and subversive legacy. Among them is Dorothy Day, a feisty New Yorker who is currently being considered for canonization in the Catholic Church. During her life, Day founded the Catholic Worker, a ragtag group of Christian activists that is still going strong today, known f...

In the previous episode, Dean Dettloff interviewed DeRoo on his paper from episode one, "Material Spirituality," along with some general themes about Christian philosophy. In this episode, DeRoo takes questions from the audience, expressed by ICS student Grace Carhartt, on his paper and themes in the interview, engaging thinkers like Charles Taylor and William Cavanaugh and issues like ecclesiolog...

In the previous episode, Neal DeRoo presented a paper on "material spirituality," considering how phenomenology might illuminate our spiritual lives. In this episode, Dean Dettloff interviews DeRoo to pull out some themes in the paper and in DeRoo's approach to faith and scholarship more generally. Ranging from questions about phenomenology to what it means to be "spiritual, but not religious," De...

Is spirituality one part of our lives that we experience in worship? Or does it permeate our whole being? Are we able to pull spirituality and religion apart? What would happen if we considered how our spirituality is embodied, deeply, in our world? In this inaugural episode of Critical Faith, Neal DeRoo explores these questions in his lecture "Toward a Material Spirituality: Religion and Phenomen...