CEDARVILLE — From academic publications to art exhibits, Cedarville University professors continue to pursue excellence in the classroom and in their professional fields. To encourage faculty to advance their teaching and professional accomplishments, the university gives annual grants to selected faculty members.
Three professors received faculty scholarship grants for the fall 2017 semester. These awards provide each professor a one-course reduction in their teaching load and financial assistance to pursue their individual projects.
Dr. Mark Owens, assistant professor of New Testament theology, will use his grant to study spiritual warfare based on Ephesians 6:10-17. His hope is to help believers understand spiritual warfare as more than just an activity involving individual believers, but also as a corporate reality involving the entire church. He aims to develop a biblical model from Ephesians 6:10-17 for engaging evil in human institutions.
“This way of understanding spiritual warfare would press home even greater our need to faithfully proclaim the gospel,” said Owens. “And I hope it will also help clarify the relationship between social justice concerns and evangelism.”
Owens will write a paper he hopes to present at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in November. After further study, he will write a more in-depth article and develop a book proposal as well.
Dr. Joshua Kira, assistant professor of philosophy and theology, will study the work of the 20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and its relationship to Christianity. While Wittgenstein’s early works are often used to argue against Christians, many of his later works seem to defend a religious person’s right to use language of their own community and hold their own ideals and values, explained Kira.
“Part of my heart is for the ability to share Christianity with non-Christian academics, because I think a lot of times we see them as a people group that we will not reach out to,” said Kira. “And also just to help Christians start to parse out what they think of the relationship of theology and their Christian faith to other areas of life.”
Annie Lee-Zimerle, assistant professor of studio art, will use her grant to create artwork for an exhibition that will be on display at Wilmington College in January 2018. This exhibition, titled “The Bridge Between,” will encourage viewers to slow down and think more about the ordinary things in life.
“I’m focusing on the everyday life scene given by our God that we pass by every day without thinking anything,” said Lee-Zimerle. “I’m taking that moment and pausing it, so when the viewers come and visit my work they can meditate a little bit and think about it.”
