"When students enter college, all of their social-based support for that internalized faith is gone, leaving them to test its structural integrity…That spiritual scaffolding is taken away. The question is, is it strong enough to stand on its own?"

The…report is notably missing some important information--the two-year old report contains no mention of the violence, murder and mayhem directed at Christians and other minorities in Muslim nations in Africa and the Middle East since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.

McGrath's strong emphasis is on sensitive, artful, and personalized discourse, built on careful listening for the deeper layers of concern in the hearts of those whose spirits are grieved by the brokenness of humanity. It's a strategy we might describe as "pastoral apologetics."

Calvin taught that there is comfort in knowing "that no task will be so sordid and base, provided you obey your calling in it, that it will not shine and be reckoned very precious in God's sight." The greater comfort, however, comes from the gospel, where Calvin says, "we are apprehended by God's goodness and sealed by his promises."

It’s a Friday night in Westminster, Colo., and moms and dads are dropping their kids off at church for an evening of science, snacks, skits, and games. Then the moms and dads head out for an evening together.

I do not think that seminaries need somebody doing 'spiritual formation' precisely because I think that seminary professors should all be doing it, with the key qualification that this is only to the extent that they can given things such as the restrictions of class size and seminary purpose.

It doesn’t take too many weeks to see that loving wisely and caring for dozens of students at the same time is not as easy as it appears and that it is only sustained long-term by the grace of God. Nor does it take too many encounters with students to realize that some will be apathetic, some very hard to connect with, and some will actively turn away from God, despite the amount of love or care you pour into their lives.

For example, in the English translation of the Hebrew Bible, we read: "The other events of Manasseh's reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the seers spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, are written in the annals of the kings of Israel" (2 Chronicles 33:18). Undoubtedly, students often asked their rabbis what it was that Manasseh had said to God when he repented during his Babylonian captivity. The Prayer of Manasseh gives an answer to that question, either factually or as a piece of fiction

"When it was time for me to go to bed I would just put my earphones in and just fall asleep listening to the Bible," she told the congregation. "It's been a daily thing. I love reading about the Word. We have to put on the full armor of God, so when Satan tries to come against us, we are ready and prepared."

Forrester also will have a bit of added clout as university chaplain. Vanderbilt did away with that title in 2008, when it reorganized the office of religious life. Reinstating the title is a positive sign that Vanderbilt recognizes that religion on campus matters, Sims-Baker said. “That word ‘chaplain’ is really important,” he said.