Author: Paul Nesselroade

Dr. Calum MacKellar speaks at the Human Dignity Lecture Series

Here’s a brief write-up from Asbury University’s SEARCH website (reproduced by permission) on the talk given by Dr. Calum MacKellar, professional bioethicist, entitled, “Resurrecting Eugenics: Should Only Healthy Children be Born?” (A brief interview and video of his talk will be coming soon.) On February 10, the Asbury University Honors Program (AUHP) welcomed Dr. Calum MacKellar bioethicist from St. Mary’s University, London, UK to deliver a lecture titled “Resurrecting Eugenics: Should only Healthy Children Be Born?” to a packed room of students in the Kinlaw Library. The SEARCH-sponsored event was the second of a three-part lecture series on human dignity and

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Book Review: The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self

by Carl R. Trueman; Crossway Books, 2020 (425 pages) Accessibility rating 3 (out of 5) Recommendation rating 5 (out of 5) (Note: This first book review is about two-parts description [to inform a potential reader] and one-part analysis and critique. This ratio may change with subsequent reviews.) Description Carl Trueman, professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College, offers a rather extensive analysis of the historical roots that have yielded the contemporary understanding of the western self. Trueman argues modern selfhood is understood as a predominately-psychological structure, and fully detached from any sense of the sacred. It is

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Pride Before a Brawl

In the heart of Berlin sit three landmarks that reflect the multifaceted power of historic Germany, each one being just a short walk from the other two. The Brandenburg Gate is, perhaps, the most well-known symbol of the city. This iconic 18th century neoclassical monument featuring Quadriga, an ancient symbol of victory, represents well the prodigious military power that Germany and her Prussian fore-bearers exercised over the past quarter of a millennium. One city block to the north of the gate is the Reichstag, a legislative building that served as the center of German political life from 1871 to the

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Promo Video for the AUHP

If you’re looking for a brief video introduction to the Studies in Virtue and Human Value Honors Program at Asbury University, here is our latest promotional clip. (3 min) The program features a stackable tuition scholarship, study abroad stipend, support for a senior research project, and much more. Applications for the Fall ’22 start will be received until January 7th. Contact your Asbury University admissions counselor, this website, or the AUHP Director, Dr. Paul Nesselroade ([email protected]) for more info.

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A Memorial and the Measure of Humanity

In Berlin, just one block south of the Brandenburg gate, sits a relatively new holocaust-related exhibit, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This installation, which opened in 2005, is massive, taking up an entire city block. Yet curiously, as one looks at it from the street, at no point does any part of the display rise above eye level. The exhibit consists of an assembly of over 2,700 rectangular concrete blocks, or stelae, ordered in grid-like rows and columns, spread across an area of 19,000 square meters. The blocks all measure the same in width and length with

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2021 AUHP Christmas Party

Recently several of the AUHP students gathered at the Nesselroade home to reflect on the fall semester and decorate some Christmas cookies. After some discussion and debating of topics like whether Orc’s have personhood and what is the proper rescue order of different types of beings from a burning building, we started to decorate Christmas cookies…just for some relaxing fun. Well, that casual mindset did not last for long. Observations were made, opinions and evaluations were exchanged (some less than flattering), challenges issued, offenses taken, and within just a few moments a spirit of competitiveness had emerged. In no time,

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Some Thoughts on Diversion and Hurried Living

Recently, on numerous occasions and across a variety of contexts, I’ve had my attention drawn to the topic of time; specifically, how I treat (and mistreat) it; that is, my time, my slowly but quite certainly expiring life. These referents have served to remind me of how easily I give up my time to practices that, while they may be healthy if well-regulated, far too often eat up significant chunks of my day. For me, the temptation typically takes the form of watching sports, playing games, and just thumbing through social media. To be clear, I do not believe there

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An Evening with Dr. James Tour

Recently, several Asbury University Honors Program students were privileged to spend an evening with world-renowned scientist, Dr. James Tour. Dr. Tour, named in “The 50 Most Influential Scientists in the World Today” by TheBestSchools.org in 2019, is the T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Materials Science & NanoEngineering at Rice University. Having spoken earlier in the day to the entire campus in chapel, Dr. Tour spent his evening mealtime with a selection of our AUHP students where he reviewed some of his work on the synthesis, unique properties, and unbelievably exciting applications of graphene.

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Interview with Dr. Devin Brown

Author of A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of C. S. Lewis, as well as the official Discussion Guide for The Most Reluctant Convert, the movie about C.S. Lewis currently playing in theaters Recently Dr. Devin Brown, a Professor of English at Asbury University and author of a number of books related to C. S. Lewis, accompanied a group of Asbury University Honors Program students to a showing of The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C S. Lewis, a film about the early life and conversion of one of Christianity’s most famous writers and apologists. Afterwards, Dr. Brown

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Interview with Dr. Christopher Bounds

A Few Reflections from Our Speaker After Dr. Bounds presentation to our campus and fireside chat with the Asbury University Honors Program students (see: The Image of God, Incarnation, and Human Dignity), he provided some further thoughts via an interview. Here is the transcript of that exchange. Q: What gives people value? I like the word “give” in the question. The intrinsic value of people has its ultimate source in God. It is God, and God alone, that is the source of human worth and dignity. As such, this value is given to us by God. All other human value

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