Cultural Engagement
From Fragmentation to Wholeness
CU Alumna and Hamilton Cast Member Finds Identity in Christ
By Ashley LaLonde
Growing up in the heart of New York City, I often struggled to connect with other believers. Though my parents were both faithful Christians, and we attended church nearly every Sunday, almost all my close friends were people of other faiths or no faith at all. I often felt like the oddball. I loved Jesus and knew I had a relationship with him, but I would frequently downplay it with others just to fit in.
AI And The Need For Ethics
ChatGPT Just Transformed Education
By Anne Kerhoulas
Chat GPT arrived at the end of 2022, bringing with it a slew of problems—both ethical and practical—to the university setting. The AI program is capable of producing high-quality written content and is adept enough to imitate specific voices, styles of writing, and even well-known authors. This powerful tool is now posing an unprecedented threat to education, and educators from middle school to the university setting are scrambling to adjust to a new world.
Understanding and Responding to the Transgender Moment
CU New York Hosts Dr. Ryan T. Anderson
Christian Union New York invited Christian Union Alumni, CU New York participants, and friends of Christian Union to gather on November 29, 2022, for a virtual forum with Dr. Ryan T. Anderson. Drawing on the best insights from biology, psychology, and philosophy, Dr. Anderson offered a nuanced view of human embodiment, a balanced approach to public policy on gender identity, and a sober assessment of the human costs of getting human nature wrong.
Universities Need To Understand Religion
Ignoring Religion Fails To Prepare Students
Anne Kerhoulas
While it may not be surprising to hear that Christianity is declining in America, religion as a whole is actually growing throughout the world. China is on track to have more Christians than America in the next decade in spite of being an openly atheistic country. In the Middle East, the Islamic revival is producing more pilgrimages to Mecca than ever before. In Latin America, a once predominately Roman Catholic region, pentecostalism is booming. Even in America, though Christianity is waning, new-age spirituality is increasingly popular, and more and more people are religiously unaffiliated but interested and open to spirituality.
Healthcare Ethics
Can A Christian Nurse Participate In Gender Reassignment?
By Anne Kerhoulas
It’s becoming a question more and more believers in healthcare will have to face: can a Christian doctor or nurse assist in gender reassignment surgery?
In this article for Desiring God, John Piper addresses the question from a biblical perspective to help believers understand the gravity of their actions as well as their responsibility to God and his creation.
2023 Book Recommendations
Start Your Year Off With A Great Book
By Anne Kerhoulas
Our 2023 book recommendation list includes an array of Christian books. From classic theology to leadership development to biography, there is sure to be something that will encourage your spirit this new year.
God in the Dock is a collection of essays and speeches from C.S. Lewis. Its title implies "God on Trial" and the title is based on an analogy made by Lewis suggesting that modern human beings, rather than seeing themselves as standing before God in judgment, prefer to place God on trial while acting as his judge.
Recommended by Chris Coppernoll, Ministry Director, CU Nova
Love Your Unorthodox Neighbor
Orthodoxy’s Commitment To Truth and Love
By Anne Kerhoulas
Truth and love often seem at odds in our culture today. Everyone has their own truth and wants the freedom to believe what they want. So to hold fast to the truth and conviction of orthodox Christian faith is challenging. All too often believers settle for bland acceptance of everyone’s truth as being valid in the name of loving them. But as Trevin Wax argues in this article for The Gospel Coalition, this radically opposes the pursuit of sound theology and doctrine as presented in the gospels and New Testament.
Understanding and Responding to the Transgender Moment
CU New York Hosts Dr. Ryan T. Anderson
Christian Union New York invited Christian Union Alumni, CU New York participants, and friends of Christian Union to gather on November 29, 2022, for a virtual forum with Dr. Ryan T. Anderson. Drawing on the best insights from biology, psychology, and philosophy, Dr. Anderson offered a nuanced view of human embodiment, a balanced approach to public policy on gender identity, and a sober assessment of the human costs of getting human nature wrong.
Calvin University Makes Major Decision
Faculty Who Disagree With Doctrinal Statement on LGBTQ Relationships Permitted To Teach
By Anne Kerhoulas
While it’s no surprise that universities nationwide reflect current sexual norms within our culture, many have been closely watching the hundreds of Christian colleges and universities as they draw a line in the sand. Will they accept our culture's sexual and gender revolution or will they adhere to biblical sexuality? Will our culture get the final word or will Scripture?
A Historic Gospel Opportunity
Author Sam Kim Offers Hope In the Midst of Loneliness Epidemic
By Rev. Dr. Sam Kim
Rev. Dr. Sam D. Kim is a Harvard-Trained Ethicist and the Co-founder of 180 Church, near Union Square in downtown Manhattan. He was appointed as a research fellow in Global Health and Social Medicine at the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School and part of Harvard catalyst, where he explored the inequities surrounding health, immigration, and social policies. He lives in New York City with his wife Lydia and his two sons, Nathan and Josh. His first book, A Holy Haunting is set for release on April ’23 and is now available for pre-order wherever books are sold.
Woody Allen once joked that “New York is just like everywhere else, except more so.” New York does have more people, more restaurants, more diversity, and even more pigeons compared to most of the rest of the world. I grew up in uptown Manhattan right on Broadway, and take it from me, more doesn’t always mean better. New York apartments are so tiny you feel like a sardine living in a can. This is good preparation for the daily commute, when you’re squished into a metal cart twice a day. All New Yorkers know that proximity doesn’t necessarily curate intimacy.
A Call for Archbishop Welby to Repent
Global Anglican Fellowship Conference Finds Agreement in Condemning Welby’s Actions
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, a global leader of the Anglican Church, is being called upon to repent in light of his recent appointment of a new Dean of Canterbury. The Dean of Canterbury, who is the lead minister of the Canterbury Cathedral, is in a civil same-sex partnership, causing Anglicans across the globe to call into question Welby’s beliefs and practices as well as his fitness for ministry.
What Is Christian Celibacy?
Misunderstanding the Christian Vocation of Celibacy
By Anne Kerhoulas
Our culture idolizes romantic relationships. For many, finding love, their soulmate, or the person who completes them is the primary mission of their lives. While Christianity rebuffs this idolatry, rightly situating romantic love as a gift of God given to bring him glory, a small but growing group of Christians is choosing to live a celibate life.
A Discussion on Biblical Complementarianism
Four Respected Leaders Explain The View
By Anne Kerhoulas
What is complementarianism and why is it important? This question is at the heart of this 2021 Gospel Coalition Conference discussion between Nancy Guthrie, Ligon Duncan, Melissa Kruger, and Kevin DeYoung.
What Harvard Is Really Like
A Current Student Gives An Honest Assessment of the Institution
By Anne Kerhoulas
For the past 20 years, Christian Union has ministered at some of the most influential universities in our nation. As one of these schools, Harvard has a long history of excellence and prestige, but what is Harvard like for the students attending its hallowed halls?
How Social Justice Became A New Religion
America Is Becoming Less Christian, But Not Less Religious
By Anne Kerhoulas
The stats are in; America is becoming less and less Christian. But that doesn’t mean we are becoming less religious.
Being People of Peace
Christians Are Called to Pursue the Wholistic Flourishing of a Community
By Anne Kerhoulas
In her new book, Agents of Flourishing: Pursuing Shalom in Every Corner of Society, Amy Sherman explores what it means for Christians to be a people of peace in their communities and spheres of influence.
The Parallels Between 5th Century Roman Culture & Our Secular Moment
What The Fall of Ancient Rome Teaches Us About the Future of the Church
By Anne Kerhoulas, Staff WRITER
Much of the modern world operates with a total disregard for history. Where previous generations would look to the rich history of those who had gone before them and their collective wisdom to learn from them, our culture today operates as if we have no intellectual or historical inheritance. We believe, as Marx argued, that history is merely the story of oppressed vs oppressor, and rather than the past being a source of knowledge and insight, the future is where human good lies.
For "Pro-Abundant Life" Organizations, Roe v Wade Is Just the Beginning
The overturning of Roe has ushered in a new era of the pro-life movement
By Tom Campisi
Roland Warren is the president and CEO of Care Net, a network that serves pregnancy centers across North America. The Princeton University and Wharton Business School alumnus recently celebrated the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, but also emphasized that the need for a holistic approach to unplanned pregnancies remains the same.
How Humble Leadership Really Works
Empowering employees through listening and valuing their ideas pays off big when it comes to creating a successful work environment
By Anne Kerhoulas
Servant leadership might sound like a Christian phrase, but this Harvard Business Review article describes how servant leadership is actually the most effective leadership strategy—for everyone.
‘The God Hypothesis’ - CU Nova Hosts Lecture by Dr. Stephen Meyer
Event Engages, Challenges Princeton Students
By Leah Smith, Princeton ’20
In the spring semester, Christian Union NOVA at Princeton University hosted a lecture with Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, director of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture in Seattle. Meyer, who received his Ph.D. in the philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge, helped students—both Christians and seekers—understand particular attributes of God: His creation, His omniscience, and His centrality to the story of the natural world.
