Public Intellectuals and the Common Good

Evangelical Christians are active across all spheres of intellectual and public life today. But a disconnect remains: the work they produce too often fails to inform their broader communities. In the midst of a divisive culture and a related crisis within evangelicalism, public intellectuals speaking from an evangelical perspective have a critical role to play—within the church and beyond. What does it look like to embrace such a vocation out of a commitment to the common good?

Public Intellectuals and the Common Good draws together world-class scholars and practitioners to cast a vision for intellectuals who promote human flourishing. Representing various roles in the church, higher education, journalism, and the nonprofit sector, contributors reflect theologically on their work and assess current challenges and opportunities. What historically well-defined qualities of public intellectuals should be adopted now? What qualities should be jettisoned or reimagined?

Public intellectuals are mediators—understanding and then articulating truth amid the complex realities of our world. The conversations represented in this book celebrate and provide guidance for those who through careful thinking, writing, speaking, and innovation cultivate the good of their communities.

Contributors:

• Miroslav Volf
• Amos Yong
• Linda A. Livingstone
• Heather Templeton Dill
• Katelyn Beaty
• Emmanuel Katongole
• John M. Perkins and David Wright

Todd C. Ream

Todd C. Ream serves on the higher education and honors guild faculties at Taylor University, as the Senior Fellow for Programming for the Lumen Research Institute, and as the Publisher for Christian Scholar’s Review He has served on college and university campuses in residence life, student support services, honors programs, and as a chief student development officer.

Jerry A. Pattengale

Jerry A. Pattengale (PhD, Miami University) is a scholar, researcher, author, and speaker. He has served for over twenty years in administrative leadership at Indiana Wesleyan University, currently as the first to earn IWU’s title of University Professor. He is also executive director of education for the Museum of the Bible in Washington D. C., where he oversees an international team of academics, writers, researchers, convergent media specialists, and editors developing a Bible curriculum for high school students.

Christopher J. Devers

Christopher Devers received a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as well as a MS in educational administration and a BS in engineering and technology education from Purdue University. He is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University in the School of Education. Overall, Dr. Devers is interested in applied metacognitive processes and how people learn. Specifically, he explores learning using videos, mobile devices, and in online environments. He is also interested in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and student success.