Cedarville Magazine, Spring 2014

EDUCATION In the School of Education we seek to develop teachers who can discern biblical truth and appropriately communicate it in the classroom. We believe that Christian teachers, whether in Christian or public schools, do not have to disregard their faith when they enter the schoolhouse doors. Regardless of context, we believe that Christian teachers should not simply preserve the veracity of God’s truth, but also advance the Kingdom by presenting truth in creative, excellent, and innovative ways that both transform and bless their students and their schools. To accomplish this goal, School of Education faculty teach future teachers using four principles of integration — stewardship, reconciliation, image of God, and justice — to align God’s truth with both the content and the methods they use to teach. For example, reconciliation means repairing the damage of sin in a fallen world and seeking to restore the relationships between humanity and God, others, nature, or one’s self. This means understanding how sin has distorted the intent of God evident from Scripture or the natural order and seeking ways in which that intent can be restored. In my education psychology class, we noted how one theorist believes that the human motivation to learn is driven by a desire to have mastery over one’s environment, which is really a manifestation of the sin nature. The integrative correction is to demonstrate that the motivation to learn is active and placed in us by God so we can be stewards of creation and use our time, talents, gifts, resources, and abilities (including our learning) to glorify God and work for the betterment of others. Eddie K. Baumann, Ph.D. Senior Professor of Education cedarville.edu/education PHARMACY As a faculty member in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the School of Pharmacy, I oversee the department that teaches the foundational science course work in the first year of the professional pharmacy program. As scholars in the basic sciences, our job is to discover God’s truth, elucidating the amazing complexity with which God created us. In doing so, we are obeying the mandate laid out in Psalm 111:2: “Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.” We already understand somany wonderful examples of the complexity of the human body, yet we continue to be amazed by how much more there is to learn. One small example of God’s intricate design can be seen when we study the blood-clotting process. Even as a clot forms, which is the body’s defense against hemorrhaging, there is an opposing process at work that prevents the forming clot from becoming large enough to obstruct the blood vessel. The more we understand the body and how it works, the better equipped we will be to design and develop medications that can be used to help the body function the way in which it was designed. Our study of how the body works so clearly reveals God’s power and creativity. We join the psalmist in praising God that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14). Rebecca Gryka, Ph.D., Pharm.D. Chair, Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences cedarville.edu/pharmacy INDUSTRIAL AND INNOVATIVE DESIGN The experience at the International Center for Creativity in Columbus is unique in so many ways for students in the Industrial and Innovative Design program. To our knowledge, Cedarville is the only evangelical Christian school to offer industrial design, and we have an important responsibility to impact this professional field for Christ. From day one we communicate that in order to unlock creativity and develop a creative vision, you need to know the Creator. God is the master designer, and He has surrounded us withHis handiwork. Our idyllic studio setting in the natural beauty of woods and streams provides the perfect backdrop to illustrate that every day. It is a humbling experience to see His handiwork. In the Industrial and Innovative Design program, we teach students that true discovery is not finding something new but rather training your heart, mind, eyes, and ears to experience — and then reveal — what has been there all along. That process begins with humility. The apostle Peter writes, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet. 5:6). God desires that we seek Him first (Matt. 6:33) and approach Him with a humble heart, and then He will add “all these things.” The art and occupation of creativity is a masterful giftGod gives to the humble who turn their talents over to Him. Jim “J.D.” Orr CEO and Lead Instructor, International Center for Creativity cedarville.edu/industrialdesign 20 | Cedarville Magazine