TM –
I think we’re even countercultural
within evangelicalism in America. In the
last few decades, we’ve seen evangelicalism
veer left politically and embrace a liberal
ideology in today’s America. We’re
suggesting that biblical principles run
against that grain. We’re hoping to speak
to the Church in America about a proper
understanding of Scripture and why that
has often led to conservative positions and
calling them to account for why that shifted.
MC –
That implies a particular approach
to theology and a particular approach to
interpretation that we might call traditional,
orthodox, maybe even classical. And
it’s not something we’ve done as a knee-
jerk reaction, We’re not conservative just
because we’re supposed to be conservative,
or theologically conservative because that’s
the way everybody else is. We see that
coming from the way we approach the
Bible.
JH –
Perhaps the principal area where this
divergence occurs is the understanding of
Christian freedom. Culture at large seems
to embrace freedom that goes against where
freedom in Scripture would want us to go,
all the while denying the very freedoms that
God would have us enjoy to grow into the
people He wants us to be.
What kind of responses have you
gotten from the blog?
MCS –
We get hits from Europe, South
America, South Africa. We have a
fair number of students, faculty, and
administrators. We’re seeing it grow, but
it’s not where we want it to be yet. We don’t
have a lot of people coming up to us saying,
“Hey, I love your blog.”
BW –
My wife is embedded in the
community a little bit more than some, so
she hears from people in Cedarville who
do follow the blog. That may not show up
[in the numbers], but they do read it and
make comments.
MC –
My wife posts our blogs on Facebook,
and she gets responses.
TM –
We’ve gotten four or five speaking
requests at churches this fall because of
interactions on the blog.
MCS –
We’re trying to integrate it in our
courses, so our students are interacting with
the blog. That helps us disseminate ideas
and connect our classroom to what we’re
doing online. It’s a holistic enterprise. Most
of our commenters are students or former
students.
JH –
Many times in Christian discussions,
people automatically think you are a
conservative and you’re trying to defend
that stance with your Christian values. Or,
you’re a liberal and you’re trying to drape
a scriptural verse on your views. The blog
allows us to go a little bit deeper than a
50-minute class will allow. Many of our
students will resonate with it; some of them
won’t, and we need to be able to respond
to that.
What are some of the most
satisfying interactions?
JH –
My adult daughter read it and said,
“That was really good, Dad.” She wasn’t just
puffing me up. She’s a young Ph.D. student,
so she’s fairly bright, and when she thought
it was good, I was happy.
MCS –
Two things for me: My 13-year-
old son reads and enjoys all my movie
reviews. Most interestingly, though, was
when Dr. White (President of Cedarville
University) subscribed to the blog. That
came across my email: “You have a new
subscriber, Dr. Thomas White.” It was nice
to see administrative support for what we
were trying to do.
MC –
One of the most satisfying is when I
have a chance to respond to someone who
doesn’t quite agree, but who is civil about it
and articulate. I have a chance to respond
in depth. I enjoy that. You want something
educational going on here.
BW –
I had a meaningful interaction with
someone who is much more politically
left than I am. He wanted me to read his
blog, and I read it and there was some
really out-there stuff, but it was a really
good interchange. This may have been a
former student, someone very much on
the political left, wanting to know what
in the world I was thinking and why I was
thinking like that.
MCS –
We all try our best to be very civil.
You don’t see a lot of sarcasm, and you don’t
see a lot of mean-spirited personal attacks
in our blogs, so I think that promotes civil
responses. I’m sure if we grew we could
get plenty of people who would come on
and just hammer us, but so far we’ve been
blessed with people having legitimate
disagreements and making arguments.
Mark Smith
is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of
the Center for Political Studies at Cedarville. He received his
Ph.D. in political science from The University of Georgia.
Marc Clauson
is a Professor of History and Law at Cedarville. He earned
his J.D. from West Virginia University College of Law and his
Ph.D. in intellectual history and policy from the University of
the Orange Free State, RSA.
Tom Mach ’88
is the Chair of the Department of History and Government
and Professor of History at Cedarville. He earned his Ph.D.
from the University of Akron.
Cedarville Magazine
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