Faculty News: January 2016 Edition

Faculty of the King's College “directly engage culture through writing and speaking publicly on critical issues," an understated part of the King's mission statement. This is the first in a monthly series that will relay remarkable activity and accomplishments of our faculty. While there is far too much activity to communicate it all, the following offers a condensed starting point. In order that students might engage with the thoughts of those who are in oft-spoken-of “strategic institutions," this will be a brief compilation of descriptions and links to articles, interviews, and other news, as well as conversations between faculty and the EST, from the previous month.

Here are some highlights from the month of January:

Dr. Thornbury took up another project surrounding the biography of a rock legend, this time David Bowie. As he shared with the student body at Refuge, Thornbury wrote a sort of eulogy for Bowie in Christianity Today, titled, “David Bowie: The Pulse Returns to the Prodigal."

He also spoke, along with Steve Forbes and Senator Rob Johnson, at the most recent Monday Meeting— a private, monthly gathering of influential figures in fields from business to media that takes place in Midtown Manhattan.

In an interview with John Stossel Professor Brenberg defended the commonly misunderstood economics behind international trade, specifically of imports.

On the day of the State of the Union Address, Providence Journal published Dr. Carle’s article, "Putin Cleans Obama's Clock." He discusses Obama’s foreign policy tendencies broadly, focusing on the U.S. relations with and activity of Russia, and raising his own questions heading into that evening’s event.

Drs. Loconte and Innes both responded, in Providence and World magazines, respectively, to President Obama’s 2016 State of the Union Address. In his article, “State of the Union 1936: Neutrality in the Face of Terror,” Loconte compares the attitudes toward foreign policy of the current and the FDR administration, arguing that they are both characterized by harmful moral neutrality.

In his article, “Obama’s ‘better politics," Innes explains and criticizes President’s Obama’s proposed route to a hopeful, undivided United States of America, which the president initially called for at the 2004 Democratic National Committee and reiterated in his latest State of the Union Address.

Professor Shlaes announced the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation’s merit-based scholarship, the Coolidge Scholarship. In effort to restore “campus civility,” and promote free speech, it will be awarded annually to two students attending any accredited institution and who exhibit "academic merit and a strong interest in policy, as well as a humble civility.”

Professor Glader’s article, “Will 2016 Be The Year Of The Unicorn Apocalypse In Silicon Valley?” published in Forbes, discusses the massive entrance of “unicorns”—“companies worth $1 billion or more on paper”—in 2015. It relates this "stampede" to the tech market's cycle of downturns.

Last week, Professor Wilkinson covered the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah for Christianity Today. She has also recently written on the play The Glory of the World (Image Journal) , on the French film Breathless (Movie Mezzanine), and on comedies Mozart in the Jungle and The Grinder (Vulture). Wilkinson also recently published her top twenty movies from 2015 (Christianity Today).

Here's to professors engaging culture!