Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ in his earthly life shared our toil and hallowed our labor: Be present with your people where they work; make those who carry on the industries and commerce of this land responsive to your will; and give to us all a pride in what we do, and a just return for our labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Christian Post columnist R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, compares business schools and theological seminaries, which are both “tempted to redefine their mission in strictly academic terms.”

In explicating a recent study published in the Harvard Business Review, Mohler passes on the conclusions about the trend among business schools, “Today, it is possible to find tenured professors of management who have never set foot inside a real business, except as customers.”

Mohler writes of a similar threat to theological schools,

It should be unthinkable that the faculty in a theological seminary would include professors of such limited experience in church life. And yet, I have interviewed applicants for faculty positions who, when asked about their church involvement and ministry experience, have virtually nothing to offer. The task of seminary leaders is to make certain that persons of such minimal church experience and commitment are not offered faculty positions in our schools.

With all due respect to Dr. Mohler, my experience with seminary theological traning is that it is becoming less academically rigorous, not more. True systematic theology, for example, is often viewed by ministerial candidates as too difficult and not practical enough, so instead of reading Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology or Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics, students might read Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing about Grace?
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Here’s a well-balanced story by Steve Greenhouse in today’s New York Times, “Can’t Wal-Mart, a Retail Behemoth, Pay More?”

On this point, refer to an op-ed by Acton staff about the economics and ethics of the “living wage” (PDF).

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Noting the declining participation in community and civic groups, Jordan J. Ballor assesses a different root cause than has been put forth so far. “The greatest share of blame,” he writes, “Ought to be laid at the feet of the modernist view of individuality, which minimizes the importance of community and social structures.”

Read more on Civic Groups Remain Relevant…

In traversing the World Wide Web, I’ve happened across BlogShares, “a fantasy stock market for weblogs. Players get to invest a fictional $500, and blogs are valued by incoming links.”

As the Acton Institute PowerBlog heads toward its one month anniversary, check out it’s BlogShare value. Buy now!

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President Bush signed a bill into law yesterday that exempts companies such as ClearPlay from litigation for copyright infringement. ClearPlay, for example, offers a DVD player that will filter out “objectionable” content. Consumers are free to purchase this item or not, depending on the sensitivity of their tastes and the ability of the ClearPlay device to cater to their demands. My initial reaction is that this is a positive move from the government, protecting a potentially prosperous and burgeoning industry.

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There’s been a lot of talk in recent days about the question of immigration, both legal and illegal. A number of issues are involved, including questions about national security, economic concerns, and cultural values. Most recently the Minutemen have begun border patrols and are looking to extend their efforts to the northern U.S. border. You may also remember a scuffle when President Bush put forth the proposal for a guest worker program.

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The big box giant Wal-Mart is under attack again, this time by a coalition of varied opponents. The group, named “Wal-Mart Watch,” took out an ad in The New York Times last Wednesday, accusing the retailer “of low pay and meager employee benefits that force their workers to rely on Medicaid, food stamps, and federal housing to survive,” according to an Associated Press report.

The Sierra Club, which has long opposed urban sprawl, is one of the groups involved with Wal-Mart Watch. This ad campaign is the latest in a series of scathing critiques of Wal-Mart. The May issue of Christianity Today contains an article detailing some of the efforts of Christian activists questioning the practices of the chain, “Deliver Us from Wal-Mart?” by Jeff M. Sellers.
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Rev. Mark H. Creech, a Christian Post columnist, has an excellent piece on the game that state’s play depicting participation in state run lotteries as the moral and praiseworthy course of action. To see some of my thoughts on government-sponsored gambling, go here and here.

Read more on A Moral Shell Game…