John Walkup,
Emeritus, Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Texas Tech University,
Faculty Commons Staff

[Feb 26, 2012] —



Sometimes I am asked, “What book has made a significant impact on your life?”

In ministering to other professors, I’ve read a number of books that have the potential to strongly impact our lives in the academy. While I don’t want to imply that reading and discussing books together is necessarily the ideal way to bring change to us as followers of Christ, the practice can be helpful if the books are chosen carefully and read with open minds and hearts.

Potential Pitfall

Since we earn our living by analyzing information with the mind, we may find ourselves challenged to bridge the gaps between head, heart, and actions. Reading books that stimulate movement in that direction I have found to be life changing.

Some of the authors whose books have had particular impact here at the San Francisco Bay Area campuses recently are:

• Dallas Willard — The Divine Conspiracy, and Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge
• Timothy Keller — The Reason for God, The Prodigal God and Counterfeit Gods
• John Piper — Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God.

These books have had the effect of helping me move closer to Christ while dealing with my tendency as an academician to say “I think I understand what the author is saying, and that’s good enough for me.”

Foundational Truths

I’ve mentioned these particular books first, because the authors are well known and excellent communicators. Second, because they address several issues with which we as Christian faculty grapple: serving God in the way we meet our university responsibilities, and learning what it means to love God with every part of our beings.

These issues include:
(1) Do we have a high view of Jesus as the most outstanding mind in our fields and the Bible as our reliable source of true spiritual knowledge? (Willard)
(2) Are we confident in our understanding of how to defend logically the Christian faith while also successfully resisting the systemic pressures to transform our academic careers into idols? (Keller)
(3) Have we learned to find our true treasure in knowing Christ personally? (Piper)

Since we operate in a world where the Biblical concepts of God’s grace and truth often are seen as utterly foreign, understanding these issues is vital if we are to function effectively as Christ’s representatives on our campuses.

I challenge each of us: read and discuss with Christian colleagues in order to fill our minds with thoughts of God; seek to stimulate our hearts to treasure Christ above all else; ask God to produce actions that cause those around us to want to know why we think and act the way we do.

May these books help us to live out I Peter 3:15 so that we will indeed be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is within us.

What are some books you have read that fostered spiritual growth?

(c) 2012 John Walkup
http://www.myministryminute.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/john-walkup.jpg