On the Way to Norway
Premise Forum’s (formerly GCN) work among European students and young professionals will soon begin near a beautiful fjord in Norway. Our director, Dr. Darrell Dooyema, and his family will be holding meaningful, personal sessions there during all of June and early July.
On June 19-25, Darrell and his wife, Annette, will lead a week of in-depth study designed to help students address some of the big questions of life and faith at their guest house, which has space for about thirty people.
The theme of that week will be “War and Peace.” This topic weighs heavily on young people (Europeans especially), but they rarely have an opportunity to think carefully about a scriptural perspective. First, they will study what the Scriptures say about human-caused wars. Second, they will study what the Scriptures say about the broader context; that is, the spiritual war in which we all live. Third, they will look at how believers can be God’s agents of peace, relying on prayer and being representatives of Christ and his grace in a broken, polarized world. We are called to peace with God, peace with others, and peace with ourselves.
On July 3-6, Darrell and Annette will be hosting another group of thirty young professionals and alumni to discuss similar themes, this time tailored toward how to integrate professional life with our broader calling to serve God’s eternal purposes through our work and relationships.
In both sessions, Darrell and Annette spend hours of personal time with the participants, often while hiking in the nearby mountains around the fjord, over meals, and late into the night.
On July 11, the Dooyema family will be traveling to Namibia to work with students. Darrell will lead sessions on the nature and importance of Christian apologetics.
J. R. R. Tolkien Lectures
Dr. Dooyema received extremely positive feedback from about sixty public university students who participated in his semester-long class on the philosophy and literature of J. R. R. Tolkien, the famous author of The Lord of the Rings. For the second semester in a row, the class has had a wait list of students who wanted to enroll.
This last semester, says Darrell, some skeptical students (including one who had abandoned his childhood faith) expressed their need to reevaluate their views about God. As the semester progress, said one student, he gradually moved the dusty Bible in his bookshelf to his homework desk and then to his bedside. Many other students said things such as, “This class fulfills the reason why we came to college: to think about the big questions of life,” or the said things such as, “This was the most transformative class I have ever taken.”
By teaching about Tolkien and his philosophy, Dr. Dooyema was able to open dialogue about the nature of evil, the purpose of life, the importance of loving our neighbors, how to build strong friendships, and the critical need for forgiveness. He’s been invited to teach the class again at the university in the fall.
Recent Work Matters Articles
In case you missed them, we recently published articles designed to show how the Christian view of life interacts (or should) with work, technology, and economics.
In late April, we published a review of historian David McCullough’s book Brave Companions, which is about men and women who acted with remarkable with moral courage. They helped to abolish slavery, built lasting infrastructure, explored the world, advanced science, and established a stronger foundation for future generations.
In May, we published an article titled “Wallace and Gromit Discover Tech Ethics.” As part of our effort to show how theological issues are often displayed art, we focused on the Academy Award-nominated animated film titled Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. The film uses British wit and humor to provoke (hopefully) serious reflection about modern ambitions to automate everything with AI and robots.
Then we published “From Drums to Algorithms,” which is a review of the book titled The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick. The author wrote this sweeping history of human communication a decade before the imposition of artificial intelligence in our lives, which is precisely why the book is so important now. The Information explores the deeply rooted premises, values, and ethics that for hundreds of years have motivated and guided (for better or worse) the development of information technology leading up to AI.
Reminder: Our Name Change
A reminder that we have changed our name to Premise Forum. If you missed that news, you can read all about it at this link. We will soon be showing off the new website. Premise Forum is a project of Global Commerce Network, which will continue to be our legal nonprofit entity. Please let us know if you have any questions by writing to: glenn@globalcommercenetwork.com
