Who We Are

The Emerging Scholars Network, a ministry of InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministries, is called to identify, encourage, and equip the next generation of Christian scholars who seek to be a redeeming influence within higher education. Members of ESN include students and faculty at every stage of the academic career, as well as campus ministers, pastors, professionals, and others who share our concern for the university.

The Vision of ESN is that the next generation of Christian scholars have a redeeming influence within higher education as they:

• Love God with heart, mind, soul, and strength as they follow God’s call in discipleship and spiritual formation;
• Exhibit excellence in research, teaching, and science;
• Influence the university, the church, and the world by practicing their disciplines from a profoundly Christian viewpoint;
• Embody the gender, ethnic, and social diversity of the church within the academy.

ESN currently publishes two online publications: the Emerging Scholars Review and the Emerging Scholars Blog.

Photo credit: KRSPOS’ Photostream

Emerging Scholars Review

The Emerging Scholars Review is sent quarterly via email to all current ESN members. A typical issue will include:

• 2 to 4 essays related to ESN’s mission and vision
• event announcements from both InterVarsity and other organizations
• news items from ESN and its partners
  Click here to see essays that have been recently featured in the Emerging Scholars Review.

Emerging Scholars Review Deadlines

Deadlines for the 2010-2011 Emerging Scholars Review are:

• Fall:
• Winter:
• Spring:
• Summer:

Articles received after the deadline will be considered for the next Review or for the Emerging Scholars Blog.

Emerging Scholars Blog

The Emerging Scholars Blog is typically published three times a week. The blog covers the following themes:

• Academic vocation and calling: What’s the nature of the academic life? What’s the nature of the university, its systems, assumptions, problems, glories? And why would a person (specifically, a follower of Christ) follow an academic vocation? Does a Christian academic look, act, or live any differently from any other academic or any other Christian?
• The role of faith and theology in specific academic disciplines: We look at issues that arise when one takes faith, theology, and their academic discipline seriously. “Science and religion” is the pair most often discussed in mainstream and Christian media, but other disciplines “the humanities, social sciences, professions” are having discussions and controversies of their own. We encourage discussion on all of our posts, but in this theme especially, we seek your perspective as experts in your respective disciplines.
• Spiritual formation in the academy: How do you nurture your relationship with God and your spiritual life in the midst of the university? Or, put another way, how can one be a Christian in the academy? We’ll be looking at Christian practices, spiritual disciplines, and resources to help you grow closer to Christ.

The blog welcomes guest posts and series on these and related themes. We especially encourage guest series from students and faculty writing about their personal experience as Christians in the academy.

Audience

Our audience for both the blog and the Review are members of the Emerging Scholars Network: undergraduates, graduate students, and younger faculty who are considering or pursuing academic vocations. All disciplines are included, though the Humanities are the largest division within ESN. ESN’s primary focus is students and faculty at secular universities, though our membership includes a significant minority at Christian universities.

Authors

Authors may be undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, campus ministers, or anyone who shares ESN’s mission and vision. Emerging Scholars Network members will be given preference if space is limited. If anonymity is desired, consideration can be made to have the article posted anonymously or with a pseudonym, with only the editorial staff knowing the identity of the author.

Style

Although we are serving an academic audience, we choose not to have a formal academic voice. We appreciate writing with a personal voice and, even in an informative article, appreciate personal examples. Although we address a primarily Christian audience, articles should avoid Christian jargon. For references, we use the Chicago Manual of Style’s parenthetical citations-reference list format.

Since both the Review and the Blog are online publications, you may wish to review Jakob Nielsen’s Writing for the Web series of articles.

Length

Essays for the Emerging Scholars Review range between 1,000 and 2,000 words. Post for the Blog range between 500 and 1,000. Longer pieces may be published serially.

Contract and Payment

Work published on the website is covered by InterVarsity’s Author Agreement. Writers for the Review and the Blog are not paid for their work. As publication of the Review and the Blog is covered by contributions from donors, writers and authors understand that by waiving the right to any payment, publication costs are reduced, enabling us to make them available to student and faculty readers.

Submissions

To inquire about submitting an article, contact Micheal Hickerson, Associate Director for the Emerging Scholars Network.