Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Faith
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Request for Papers and Presentations: Christian Legal Thought from the Margins
Request for Papers and Presentations: Christian Legal Thought from the Margins on January 21-22, 2027, at Emory University School of Law: Emory University’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion and Pepperdine Caruso School of Law’s Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics are pleased to invite legal scholars to participate in the second “Christian Legal…
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I’m an Evangelical Christian. My Faith Isn’t ‘a Cancer.’
Washington Post Awakenings: I’m an Evangelical. My Faith Isn’t ‘a Cancer.’, by Bonnie Kristian (Christianity Today; Author, In Defense of Evangelicalism: A Response to Its Cultured Despisers (Sept. 1, 2026)): I’m an evangelical woman and a frequent critic of President Donald Trump. I don’t believe evangelicals are above reproach. But legitimate criticism of their political choices…
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Beyond Religious Tolerance: Covenantal Pluralism
Dispatch Faith: Religious Tolerance Isn’t Good Enough, by Michael Reneau (Managing Editor, The Dispatch): Texas has become ground zero for the new wars of religious toleration, with Republicans and conservatives considering legislation barring Muslims from certain religious practices in the state. Religious tolerance has been an American creed since its founding, but what if tolerance is not enough? Religious scholar Iqbal…
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Grand Canyon University to Launch ‘Christian Worldview’ Law School in Fall 2027
Baptist News Global, Grand Canyon University Plans ‘Christian Worldview’ Law School: Grand Canyon University is the latest evangelical school to launch a law school, corresponding with increased interest in preparing “Christian worldview” students for legal careers. The Phoenix-based school announced Aug. 16 it plans to open a law school as early as fall 2027, pending approval…
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AI, Your Brain, and Faith
Christianity Today: How to Stop Technology from Rotting Your Brain, by Russell Moore: I was fascinated to read an essay by my friend David Brooks in The Atlantic about who will thrive—and who won’t—in the AI era. … The stakes are high for all of us as a society. David warns about what he calls a “cognitive underclass.” The kinds…
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Dolly Parton’s Theology
The New Yorker, Dolly Parton, Honky-Tonk Angel: Dolly Parton belonged to a beloved category: the outlaw Christian, who loved Jesus and refused to hate anyone else. Erick Erickson, Dolly Parton and the Two Commandments: I do not know what [Dolly Parton’s] spiritual condition was when she died. She grew up in the church, has openly…
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Born Jewish, Became a Christian, and Living in the Tension
Dispatch Faith: Born Jewish, Became a Christian, and Living in the Tension, by Michael Reneau & Corey Nathan: [W]hat each gets wrong about the other. … The day before Thanksgiving in 2000, I took the red-eye back to Jersey. At the time, I was a brand new Christian, maybe a month in, and hadn’t even been baptized…
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How to Forgive Someone Who Isn’t Sorry
Christianity Today: How to Forgive Someone Who Isn’t Sorry, by Russell Moore: Someone once came up to me, almost shaking in fear over one of Jesus’ Beatitudes. The one that troubled her was “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Matt. 5:7, ESV throughout). Her problem was that she had once experienced what…
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Can Los Angeles Once Again Serve as the Epicenter of Evangelical Revival?
The Dispatch: Can Los Angeles Once Again Serve as the Epicenter of Evangelical Revival?, by Mark Kendall: [T]he storied history of evangelicalism in Los Angeles is older than Hollywood itself. From serving as the epicenter of Pentecostalism’s rapid ascent to hosting some of the nation’s first megachurches and 20th-century celebrity pastors, the city rose alongside…
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Amid No Kings Protests, I Celebrate a Different Kind of Kingship
Washington Post Awakenings: Amid No Kings Protests, I Celebrate a Different Kind of Kingship, by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer (President & CEO, Yeshivat Hadar (New York)): I’m a rabbi, and in a few weeks, Jews in my community and around the world will observe Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, and ten days later, Yom Kippur,…
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A Word to a Discouraged Christian
Christianity Today: A Word to a Discouraged Christian, by Russell Moore: “Can you give me a reason why I shouldn’t just give up on religion altogether?” Before the young man finished his question, I already knew the basics of what he was going to say because I hear it all the time. This man wasn’t doubting…
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C.S. Lewis: What He Said, What He Didn’t Say, and Why It Matters
Christianity Today: Mere Misattribution? Why We Misquote C.S. Lewis, by Aaron Earls (The Wardrobe Door: Faith, Culture, and C. S. Lewis): As the famous British author once said, crediting people with things they never said says something about us. “Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” This pithy saying,…
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Finance Majors Go to Church. English Majors Don’t.
Ryan Burge (Washington University), Finance Majors Go to Church. English Majors Don’t: I get asked all the time if more religious students tend to cluster in one type of major vs another and I’ve not really been able to answer that question with any real specificity until now. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has…
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Absurdism, Meaning, and Christianity
Dispatch Faith: Absurd Brainrot, by Karen Swallow Prior: When I began teaching literature at an evangelical Christian university almost 30 years ago, one daunting task I faced was introducing my bright-eyed, biblically trained, often sheltered undergraduates to modern schools of thought that undergirded some of the literary works I assigned. One of these was absurdism.…
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Legendary Professors Inspire the Next Generation of Catholic Academics
National Catholic Register, The Professor Pipeline: Legendary Teachers Continue to Inspire the Next Generation of Catholic Academics: [There is a] long legacy of legendary Christian scholars mentoring their students and inspiring them to follow in their footsteps. Examples from history include St. Albert the Great’s mentorship of St. Thomas Aquinas, or St. Ambrose’s of St.…
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Pepperdine’s 2026-27 Theme: Courage
In an email sent to faculty and staff on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, Pepperdine University President Jim Gash (JD ’93) announced “Courage” as the University’s annual theme for the 2026–2027 academic year. Each year of my presidency, I have had the honor of selecting a theme to guide our reflections as we learn and grow…
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Was Abraham Lincoln a Christian?
Christianity Today: Was Abraham Lincoln a Christian?, by Marvin Olasky (Editor in Chief, Christianity Today): Was Abraham Lincoln a Christian? The book Abraham Lincoln, The Christian (1913) claims he was. Contemporary Lincoln biographer Allen Guelzo said in 2000, “He was not.” It’s a hard question: Lincoln was a skilled politician who understood his public, a compassionate president who…
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Do All Dogs Go to Heaven?
Following up on my previous post, Dogs, Joy, and God: Chronicle of Higher Education: Course Catalog: Do All Dogs Go to Heaven?: After the loss of a pet, many people wonder whether they’ll ever see their beloved companions again. In her course, “Do All Dogs Go to Heaven?”, Chelsea Jordan King, an assistant professor of…
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Prayer, Peacemaking, and the Christian Lawyer
Cross & Gavel: Prayer, Peacemaking (Not Peacekeeping), & the Christian Lawyer, by Michael C. Kelley (Partner, Lawson Huck Gonzalez (Orlando)): Every lawyer knows the feeling of stepping into someone else’s chaos. A deal has fractured. A partnership is collapsing. A board is divided. A family business is bleeding mistrust. A contractor, owner, architect, regulator, lender,…
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The 48 ABA-Approved Religiously Affiliated Law Schools
ABA, Council-Approved Religiously Affiliated Law Schools: Another religious affiliated law school not on the ABA’s list:
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‘The Odyssey’ and the Longing for Home
Christianity Today: Why Christopher Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’ Haunts Us Right Now, by Russell Moore: One of the biggest cultural events this summer isn’t a superhero sequel or a streaming series. It’s a 3,000-year-old Greek poem. That The Odyssey would be a box office powerhouse is not all that unexpected—after all, filmmaker Christopher Nolan gave us The Dark Knight Rises and Oppenheimer.…
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Dust to Dust: Aging Wisely in an Anti-Aging World
Dispatch Faith: A Better Way to Think About Old Age, by Wesley Liu (Penn): Jen Wilkin’s Dust to Dust: Aging Wisely in an Anti-Aging World approaches aging through a Christian lens, arguing that [the] obsession with extending life’s “prime” has never been merely cosmetic. Rather, it’s also based on the belief that we can prolong the years…
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High Moral Standards and Limitless Mercy Make Catholicism So Appealing, Says America’s Most Media-Savvy Bishop
The Free Press: Two Drinks with. . . America’s Most Media-Savvy Bishop, by Madeleine Kearns: Bishop Robert Barron … began his Catholic media empire, Word on Fire, with the simple conviction that the Church should be more involved in mass media. As a priest in Chicago, he broke into radio in the late 1990s, TV in…
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When Faith Is Just an App
The Free Press: When Faith Is Just an App, by Freya India: Much has been said about a Christian revival among Gen Z. Some statistics are disputed, but there does seem to be something happening. I am curious about Christianity myself, and have noticed changes lately, conversations with young people who were raised as atheists and…
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Is God Punishing Me?
Christianity Today: Is God Punishing Me?, by Kristen Wetherell & Sarah Walton (Co-Authors, Jesus Will Meet You There (2026)): Suffering. Nobody wants it. And rarely can we make sense of it. That’s why, when life hurts, we often look for someone or something to blame. Something is awry, and our pain needs somewhere to go.…