Professor Alister McGrath, “God, Science and the Meaning of Life: C.S. Lewis and Richard Dawkins”
New Grad Students, Welcome to Canada and UBC
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Free pdf copy of The Great Escape from Nihilism for new GCU participants
Share your passion; meet new friends; explore fresh ideas
GCU Study Question of the Week: How does agape love help us to overcome evil with the good? Romans 12
Adventure Lies Ahead
Graduate Christian Union (GCU) exists to help you reach your full potential as a graduate student and to find your best self. You can help us build a network and a friendly learning community among students. We are pursuing the deeper, richer life; we want to grow in hope, character and faith as well as academically. We would be delighted to meet you and hear about your journey, your passion and your areas of curiosity. This is a group of curious and fun people from around the globe. Join the adventure. We host people from many denominations and many countries.
Fall Study Begins September 18 Investigating the Power of Agape Love: a Wager
- Can such a love show us the path to the heart and depth of meaning, an exit from our despair, an entrance to a whole new stance towards self and the world, through a strong transcendence?
- Could this be the light at the end of a tunnel that we humans have been seeking for a thousand years, the troika of faith, hope and love?
- Can such love wrestle our fears, anxieties and insecurities to the mat?
- Is this the space in which we can discover the truth, overcome our alienation from the truth, address the root of our incessant restlessness, and discover a resolution to our current crisis of identity?
- Is agape perhaps the hub of all virtues and values, the preeminent virtue in our hierarchy of values?
- Loyola Philosophy Professor Paul Moser is a profound thinker and writer on this topic: “God’s agape love directed at the human conscience is a deep invitational call to an existential depth.” Could this be a fundamental calling in life, the source of untold meaning and purpose?
Tuesday, September 18 at 7:00 p.m., 277 West 16thave. (just two blocks east of Cambie on north side of street). Come through the gate by the mailboxes, down the walk and up the stairs. Warm greetings await. From campus, take #33 bus (16thave./Shoppers Drug exit) or #99 B-line (Cambie exit). Call or text Gord 604.349.9497 if disoriented. Google maps can help.
Other Features of the GCU Community Life
Faculty Mentors
On Campus Discussions
Evening Study/Discussion/Investigation
Cool Lectures
Hospitality
Apologetics
Prayer Support: Wednesdays with Ute
Thought Provoking Articles in GCU Blog
Great Resources
Ideas Exchange over Coffee
Faith & Culture Discussions
Meet an International Artist
Connect with GCU: gcarkner@shaw.ca (Gord); ucarkner@shaw.ca (Ute) We would love to meet you and share about the opportunities available in this outreach to UBC graduate students. It is a lot to navigate a higher degree and we want to help. Enjoy the information, inspiration, resources and articles found in this Blog.
- Builds a strong relationship with their supervisor, solidarity with colleagues
- Deals with anxiety before it builds up too much–gets professional help if necessary
- Has a life outside of work: social, church, friendship, volunteer work
- Takes good notes on research, cataloguing things well, for good retrieval when writing up
- Reads outside of one’s discipline for enlightenment and creativity
- Meets people from other disciplines and takes time to adore a child or pet a cat
- Sleeps a sufficient amount (~8 hours), not in the lab; gets sufficient exercise and engages nature
- Cultivates a spiritual life to build meaning and perspective–personal flourishing
- Develops good presentation skills, verbal and visual
Key Books to Change Your Life, Shape Your Outlook
Check out the Regent College Bookstore, best in the West (Westbrook at University)
David Bentley Hart, The Experience of God.
James Houston and jens Zimmermann (eds.) Sources of the Christian Self.
Jim Wallis, The (Un)Common Good.
Gordon Carkner, The Great Escape from Nihilism.
Jens Zimmermann, Incarnational Humanism.
Eugene Peterson, Practice Resurrection.
James Sire, The Universe Next Door.
David Brooks, The Road to Character.
Jonathan Sacks, Not in God’s Name.
Miraslov Volf, Flourishing.
James K. A. Smith, You Are What You Love.
Charles Taylor, A Secular Age.
Matthew Crawford, The World Beyond Your Head.
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