In “Living with AI,” (Autumn 2023) Ruth McGillivray and Greg Henson encourage partnering with AI technologies through curiosity and craft. Out of curiosity, I asked ChatGPT for two practical takeaways from their conversation; in partnership with ChatGPT, I crafted this response: First, instead of fearing AI and its potential for cheating, partner with AI to encourage curiosity and new approaches to teaching and assessing competency. Second, we can design holistic assessment of character and craft in a community context over time, rather than relying on institutionally proxied task-specific assessments. The importance of context strikes me as a beautiful insight into the value theological discourse needs to bring to cultural integration of AI. Just as they considered education and assessment rooted in local context, can we build AI models that are embedded in and even constrained by local context, resisting the universalizing acquisition of more data into an increasingly large and general model that inherently risks reducing local phenomena in service to the efficiency of aggregation?

Michael Hemenway
Director of Design and Data Science Association of Theological Schools

“No CEO Goes It Alone” (Autumn 2023) addresses so many important themes regarding creating environments in which men and women can thrive in Christian higher education. I appreciate that the article starts with theology and moves to practical insights, thus operationalizing our conviction. We now know that organizations that take diversity seriously are much more likely to see progress than those who are mandated or enticed with incentives. It takes intentionality and courage to navigate the liminal spaces of discovering the unconscious personal and organizational biases, assumptions, and structures, as well as informal norms and exclusionary practices that may exist. Without a strong and shared conviction among senior leaders, we may opt out when it gets tough. With it we may just dare to persevere.

Ellen Duffield
Coordinator, Paul E. Magnus Centre for Leadership Studies Briercrest Seminary

Thank you for “A Mentoring Mission” (Autumn 2023). Our goal is to equip local pastors and lay leaders to re-engage their churches with their wider communities. It’s a challenge that probably extends well beyond our own faith community, and a strategic-level threat to the future health of our churches. The good news is that, as of November 2023, we have had to pause recruitment; we have been overwhelmed by requests from pastors for mentoring in community engagement. Clearly, we have hit a sweet spot, an additional benefit of which is that it brings our graduate institution into direct contact with the next generation of potential pastors! Please keep us in your prayers as we seek to develop our project so that it can be a blessing to our church, and other faith communities. Soli Deo gloria!

Cedric Vine, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of New Testament Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Andrews University

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