NOVEMBER 2024 NEWSLETTER

This month marks for me five full years of service with Global Scholars Canada. By God's grace and with your help, I have been privileged to see my work bear fruit in several venues, including North America, Brazil, and elsewhere. As we are now in the final quarter of the calendar year, when many of us make donations to various causes and charities, please consider making a financial contribution to my work. Your contributions help to support the following:

1. I draw a small monthly salary from these funds to supplement my private and public pension income, and together they cover a portion of the time and energy put into the various responsibilities I have taken on.
2. The funds cover equipment, supplies, books, and other incidental expenses. The computer on which I work and the connected printer are two of the major pieces of equipment provided by your generous contributions.
3. With the end of pandemic restrictions, I have resumed some work-related travel, most recently to western Michigan and western Pennsylvania this past spring. Your contributions will help to support this travel, especially where resources in the host country are insufficient to cover the costs.

GSC's page for giving can be found here. Once you are in the page, scroll down to the heading marked DONATION DETAILS, and then choose one of the options under FUND. Americans may donate through our sister organization in the US.

Or, if you prefer, Canadian donors can donate publicly traded securities (shares or mutual funds) directly to charities without having to pay the capital gains tax. This is a cost-effective and painless way to make a donation that comes with a substantial tax incentive. By donating securities, donors pay no tax on capital gains, receive a tax receipt for the fair market value of the securities, as well as reduce their taxes. Watch this video for more information about this option: Link Charity Canada: Donation of Securities. If interested, please visit the Link Charity Canada Inc. website, and call for details at 1-800-387-8146. Link Charity Canada is a partner organization of Global Scholars Canada, so Link Charity can easily direct funds for my work.

As you know, this month also marks the release of my third book, Citizenship Without Illusions: A Christian Guide to Political Engagement. Those who contribute an additional $100 to my work before year's end will receive a copy of this book from the publisher. 

Here is one more endorsement:

One wonderful, essential thing about David Koyzis is that he takes politics seriously without making an idol of it. This book reflects the generosity of spirit and intellectual care that have characterized David's career. Once again, David has offered us a tremendous gift with this book. Read it closely. Consider it deeply. Dispel political illusions. Love God and love your neighbor.

— Michael Wear, founder, president, and CEO of the Center for Christianity and Public Life and the author of The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life

Given my credentials as a political scientist, I was naturally interested to follow the presidential and congressional elections south of the border. Among my social media contacts, some are pleased with the result while others are disappointed. Here is my take on the return of a previously defeated candidate to the White House and the likely effect it will have on this country: What a Trump win means for Canada. There is much more to be said on a second Trump presidency, and I expect to comment on it as needed as we move into the future.

In the last month I have thought a lot about the Bible and wrote two pieces on the subject: The English Bible, prompted by reading Benson Bobrick's fascinating book covering the early modern history of efforts to bring God's word into the English language, and Between the testaments, about the small collection of ancient books that Protestants call the Apocrypha.

Last year I was privileged to speak remotely to a group of young interns with the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada in Ottawa about my first book. Last week, for the second year in a row, I spoke to the current cohort of ARPA interns on that book and on my new book. I always enjoy conversing with young people on such occasions.

Earlier this week Caleb Campbell, pastor of Desert Springs Bible Church in Phoenix, Arizona, interviewed me again on my new book for his Disarming Leviathan podcast. And last week Brent Siddall interviewed me for his God's Story podcast out of New Zealand. I will alert everyone to these interviews when they are posted.

One final piece of news. Some months ago the Center for Public Justice reached out to me concerning the possibility of joining its board of trustees. After a period of exploring this option, I am now a member of the board and will be participating in their semiannual meetings. I have been associated with the Center since its inception in the late 1970s and am a supporter of its work, some of which I highlight in my new book. Please pray that my service to the Center will bear fruit, if only in modest fashion.

Thank you once again for your support for my work.

Yours in the service of God's kingdom,

David Koyzis, Global Scholar