As we are in the last quarter of the year, I am making a special appeal for your financial and prayer support for my work with Global Scholar's Canada. Although I have indicated before what your contributions are used for, I will remind you here:
- 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.
- The funds cover equipment, supplies, books, and other incidental expenses incurred in my work. The computer on which I work and the connected printer are two of the major pieces of equipment provided by your generous contributions.
- Assuming that the pandemic eases and my health improves, I hope that opportunities to travel will return. Your contributions will help to make this possible, especially where resources in the host country are scarce.
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. If you cannot afford to give, please do continue to pray for my work. God does work through our prayers for each other. Thanks once again to those of you who have been faithful in supporting my work both financially and in your prayers.
Despite my recent health concerns, my work continues, and, thank God, I am privileged to see it bear fruit in unexpected places. For example, I recently learned that Don Ceder, a member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament is reading my book as part of a part-time theology degree for which he is studying at the Theological University of Kampen-Utrecht. This is shown below in an image taken from an article about him in the Christen Unie Magazine. The Christen Unie is a small Christian political party with five deputies sitting in the Chamber.
In recent weeks I was interviewed twice by Jason Scott Montoya for his podcast. The first took place on 20 September and covered my Political Visions and Illusions and can be found here. The second occurred on 13 October and addressed the dilemmas of overlapping national territorial claims, with a focus on Russia and Ukraine. I will let everyone know when the second interview is posted.
After the Queen died last month, many of us were favourably impressed by how she had structured the three memorial services to point those attending in person and online to Jesus Christ, in whom she openly professed her faith, especially in her annual Christmas messages. This prompted me to write briefly on the subject: The seeds of the gospel: remembering the Queen. Let us pray that our new King Charles III will follow his mother's example, relying on God for his salvation and for strength to carry out his duties.
In July we lost Ron Sider, a Christian leader and author who influenced me in my youth. He was an honourable man who gained the respect of many as he championed the cause of the poor and vulnerable. My tribute to him was published in Christian Courier: Remembering Ron Sider. May he share in the resurrection of the righteous on the Last Day.
One of my blog posts from last month was republished by Christian Scholar's Review: Can Christian Higher Education Stay the Course? Maintaining the identity of faith-based institutions is an uphill battle in the best of times, but there are many colleges and universities which have had notable success over the long term.
I am increasingly persuaded that Chileans made the right decision in rejecting their new proposed constitution last month, about which I wrote here: Chile's constitution: back to square one. At the beginning of this month, I discovered an article that reinforces my assessment, and I commented on it here: When a constitution gets rights wrong. Sometimes what sounds wonderful on the surface turns out to have negative implications for a nation when we dig a little deeper.
For three years in a row I have spoken to the cohort of young people in the Civitas programme of the Politics Network of UCCF: The Christian Unions in the United Kingdom. I spoke with this year's group at the beginning of the month on the topic of "The Liberal Myth: Rationalism and the Privatisation of Faith." Over the next year I will be publishing a series on political ideologies for the Politics Network. The first is titled, Understanding Liberal Mythology, and was posted on the 11th of this month. My next piece will be published in December and will cover socialism.
Finally, in response to Christianity Today's article on altar calls, I wrote the following: The altar call: good or bad?, reflecting my own childhood experience in the church where my mother was converted in her youth. The piece was also picked up by Kuyperian Commentary.
At the risk of making this newsletter too long, I will close by indicating that I am working on more than one project about which I hope to say more in the near future. Please continue to pray for my work and for the physical stamina to keep it up. I understand, of course, that the advance of God's kingdom does not rest on my shoulders personally, but I am grateful that he has chosen to use my efforts in small ways to this end. Please do consider making an extra financial contribution to my academic ministry at year's end. Thanks once more for your support.
Yours in Christ,
David Koyzis, Global Scholar
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