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Posts by Scott Rae

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Scott Rae

Scott Rae is professor of Christian ethics and dean of the faculty at Talbot School of Theology. A noted Christian scholar and ethicist, Scott is the author of such books as Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics; Business for the Common Good; and Beyond Integrity: A Judeo-Christian Approach to Business Ethics. He has a Ph.D. and M.A. in social ethics from the University of Southern California, a Th.M. in Old Testament from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a B.A.S. in economics from Southern Methodist University. He has served in a variety of teaching and leadership roles, including a term as president of the Evangelical Theological Society in 2015. Along with Sean McDowell (Ph.D.), Scott co-hosts the Think Biblically podcast at Biola University.

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  • Think Biblically

    Naturalism and the Soul

    with JP Moreland

    Sean McDowell, J P Moreland, Scott Rae — 

    What is the best evidence for the soul? What is the state of philosophical debate over the existence of the soul? Can evolution explain the soul?...

  • Think Biblically

    Have Churches Oversold Family and Marriage?

    with Joe Hellerman

    Joe Hellerman, Sean McDowell, Scott Rae — 

    The contemporary church puts a huge emphasis on natural marriage and family. But according to pastor, author and Talbot professor Joe Hellerman,...

  • Think Biblically

    Navigating Student Culture - Part 2

    with Brett Kunkle

    Sean McDowell, Scott Rae — 

    What are the unique challenges young people face today? And what are some creative ways to equip and reach them? In this podcast, Sean McDowell and...

  • Think Biblically

    Navigating Student Culture - Part 1

    with Brett Kunkle

    Sean McDowell, Scott Rae — 

    What are the unique challenges young people face today? And what are some creative ways to equip and reach them? In this podcast, Sean McDowell and...

  • Think Biblically

    The World Watch List and the Persecuted Church

    with Ron Boyd-MacMillan

    Scott Rae — 

    This week, Open Doors, the international ministry to the persecuted church founded by Brother Andrew, released its annual World Watch List—the list...

  • Think Biblically

    Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel

    with Russell Moore

    Scott Rae — 

    In this stimulating conversation with Dr. Russell Moore, Talbot Professor Dr. Scott Rae explores how to navigate the difficult terrain of...

  • Think Biblically

    Race and the Church – Part 2

    with Chris Brooks

    Sean McDowell, Scott Rae — 

    In part two of our conversation on race and the church, Sean McDowell and Scott Rae talk with Pastor Chris Brooks about the Black Lives Matter...

  • Think Biblically

    Race and the Church – Part 1

    with Chris Brooks

    Sean McDowell, Scott Rae — 

    Issues around race continue to be front-page news both in the culture at large and in the church. In this episode and the one that follows, Scott...

  • Think Biblically

    The Art of Christian Persuasion

    with Os Guinness

    Sean McDowell, Scott Rae — 

    In the midst of an alarming loss of civility in discussing debated and controversial issues, what’s needed is a restoration of the art of...

  • Think Biblically

    Getting Along Despite Our Deepest Differences

    with Os Guinness

    Sean McDowell, Scott Rae — 

    It doesn't take much to notice that there are deep divisions in our society, and discussions about controversial issues often sound like shouting...

  • Think Biblically

    500th Anniversary of the Reformation

    with professor Alan Gomes

    Alan Gomes, Sean McDowell, Scott Rae — 

    On Oct. 31, we celebrated the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses on the door of his church in Wittenburg, Germany. Alan...

  • Think Biblically

    The State of the Persecuted Church

    with David Curry, CEO of Open Doors, USA

    Scott Rae — 

    In anticipation of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (Nov. 5), Scott Rae interviews David Curry, CEO of Open Doors, USA,...

  • Think Biblically

    Faith at the World Series

    with Dodgers chaplain Brandon Cash

    Brandon Cash, Sean McDowell, Scott Rae — 

    Talbot School of Theology professor Brandon Cash has served as chaplain for the Los Angeles Dodgers for the past seven years. Listen in as Scott...

  • Think Biblically

    5 Decades of Faithful Apologetics

    with Josh McDowell

    Sean McDowell, Scott Rae — 

    Josh McDowell has long been one of the leading spokespersons and apologists for Christianity, having spoken to hundreds of thousands of students...

  • Talbot Magazine

    Shelf Life

    Recent publications from our very own Talbot Faculty.

    Gary McIntosh, Ryan Peterson, Scott Rae, Kenneth Way — 

    Growing God’s Church: How People Are Actually Coming to Faith Today; Introducing Christian Ethics: A Short Guide to Making Moral Choices; The Imago Dei as Human Identity: A Theological Interpretation; Judges and Ruth, Teach the Text Commentary Series

  • The Good Book Blog

    Business as Ministry: Work as a Reflection of God

    Scott Rae — 

    All legitimate work in the world has intrinsic value and God calls men and women to be faithful in working in various arenas as their service to Him. Of course, there are some limits to this, since it would difficult to see how God could call someone to produce pornography or engage in the illegal drug trade. But excluding those exceptions, God calls people to work in business, not only because of what it accomplishes, but because it has value in and of itself to God. Business is the work of God in the world in the same way that being a pastor is the work of God in the church and in the same way that missionary service is the work of God on the mission field. All have value to God because of the value of the work done, and that work is an intrinsically good thing that has value as it's done with excellence ...

  • The Good Book Blog

    Gene Editing and Designer Children

    Scott Rae — 

    This week in Washington, DC, the National Academy of Sciences is hosting a three-day conference- the International Summit on Human Gene Editing, to examine the implications of new gene editing technology. Through a new technology developed in the past year, gene editing is now being done.

  • The Good Book Blog

    Recent Critiques of Philosophical Naturalism

    Scott Rae — 

    In his 2012 book, Mind and Cosmos, philosopher Thomas Nagel, who is both an atheist and a philosophical naturalist (the view that all reality can be reduced to the material world alone) issues a stark conclusion (some would call it a terminal diagnosis) for naturalism due to its inability to account for some key aspects of human experience that many believe make human beings significant—namely, consciousness, rationality, and morality/moral properties ...

  • The Good Book Blog

    On the Objectivity of Morality

    Scott Rae — 

    We are moving in our culture toward a view of morality that renders moral values and virtues as no more than simply matters of opinion with no force or application beyond the individual who holds such a view. The contrasts sharply with the notion of morality from a Christian worldview that insists that moral assessments are not only objective but also matters of truth and knowledge. As we celebrated MLK day a couple weeks ago, we should be reminded that King himself held that the moral values on which the civil rights movement was based, were objective and knowable by the average person in the streets. He held that they were objective truths of morality, not subjective matters of individual preference ...

  • The Good Book Blog

    What’s the Purpose of a Christian Business? Can You Make a Profit and Make a Difference?

    Scott Rae — 

    Dr. Scott Rae tackles the question, "What is the appropriate role for business to play in society?"

  • The Good Book Blog

    Thoughts on the New Testament and Economics

    Scott Rae — 

    Though the New Testament is not a textbook on economics, it was immersed in a particular economic environment and much of the New Testament teaching had implications for economic life. In the New Testament, Jesus takes up right where the Old Testament prophets left off. Care for the poor was just as important to Jesus as it was to the prophets. When the followers of John the Baptist (who was in prison at the time) asked Jesus if He was indeed the Messiah who was to come, He answered in terms that could have been taken right out of the prophets. He put it like this, “Go back to John (the Baptist) and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are being raised to life and the good news is being preached to the poor” (Matt. 11:4-5). The evidence that Jesus was who He claimed to be was not only that He did miracles, but who were the beneficiaries of those miracles were: the poor, marginalized and vulnerable. Similarly, when He spoke of final judgment and what would separate His true followers from the pretenders, He made it clear that how someone treats the poor is a critical indication of a person’s spiritual maturity. This is likely what Jesus meant when He said that, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to the least of these my brothers, you were doing it to me” (referring to feeding the hungry and taking in the needy, Matt. 25:40).

  • The Good Book Blog

    Thoughts on the Old Testament and Economics

    Scott Rae — 

    From the beginning, we learn that God created the world and called it good, making the material world fundamentally good (Gen. 1:31). He further entrusted human beings with dominion over the earth—giving them both the privilege of enjoying the benefits of the material world, but also the responsibility for caring for the world. We also learn that, from the beginning, God has implanted His wisdom into the world and given human beings the necessary tools to uncover His wisdom and apply it for their benefit (Proverbs 8:22-31). God set human beings free to utilize their God-given intelligence, initiative and creativity in discerning and applying what the wisdom He embedded into the world—this is all a part of the responsible exercise of dominion over creation that brings innovation and productivity to benefit humankind.

  • The Good Book Blog

    Pastors, Seminary Students and Economics, Part Two

    Scott Rae — 

    Why do pastors need to know all that much about work and economics? Last week we introduced this subject and suggested that there are very few areas of our lives that have nothing to do with work and/or economics. Remember that even the notion of our eternal salvation has something to do with economics, since the Bible actually describes the elements of our eternal salvation in economic terms. In addition, life on this side of eternity matters greatly. If we refuse to separate out the sacred from the secular, and thus affirm that all of life is spiritual, then there are few, if any, areas of our spiritual lives that are not impacted by economics.

  • The Good Book Blog

    Pastors, Seminary Students and Economics, Part One

    Scott Rae — 

    Why do pastors need to know all that much about economics? My friend and writing partner, Austin Hill, tells the story of a conference he attended as a graduate student, when the facilitator posed the provocative question, “Can somebody name for me one area of our lives that has nothing to do with economics?” The group was silent for more than a few moments, as the students were pondering this, most for the first time. Then a student spoke up in a southern drawl, and said what I suspect many were thinking. He said, “As a Christian, I believe that my eternal salvation has nothing to do with economics.” The group was taken aback by his forthrightness, and the facilitator then rephrased the question this way, “Ok, let’s assume you’re right about that, and let’s assume that one’s eternal destiny has nothing to do with economics (a debatable assumption), can somebody name a second area of our lives that has nothing to do with economics? He went on to suggest that “every facet of our earthly lives is impacted on some level by both economic activity and economic conditions.”

  • Business. Ministry. Life.

    Why Aren't Business Ethics Classes Making Businesses More Ethical?

    Scott Rae — 

    Recently, the Wall Street Journal ran a story, "Does an 'A' in Ethics Have Any Value?" (Feb. 6, 2013) that examines the success business schools...