Mark Foster's Personal Web Page

Why a "Personal" Page?

I have chosen to place a button on my home page labeled "personal" to provide a link to information about myself and my ideas that may interest students or others, but which one customarily would not include with "professional" information in an academic setting in the U.S..  My purpose in doing this is to give students and colleagues an opportunity to get to know who I am and what I think on matters that are not typically discussed in the venues that most apparently define my "professional" life, that is, technical publications, graduate classes and scientific meetings.  In addition to listing some facts about my family, my reading, and links of interest, I anticipate collecting a series of short statements ("essays" would be too fine a word) on a range of topics, probably predominately my philosophy of teaching, the philosophy of science, and connections between these and how one chooses to live life ("philosophy of life" or "worldview").  I find these topics fascinating, and welcome opportunities to discuss them, but the time I have to devote to reading and thinking about them is limited by responsibilities at work and home, so this collection will be small to start with, and not very polished, and hopefully grow and mature with time.  The objective is to share these ideas candidly and as they develop.  I think this sort of sharing of ideas is one exciting activity that characterizes a healthy academic community.
 

Current Interest:  Graduate Student Bible Study at U. Akron
    I am currently assisting with the formation of a graduate student Bible study.  My hope is that this group may become a graduate student fellowship that can continue from year to year.  The vision is to have a group where individuals can share in an investigative, inductive study where "digging for answers" is encouraged.   During the '02-'03 school year we studied Paul's letter to the Philippians.  Examples of the questions we use in our studies may be found in the files noted below.  For '03-'04 we looked at the book of Job.  As of Summer '04 we are studying the gospel of Mark.
   Ultimately this will be a student-led group, but I will serve as faculty sponsor.   At the moment questions and expressions of interest may be forwarded to me at mfoster@uakron.edu or to Brian Mirous, a graduate student in Polymer Science, at bmirous@hotmail.com.

Graduate Bible Study meets Thursdays  12:00 - 1:00 pm Room 304 Polymer Science Building.

Questions from Past Studies:
    Phil 2:19-24
    Phil 2:25-30
 

My Family:
    My wife and I have five children:
    Rachel      17
    Andrew    15
    Laura       11
    Peter          9
    Timothy      6
 
 

What I'm reading right now:

   Rebuilding the Matrix
    Why I am a Christian - by John Stott
    The Complete Poetical Works of James Whitcomb Riley,
        Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana 1993
        J.W. Riley (1849-1916) was a well known poet in my home state of Indiana and
        during his lifetime was actually known throughout the U.S.  Much of his poetry
        paints word pictures of life in rural Indiana in the 1800's, including the dialect spoken there.
    Classics We've Read, The Difference They Made -

Books I've read

   Knowing with the heart: religious experience and belief in God - by Roy Clouser
        Argues that religious experience is a legitimate route to knowledge.  
        Discusses what can be known by self-evidency.
   Realms of Gold: The Classics viewed from a Christian Perspective - by Leland Ryken
         Discusses classic literature, the virtue of studying it, how to read it.
   Murder Must Advertise - by Dorothy Sayers
   The Mystery of Marriage - by Mike Mason
         Mason reflects on many aspects of marriage, pointing out what marriage
        really is, in contrast to misconceptions common to
         American modern culture.  The book is intended to get one to meditate
        on these different aspects of marriage.
    A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
         Deals with the absurdity of WWI as seen through the eyes of an American
         serving with the Italian army, but also with the ultimate cruelty
        and emptiness of a man's craving for a woman that never really gets past
        lust and self-indulgence to be love.
   All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
        The storyline follows the life of a young German recruit in WWI, offering a critique of war.
   Jesus Among Other Gods - by Ravi Zacharias
    The Sacred Romance - by
        The authors suggest that a right relationship with God is much like a romance between man and woman.
        I don't accept some of ideas the authors offer, but their descriptions of the "arrows" of life I find helpful.
    Habits of the Mind - by James Sire
        Sire, former editor of IV Press discusses what the "intellectual life" is and the habits one must cultivate to lead it.
    Science and Its Limits:  The Natural Sciences in Christian Perspective, Del Ratzsch,
        Intervarsity Press, 2nd Ed copyright 2000
    The Universe Next Door - by James Sire
    Till We Have Faces   -  by C.S. Lewis
    The Large, The Small, and the Human Mind - by Roger Penrose
    The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - by J.R.R. Tolkein
    Gesicht eines Klowns - by Heinrich Böll
    1-2 Timothy & Titus (IVP New Testament Commentary Series)  by Philip H. Towner
     C. S. Lewis & Francis Schaeffer: Lessons for a New Century from the Most Influential
            Apologists of Our Time
           - by Scott Burson and Jerry Walls
    The God Who is There - by Francis Schaeffer
    From Physics to Metaphysics - by Michael Redhead
        Prof. Redhead deals with the ultimate nature of reality, defending the objectivity and rationality of
        science against the views of relativists and social constructivists.
    Courage and Calling: Embracing Your God-Given Potential - by Gordon T. Smith,  IVP1999.
        Discusses the idea of "calling" in determining one's work in life
    Rethinking the Future of the University, Eds. David Lyle Jeffrey and Dominic Manganiello,
        University of Ottawa Press, 1998.
        Essays on various aspects of the university in the future.
    Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, William Lane Craig, Crossway Books, Revised Ed. 1994.
 

Links of Interest

     Mars Hill Audio
          Mars Hill Audio tapes present interviews dealing with topics of current culture with the objective of understanding culture from a Christian perspective.
 

    Intervarsity Christian Fellowship
          Intervarsity Christian Fellowship is a student movement which emphasizes the integration of academics and the life of faith.
 

Musings on Teaching, Science, and Life

   The Connection Between Personal and Professional

Movies I've seen

  Million Dollar Baby   A well-done, but disturbing movie.  Raises the question of whether
        assisted suicide can be right.  The movie appears to end with a formal ambiguity on
        the matter, but by violating some viewers' senses of what is sacred it takes a powerful
        step in arguing the plausibility of assisted suicide.
  The Mission  Based on historical events in colonial South America.  Looks at the question
        of obedience to church hierarchy and conscience.
  Smoke Signals Deals with the life of a young man on a reservation and his relationship with his missing father.
  Waking Life    An odd movie, but thought-provoking.  Deals with the nature of reality and one's worldview.
         The main character wanders through what appears to be his waking life, talking to various people about
         their philosophies of life.  Avariety of views are touched on.  It becomes difficult to tell what is waking life
         and what is a dream.
  Momento   Very violent.  Considers the role of memory in identity.  If I can't remember what I have done, do I know who I am?
  The Matrix    Violent, but provokes thought about the nature of reality.
  The Lord of the Rings