In the summer of 2023, Anselm House sent me, along with several other faculty, to a weeklong course organized by the Center for Christianity and Scholarship at Duke University. The course explored how to integrate Christian theology into non-theological disciplines, ranging from mathematics, to fashion design, to medicine. After the course at Duke, I worked with several members of a previous Anselm House working group, “Christianity in Agriculture,” and with Christian faculty at other institutions to build an honors seminar locating our scholarship in agriculture and food systems within a deeply coherent Christian framework. We dreamed of sharing our passion and knowledge with colleagues and students at the University of Minnesota, and doing so with a uniquely Christian voice.

‍

In the fall of 2024, my colleagues Paul Capel, John Deen, and Kyungsoo Yoo and I taught the course that we co-developed, titled Food as a Cultural Good. The seminar was a challenging endeavor as we attempted to weave our Christian values into our teaching with respect, reverence, openness, and flexibility. I would never have taken on that challenge without Anselm House playing a role in opening my mind to the possibility that all things are for the glory of God, including our academic and research endeavors.