Created to be a Burden

In Radical Disciple, John Stott says God designed us to be burdens to each other. If so, then Paul’s admonition to bear each others burdens (Galatians 6:2) not only involves helping each other with the burdens we have to carry due to our sin; it also requires assisting each other in carrying the loads we have that result from our finitude. In that case, it seems that the best way we can prepare for eternity is to become as adept at the art of burden-bearing as we can - since this skill will be central in the eternal Kingdom community.

Religion, Science, & Unfalsifiability

Recently an interlocutor of mine claimed that religious beliefs, unlike scientific beliefs, are unfalsifiable. But beliefs of these two sorts don’t differ in this way. There is evidence for and evidence against both types of beliefs. So both kinds are at least theoretically verifiable and falsifiable. Moreover, when believers persist in maintaining beliefs in either category in the face of counterevidence, they often do so because they have adequate grounds for those beliefs and insufficient reason to think the contrary evidence is decisive. In these cases, though the beliefs are practically unfalsified, it doesn’t follow that they are theoretically unfalsifiable. 

Teaching, Learning, and Humility

I'm reading What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain and Exiles from Eden: Religion and the Academic Vocation in America by Mark R. Schwehn. Bain says the best teachers have the humility to assume that when students aren't learning well, the teacher is at least partly to blame. Schwehn says students need the humility to presume that others have the wisdom and authority to teach them. So humility is a virtue required of both teachers and students in order for learning to take place. As a teacher, Jesus modeled humility and urged his disciples to imitate his example.

Theological Knowledge & Faith-Learning Integration

Many conservative Christian colleges and universities fail to regard Christian theology as a source of knowledge. A number of these institutions make the integration of faith and learning a central curricular and pedagogical goal. But it is hard to see how theology could be integrated with the sciences if theology doesn’t yield knowledge. I assume the sort of integration desired by such institutions is theoretical, and that such theoretical integration is possible only between disciplines that yield knowledge. If these assumptions are correct, then these conservative Christian colleges and universities are failing to satisfy one of their main educational objectives.

What is Experiential Learning?

Experiential learning is learning based on direct experience. What makes something an experience is that it is a psychological state generated by sensation or introspection (rather than by intuition or reason). What makes an experience direct is that it is not mediated by a linguistic or pictorial representation of something experienced (as in the case of books or photographs). What makes a direct experience a source of learning is that the person who has had the experience engages in active reflection on the experience in such a way as to acquire understanding or knowledge on the basis of the experience.

How the Best Teachers Motivate Students

In What the Best College Teachers Do, Ken Bain says the most effective teachers motivate students to learn by inviting them rather than by commanding them. He says these professors act more like “someone inviting colleagues to dinner” than like “a bailiff summoning someone to court” (p. 37). This means instructors emphasize what the course promises to do for students rather than what students have to do for the course. These teachers encourage students to participate for the sake of enjoying learning, and they do not discourage them from taking risks out of the fear of receiving a bad grade.

Augustine on the Divine Origin of the Bible

In The City of God, Augustine argues Christians are justified in believing the Bible is God’s word because of the agreement of the human authors of Scripture. He contrasts this consensus with the disagreements between the philosophers. Whereas there is concord among those God chose to speak on his behalf, there is discord among those who employed reason alone to determine the truth about reality. Augustine also says there are just enough biblical authors to make it reasonable to think their agreement is due to God’s speaking through them without there being so many as to make their contribution superfluous.

Artists, Scientists, and the Natural World

Yesterday we saw Carlsbad Caverns. This beautiful and interesting system of caves draws both artists and scientists to study its wonders. The former come to see and portray the stunning formations as they appear; the latter come to examine and understand these fascinating “speleothems” as they have developed. C.P. Snow observed that these two groups tend to inhabit two different cultures. But they can find common ground in their love for natural wonders. The artists help us experience them more fully and the scientists enable us to know them more deeply. A complete awareness of God’s creation requires both approaches.

The Greatest Love of All

According to Whitney Houston, “the greatest love of all” is “to love yourself.” According to Jesus, the greatest love of all involves laying down your life for your friends (John 15:13). The first kind of love entails self-affirmation. The second kind requires self-sacrifice. They can't both be the greatest. Which is better? Jesus assumes we will love ourselves when he commands us to love others as we love ourselves (Mark 12:31). But he also says, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it” (Mark 8:35).

What Makes a Core Text Religious?

What distinguishes religious core texts from non-religious core texts? This question seeks a general criterion for placing core texts into the "religious" and "secular" categories. Such a criterion would guide the process of categorization with respect to particular works generally recognized as core texts. A candidate criterion might define religious core texts as core texts that contribute affirmatively to a religious view of the world. Then there would need to be a conversation about what would count as a religious view of the world and what it would mean for a core text to contribute affirmatively to such a view.

How to Honor an Author

Honoring the author of a text requires first attempting to understand what the author intended to say. Consequently, readers who adopt hermeneutical approaches that preclude the possibility of reading for authorial intent are disrespectful to authors. But courtesy to authors also requires evaluating what they have said (always leaving open the possibility that you have misunderstood them). Are the author’s assertions and claims important and true? Are the author’s suggestions and instructions useful and beneficial? Are the author’s assurances and promises reliable and constructive? Are the author’s questions interesting and thought-provoking? In short, have the author’s literary goals been fulfilled?

What is Hell Like?

Hell is not a place but a condition in which a person experiences separation from loving communion with God. God made us to be fulfilled only when we are lovingly united with God and other God-lovers. Anyone who lives outside this loving fellowship will suffer as a result. The biblical pictures of hell are metaphorical ways of portraying this unhappy condition. Since we are embodied souls, we experience our separation from loving communion with God in physical and mental ways. So the biblical imagery, though metaphorical, is fitting, and dramatizes the reality of living apart from loving communion with God.

Christian Philosophers as Teachers

As a philosopher, I want to teach my students to think for themselves. As a Christian, I want to model for my students a commitment to Christ. If I had only the first goal, I would refrain from revealing my convictions to them. If I had only the second objective, I would introduce them to fewer criticisms of Christianity. But since I am a Christian philosopher, I strive to encourage my students to combine honest evaluation of Christianity with confident submission to Christ. In the future, I plan to be more sensitive to my students’ intellectual, temperamental, and developmental differences.

Nāgārjuna & Jesus

In the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna argues for an ontological middle way as a basis for salvation from suffering. He rejects nihilism (according to which nothing exists) and essentialism (according to which objects have an enduring existence). He reasons that “things” are merely products of our conceptualization, and that we need to cease reifying our experience to find peace. Since suffering is based on attachment due to overvaluing things (including oneself), one can avoid suffering by realizing that nothing endures as an appropriate object of desire. But Jesus calls us to suffer in order to love God and others.

Trollope on Love & Justice

In The Warden, Anthony Trollope tells the story of Rev. Harding, the warden of a home for poor retired laborers. During the 400 years of this home’s existence, the income supporting it has increased substantially. However, the wards have continued to receive small allowances while the warden’s pay has grown large. Harding is a kind man who doesn’t realize this injustice until his daughter Eleanor’s principled suitor, John Bold, initiates legal action to rectify it. In the end, Bold weakens out of affection for Eleanor and Harding softens due to his educated conscience – a victory for both love and justice.

Academic & Spiritual Disciplines in Augustine's "Confessions"

Augustine’s Confessions consists in a blend of honest personal narrative, serious intellectual inquiry, and heartfelt devotional prayer. From the first to the last line of this classic work, he addresses himself to God. The entire book, in which Augustine tells the story of his conversion to Christ and engages in profound and extensive theological and philosophical reflection, takes the form of a prayer to his Lord. Augustine believed the study of academic disciplines can be regularly, deliberately, and explicitly combined with the practice of the spiritual discipline of prayer. As a result, both his mind and his heart are transformed.

Why Bodies are Good Things

Though we can survive without our bodies, we cannot thrive in a disembodied state. Assuming we can have memories without brains, we can think as mere minds or souls and we can pray, but we cannot sense and we cannot perform actions that require a physical means; we are unable to see without eyes and we need legs in order to dance. Though bodiless communication with other humans might be possible through telepathy, we would not be able to see, hear, or embrace each other. In sum, without bodies we would be crippled. Embodiment is a wonderful gift from God.

Organizing the Library

In Reading the Map of Knowledge: The Art of Being a Librarian, Peter Briscoe provides an “epistemically dynamic” way of representing a library’s collection. He recommends conceiving of it as organized into four concentric rings. At the center is the Index, which consists of works such as catalogs that identify and locate other works. Next is the Encyclopedia, which is comprised by reference works that summarize other works. The Canon is next. It is made up of the works that contain the current state of knowledge. The outer and largest ring is the Archive, which includes all the other works.

Avoiding Economic Extremes

One of the claims for which Daniel Altman argues in Outrageous Fortunes is that neither a purely capitalist nor a completely communist economic system is sustainable in the long term. Among other problems, unrestricted capitalism tends to result in market failures that create inequality and in opportunities taken by people with more resources rather than by people with more talent. And uncompromised communism tends to fail due to isolation from wider markets and the difficulty of central planning. What is needed is an appropriate balance between control and regulation on the one hand and freedom and privatization on the other.

Stewarding Our Sexuality

In Homosexuality and the Christian, Mark Yarhouse advocates that Christians “steward” their sexuality. Just as we don’t own our money or other "possessions," we aren’t the owners of our bodies (First Corinthians 6:19-20). Instead, God owns these things and he has entrusted them to us to use them wisely for his purposes. Stewarding our sexuality means behaving sexually in ways that serve others, further God’s Kingdom, and bring honor and glory to God. Both Christians who struggle with a homosexual orientation and unmarried heterosexual Christians have a special burden to bear in this area. For them, sexual stewardship means celibacy.

Apologetics & Anthropology

Dave Tetrick, a former student of mine who is with the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso, told me he values his Westmont education now because of how it has enabled him to learn how to understand those he has been called to serve. He said his philosophy course on “The New Atheists” provided an opportunity to understand and appreciate those with whom he doesn’t agree. When I discuss the New Atheists with students, my emphasis is on an apologetical defense of belief in God. What Dave told me convinces me that an “anthropological” understanding of unbelievers would also be valuable.

Getting the Hay to the Goats

In a recent talk to Presbyterian ministers, John Ortberg borrowed Garrison Keillor’s criticism of a Lake Woebegone minister whose sermons did not “put the hay where the goats could get it.” Ortberg said many Christian churches know how to reach the “goats” but don’t have any “hay” for them and many other churches have the “hay” but don’t know how to reach the “goats.” He put his Presbyterian denomination in the latter category and urged his audience to look for a movement of God’s Spirit that would enable their church to equip disciples to be effective teachers of the nations.

Knowing a God Who is Worthy of Worship

Recently I attended a talk by philosopher Paul Moser about his latest book, The Evidence for God: Religious Knowledge Reexamined. In this book he argues that traditional philosophical arguments for God’s existence (ontological, cosmological, teleological) fail to justify belief in a God who is worthy of worship. He contends that we acquire adequate reasons to believe in such a God by means of an ongoing experience of interacting personally with God as God discloses himself to us and we submit our wills to his transforming love. Moser says we can know God only as participants and not as mere spectators.

Work: Job, Career, or Vocation?

How should we think about our work? At the “microscopic” level, it is a series of actions ordered to a particular end. This definition applies to the simple tasks we perform during our workday. But these tasks add up to a project and a series of projects can constitute a job. We think of a job primarily as a means of making money. When a job is a career, we consider it as a more permanent and more meaningful mode of employment. But when our career becomes a means of fulfilling our vocation, it becomes a way to serve God.

Non-Rational Atheism

Carl Sagan created a TV series about the universe entitled “Cosmos.” He later wrote a book with the same title based on the series. The premise of both the TV show and the book is Sagan’s pronouncement that “The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.” The unmistakable implication of this quasi-religious slogan is that there is no supernatural God. The book Cosmology: A Very Short Introduction begins with a similar presumption. The author defines “cosmology” as the study of everything but he never mentions God. In both cases, atheism is simply presupposed without argument.

Idolatry and Salvation

Idolatry involves putting something that is not God in the place of God. An alternative god is whatever we value most. Since we tend to esteem most what we believe will satisfy us best, our idols are those non-God things we turn to most often for fulfillment. And our fulfillment requires not only getting more of what we need but also getting rid of what prevents us from wholeness. If we are unable to free ourselves from such obstacles, we need a savior. So idolaters will usually seek salvation apart from God. But salvation is found only in Jesus Christ.

Magisterial vs. Ministerial Uses of Reason

Martin Luther said human reason should be “ministerial” rather than “magisterial” in its theological uses. A magisterial use of reason in theology would involve employing it like a magistrate standing in judgment over the Christian gospel to determine whether or not it is true apart from dependence on the Bible and the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, human reason is ministerial when it is guided by and in service of God’s wisdom (made available to us in his Word and through his Spirit). So for Luther, as for Aquinas, theology is the queen and philosophy is the queen’s handmaiden.

Science as Religion

The “New Atheists” (Harris, Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens, and others) think religious believers are irrational and religion is dangerous. They contend we would be better off without it. What do they recommend instead? Harris proposes a science-based spirituality of meditation, Dawkins extols empowerment from scientific knowledge of the natural world, Dennett affirms a sense of humble selflessness caused by awareness of the universe’s complexity, and Hitchens values unrestricted scientific inquiry leading to human enlightenment and liberation. Clearly, each of them desires an experience of transcendence through science. It appears that rather than replacing religion with science they are making science religion.

Multiversities & Christian Liberal Arts Colleges

In The Uses of the University, former University of California president Clark Kerr wrote that though the university started as a single community, the large American university had become instead (in 1963) a collection of communities. He also claimed that the liberal arts student-centered university Newman promoted (in The Idea of a University in 1873) had been replaced by the science-based research-oriented university described by Flexnor as “The Idea of a Modern University” (in 1930). Kerr believed all these models had been superseded in his day by what he called a “multiversity.” But there are still Christian liberal arts colleges.

Home is Where the Lord Is

In In the House of the Lord, Henri Nouwen writes, “Prayer is the most concrete way to make our home in God.” The more we practice the discipline of prayer, the more we experience our home as being in God and with God. If we pray regularly and deeply we will never really be homeless, and we will always be at home wherever we are. This ubiquity of our divine home is due, not only to God’s omnipresence, but also to God’s Son, Immanuel, having pitched his tent with us and having prepared an eternal place for us with God.

Conservatives, Liberals, & Demonization

In The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, Jonathan Haidt discusses how conservatives and liberals in the U.S. have become polarized – to the detriment of the common good. He says his social psychological research shows both groups sacralize different values (conservatives personal responsibility and liberals compassion for others) and so are at odds over taxation for welfare. And because politics has thus become religion, the groups demonize rather than try to understand and work with each other. Haidt hopes we can eventually adopt norms discouraging demonization just as we came to disapprove of sexual harassment.

How Did God Create?

All Christians agree God created the universe and everything in it. So all Christians are “Creationists” in a broad sense. But Christians disagree about how God created. At one extreme, Young Earth Creationists believe God created the universe, life, and every species directly and supernaturally. At the other extreme, Theistic Evolutionists (or better, “Evolutionary Creationists”) believe God created all these things indirectly and naturally. Old Earth Creationists think God created the universe by means of a natural process (the “Big Bang”) but humans by means of a supernatural process (special creation). The Bible won’t settle this debate; only science can.

Jesus Feeds 9000

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus feeds two large groups, first 5000 (chapter 6) and then 4000 (chapter 8). Plausibly, the first represents Jesus' provision for the Jews and the second his caring for the Gentiles (in chapter 7 he moves into Gentile territory). Together, these feedings symbolize God's salvation in Christ for all humanity. ‘5’ in 5000 could represent the Old Covenant people (think Pentateuch) and ‘4’ in 4000 the rest of humanity (think four corners of the earth). Multiples of 1000 signify the comprehensive nature of Jesus' work on behalf of these two groups (and thus all people).

Production and Reproduction

In Aristotle for Everybody, Adler says we don’t talk about producing or creating when we discuss childbirth. Instead, we speak of reproducing and procreating. So though people who have sex to have children are deliberately doing something for a purpose, they aren’t making or producing something together but instead procreating and reproducing. Hence, sex for conception is not a productive art. Is it a cooperative art (analogous to farming)? It seems not. The contribution of the couple to the outcome is minimal compared to the natural process involved. Successful farming requires more skill and more intervention than successful procreating does.

Aristotle and Materials Science

Aristotle thinks of material (matter, stuff) as potentiality to become a certain kind of thing. A particular sort of entity is produced when it takes on a specific form. When this happens, the potentiality of the material to be that kind of thing is actualized. Different kinds of material can be characterized in terms of the range of types of things they can become. Wood can be made into a chair, but water (in its liquid form) cannot be. These days, materials science studies how the properties of different kinds of stuff suit it for various states, forms, and purposes.

The Rewards of Hard Books

A traditional liberal arts education involves reading classic texts. For various reasons, students often find these books difficult to read. These works can be challenging because of their language, their ideas, and their length. But readers who expend the effort to engage with these volumes can be rewarded, not only with their rich contents, but also with the character trait of perseverance. Many treasures in life can be enjoyed only after prolonged and patient attention. A slow-moving film may prove itself to be deeply meaningful; a time of mundane routine or extended suffering may be pregnant with value and significance.

The Socratic Method & the Bible

Socrates cross-examined his contemporaries who claimed to be wise. He used the “Socratic Method” of critical questioning to show that these “authorities” were not nearly as wise as they thought they were. Socrates applied his disposition to question authority to books as well. For him, books were not repositories of truth to be digested but instead records of thinking to be critically engaged. But what about the Bible? If that book is God’s authoritative Word, then it does contain important truths we ought to believe. Still, Socrates was partially right even here. We need to question our interpretations of scripture.

Tuning In to God

In The Jesus Prayer, Frederica Mathewes-Green likens our ability to perceive God to a “little radio” inside us that we can tune in to the divine presence while tuning out the static of distractions. She uses the Greek word ‘nous’ to name this receptive and perceptive faculty. That’s the theory. The practical question is how we can learn to adjust the tuner to find the right frequency and how we can attend to the divine signal once we have located it. She recommends a regular rehearsal of the Jesus prayer for this purpose: “Jesus have mercy on me, a sinner.”

No End to the Reading of Books

My formal education started at Phantom Lake Elementary in Bellevue, Washington. Sometime early in my seven years there, I decided I would read all the books in the library, starting with the very first book on the shelf and working my way one by one from there in Dewey Decimal order. That scheme, like many similar ones in years to come, was short-lived; the initial book lacked sufficient luster to hold my interest, and the project went by the wayside. But my aspiration to be an academic generalist was born that day nonetheless, and I still want to know everything.

A Functional Definition of "Good Soil"

In the parable of the sower, Jesus mentions four different kinds of circumstances in which an individual hears the word of God. The best condition involves “good soil,” which provides the resources necessary to prevent external factors from interfering with the spiritual growth made possible by God’s word. Though Jesus does not say what this good soil is, the parable’s context enables us to discern its function: It enables disciples to benefit from the word without being hindered by the world, the flesh, or the devil (which seem to be what Jesus has in mind in the other three cases).