Evangelogia

The views expressed here are provided as a resource for furthering culturally-engaged leadership through theologically-informed reflection about every aspect of contemporary life. Neither Union University nor The Institute for Intellectual Discipleship necessarily endorse the content expressed in this blog. The content of each entry solely reflects the view of its author.

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Where There's Smoke

February 6, 2012 -

It has now become commonplace, especially among the “new atheists” – self-appointed guardians of rationality, to distinguish between the clear, level-headed thinking that accompanies a rigorous scientific outlook on the world, and the muddle-headed foolishness of religious belief. Calling attention to this (false) dichotomy would be more interesting if those who so regularly do it (typically those who wish to denigrate religion or religious believers) were able to do so with the logical precision that their own presuppositions demand. Unfortunately, they’re not. So, their attacks on religious conviction, while rhetorically clever, are rationally quaint.

Consider, for example, a recent argument by Sam Harris called “the fireplace delusion.” Harris argues that religious belief is as recalcitrant as the widespread (but he thinks fallacious) view ... read more

"But he, desiring to justify himself . . ."

February 2, 2012 -

To invoke the rhetoric of natural law while deliberately refusing to offer the requisite obeisance to the reality of its demands is sophistry. At today’s National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama offered remarks that nicely illustrate this phenomenon.

In speaking about the “values” that motivate his public policy efforts with regard to the poor, the President commented on the travesty of the “unscrupulous” who take “advantage of the most vulnerable among us.” He rightly points out that such actions constitute a failure to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself” a version of the “Golden Rule [that] is found in every major religion and every set of beliefs - from Hinduism to Islam to Judaism to the writing of Plato.”

As grounds for public policy, the President&rs... read more

Socratic Santorum

January 5, 2012 - Presidential candidate Rick Santorum apparently created a minor brouhaha among some New Hampshire college students for the audacity of reason (which, if the New Hampshire sample is representative, does not seem to sell as well as the audacity of hope among the millennials). After exchanges in which Santorum was pressed to defend his position on same-sex marriage, an audience member suggested that “gay people should be allowed to marry because they have a right to happiness.”

In good Socratic fashion, Santorum responded with a question, “If you’re not happy unless you’re married to five other people, is that O.K.?” His response apparently “angered the audience, which booed his answer.”

Whether this exchange will result in political fallout for Santorum remains to be seen. But seen from... read more

I Corinthians 1:28-29

January 5, 2012 - The hubris of some cosmological physicists occasionally exceeds the boundaries of the expanding universe upon which they propound. In one sense, this should come as no surprise. To have literally figured out reality, as some cosmological physicists claim, requires wrapping one’s mind around the universe so to speak. Thus, it stands to reason that prodigious intellects come with matching egos.

Still, the manifestation of this phenomenon, while understandable, is noisome. Thankfully, grammar comes to aid when philosophical arrogance, masquerading as sound science, requires a logical thrashing.

By way of illustration, consider recent claims of renowned cosmologist, Lawrence M. Krauss. In his new book, A Universe from Nothing, Krauss purportedly demonstrates the spuriousness of the famous philosophical dictum, ex nihilo nihil fit (out of ... read more

Blessed are the Protesters

January 2, 2012 - Although unlikely to grasp their significance apart from a perspective afforded only in the eschaton, journalists and pundits rush to notify us of seismic shifts in the grand sweep of history, which (luckily for journalists’ ongoing employment) occur about every 15 minutes. Thus, the sagacious editors of Time magazine, apparently having followed the tweets, have named “The Protester” as 2011 Person of the Year. Conveniently, the abstraction is a placeholder for a number of particular protesters (ignore the grammatical problem) ranging from Mohamed Bouazizi who literally ignited Tunisian protests after he lit himself on fire to a random assortment of “Occupy” malcontents.

The inclusion of the Occupy agitators in Time’s annual honorific category ironically entails tha... read more