Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m told that Brian Hauglid says that he has not<\/em> severed all ties with me.\u00a0 I\u2019m happy to be corrected on this.\u00a0 Brian and I go back quite a ways.\u00a0 I served, for instance, on his doctoral committee at the University of Utah, and I have long considered him a friend.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I recently read Christian Smith\u2019s Atheist Overreach: What Atheism Can\u2019t Deliver<\/em> (New York City: Oxford University Press, 2019).\u00a0 Professor Smith is an eminent sociologist of religion who is currently based at Notre Dame University, where he is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Sociology, Director of the Center for Social Research, and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society.\u00a0 I\u2019ll probably write a Meridian Magazine<\/em> column shortly about the book\u2019s principal thesis but, in the meantime, here are a couple of passages on a secondary topic that I think worthy of sharing:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, what I observe in such science writing is not simply the result of ignorance and arrogance but instead also often follows from a particular assumption that is powerful but rarely explicitly stated.\u00a0 This assumption is fallacious.\u00a0 It sounds like this: if science cannot observe or discover something, then it cannot be real or true.\u00a0 Stated slightly differently: the only things that could be true or real are those that science can observe and validate.\u00a0 This is what we call vulgar imperialistic scientism.\u00a0 (Not science but the ideology of scientism<\/em>.)\u00a0 And running at even deeper levels, driving imperialistic scientism, are the prescientific presuppositions of naturalism, materialism, and empiricism.\u00a0 With all of these assumptions at work. science is turned from (1) one fantastic way to know many things about ourselves and the world into (2) an imperialist, exclusivist, totalizing source of any and all legitimate knowledge about everything.\u00a0 <\/strong>(93)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I do not disagree with Weinberg\u2019s first statement, that \u201cthere is no point in the universe that we discover by the methods of science.\u201d\u00a0 Of course physics cannot discover a point to the universe any more than my kitchen thermometer could tell me what emotions you are feeling inside.\u00a0 Weinberg\u2019s statement about what science cannot discover is obvious.\u00a0 But the problem is that he concludes that because science cannot discover it, there actually in fact is no point to the universe.\u00a0 That is silly.\u00a0 Simply because physics cannot discover the universe\u2019s possible point does not mean there isn\u2019t one.\u00a0 All that Weinberg\u2019s conclusion really tells us is that he comes to his argument operating with the working presupposition of imperialistic scientism, that is, that if science cannot observe or discover something, then it cannot be real or true.\u00a0 If we reject that presupposition, as we should, then by other means the universe might be found to have a point, a meaning, a significance.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThe bemusing irony in all of this is that the presupposition that authorizes only science to tell us what is real and true, and that produces such dramatic conclusions about the universe\u2019s pointlessness, is not itself a scientific statement and could never, ever itself be validated by empirical science.\u00a0 It is instead a philosophical presupposition, something not unlike a faith commitment.\u00a0 The logic of imperialistic scientism, then, turns out to be internally self-defeating.\u00a0 It depends on a nonscientific position to take the position that only science authorizes us to take positions worth taking.\u00a0 And that is like calling someone on the telephone to tell her that you cannot call her to talk because your telephone is not working.\u00a0 The very claim itself shows that the claim cannot be correct.\u00a0 <\/strong>(94-95)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
Finally:\u00a0 I\u2019ve avoided posting on politics here for quite a while now.\u00a0 I\u2019m very interested in politics, but I found that at least two donors to the entirely apolitical Interpreter Foundation had decided to withhold their support from the Foundation in order to punish me for expressing the wrong political opinions here on this blog.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I will continue (much as it distresses me) to maintain political silence.\u00a0 What I\u2019m about to say here is not political.\u00a0 It\u2019s merely an explicit recognition of reality.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Donald Trump lost the November 2020 presidential election.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t win it.\u00a0 And he absolutely<\/em> didn\u2019t win it by a landslide<\/em>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
There.\u00a0 I\u2019ve said it.\u00a0 Hier stehe ich.<\/em>\u00a0 And I\u2019m willing to be blackballed for what I\u2019ve said.\u00a0 In a culture of lies, telling the truth can be costly.\u00a0 But I hope that nobody will punish the Interpreter Foundation for my treacherous personal deviationism.<\/p>\n\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 *** \u00a0 I\u2019ve been delinquent in sharing a link to an article that I published three days ago in Meridian Magazine: \u00a0 \u201cA Historical Case for the Literal Resurrection of Jesus\u201d \u00a0 I hope that at least a few out there will find it either helpful or useful or both. \u00a0 *** \u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1014,3799,25612,8940,13795,21728,25609,1356,25606,3439,13798,1363,951,114,1369,25615,1366,117,12872,25603],"class_list":["post-92945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-atheism","tag-atheist","tag-atheist-overreach","tag-atheists","tag-bonhoeffer","tag-brian-hauglid","tag-cheap-grace","tag-christ","tag-christian-smith","tag-cruise-lady","tag-dietrich-bonhoeffer","tag-easter","tag-egypt","tag-interpreter-foundation","tag-jesus","tag-learn-our-religion","tag-resurrection","tag-scientism","tag-steven-weinberg","tag-ultimate-egypt"],"yoast_head":"\n
"Vulgar imperialistic scientism"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" *** I've been delinquent in sharing a link to an article that I published three days ago in Meridian Magazine: "A Historical\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Vulgar imperialistic scientism"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" *** I've been delinquent in sharing a link to an article that I published three days ago in Meridian Magazine: "A Historical\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-07T20:28:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-07T21:31:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2021\/10\/smith_christian-1-911x1024.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"Vulgar imperialistic scientism\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-07T20:28:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-07T21:31:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" *** I've been delinquent in sharing a link to an article that I published three days ago in Meridian Magazine: \\\"A Historical\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Vulgar imperialistic scientism”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Vulgar imperialistic scientism\"","description":" *** I've been delinquent in sharing a link to an article that I published three days ago in Meridian Magazine: \"A Historical","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Vulgar imperialistic scientism\"","og_description":" *** I've been delinquent in sharing a link to an article that I published three days ago in Meridian Magazine: \"A Historical","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2021-10-07T20:28:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-10-07T21:31:51+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2021\/10\/smith_christian-1-911x1024.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html","name":"\"Vulgar imperialistic scientism\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-10-07T20:28:35+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-07T21:31:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" *** I've been delinquent in sharing a link to an article that I published three days ago in Meridian Magazine: \"A Historical","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/10\/vulgar-imperialistic-scientism.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Vulgar imperialistic scientism”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2021\/10\/smith_christian-1.jpg\")
<\/a>