In this series I am looking at how human beings share a human nature, a nature that cannot be “deconstructed.” To do this, I first addressed deconstruction stories. The process of deconstruction can help us arrive at some firm foundations about what kind of creatures we are. Then I dealt with the issue of identity itself. I argued that our human identity is not reducible to a social construct. Nor is our identity merely a biological given. Even if we… Read more
In this series I am looking at the act of deconstruction and juxtaposing it against a constructive view of humanity. The constructive view of humanity I am proposing is a theological view of human persons. It is seeing human persons in light of their Divine Creator: the One who puts the theos in theology. A Word About Theology in Context This theological view of what it means to be a human person is by no means novel. In fact I… Read more
There is a lot of talk today in the popular culture and the culture’s popular churches about the act of “deconstruction.” Deconstructionists suggest we live in a world comprised of socially crafted narratives. Or, better said, the world just is these narratives. These narratives are purpose-giving stories which are not true in any metaphysical, trans-historical or universal sense. Rather, they are useful for us to function as social animals and human creatures, creatures that cannot thrive apart from some cohesive… Read more
Christians worldwide have been devastated recently by many high-profile falls from grace. Revelations of gross moral failure and egregious sin by some luminaries of Christian ministry have abounded. Hypocrisies by evangelists like Ravi Zacharias, spiritual gurus like Jean Vanier or large-scale cover ups like those of Roman Catholic priests provide ample grounds for skeptics to attack the foundations of Christianity itself. Of course, such hypocrisy is by no means new, and the biblical authors saw it in their own times…. Read more
I recently came across this short video of the greatest actor alive today, Denzel Washington (okay, perhaps tied with Tom Hanks as the greatest living actor) sharing his testimony about becoming a born-again Christian. Many things impressed me about this interview, which I take as authentic, not least of all because it was a testimony from a very famous movie star. While this was impressive, it is not what impressed me most. What impressed me most about Denzel’s testimony is… Read more
“The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces!” Psalm 119 “The ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb. Psalm 19 Imagine walking down the street somewhere in America today and hearing the following, “wow, what a beautiful ordinance New York just passed!” Or perhaps, “man, California really has the… Read more
One of the great skeptics of the 18th century, Gotthold Lessing, coined a phrase to describe what for him was an unbridgeable gap between the 18th-century enlightened mind and the purported supernatural events of the Bible. Lessing called this gap the “ugly broad ditch,” a chasm in knowledge that made it unreasonable for someone in the 18th century to believe in miracles and, consequently, much of the New Testament. For Lessing, since miracles did not occur in his time, the… Read more
Critical Theories, and most prominently Critical Race Theory, are, on the one hand, sophisticated intellectual hypotheses about how historical attitudes, actions and events leave residual and lasting effects on present society. For example, for some critical race theorists, there could literally exist not a single actually racist person in a given society, yet, if that society has a (legal and political) system which was constructed in the past by actual racist persons, then it could still provide residual benefits for… Read more
In his masterful introduction to Metaphysics, Peter van Inwagen points out why the cosmic fine-tuning argument (or the “teleological argument”) is ultimately indecisive in proving the existence of an intelligent designer of the world: As far as our present knowledge goes (aside from any divine revelations various individuals or groups may be privy to), we have no reason to prefer either of the following two hypotheses to the other: This is the only cosmos, and some rational being has (or… Read more
“But let justice flow like water, and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.” – Amos 5:4 The conversation in the evangelical Church right now concerning social justice, intersectionality and critical race theory is inescapable. It seems appropriate, therefore, to consider some practical questions on how one might engage in social justice issues given today’s cultural context. These questions are primarily addressed to Christians, but not necessarily everyone who calls themselves Christian or who goes to church. I am mainly addressing those… Read more
