By: Nick Martineau on October 16, 2014
There is a sure fire way to make sure no one shows up for a new class being offered at church, just put the word Theology in the class description. You would think believers would desire to study the nature of God but I think most of us are afraid. Stanley Grenz and Roger Olson…
By: Mary Pandiani on October 16, 2014
A few years ago, a friend of mine challenged me to name my prolegomena. A big word to simply mean, the introduction to who you are, articulating what biases, beliefs, even your suppositions, for whenever you present to a group or write a book. In other words, don’t hold the cards under the table, but…
By: Jon Spellman on October 16, 2014
Folk theology from a recovering Pentecostal. If Grenz and Olson can lean on Peanuts metaphors in their book, Who Needs Theology? An Invitation to the Study of God, then I suppose I can pull out the big guns: Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin and his stuffed tiger/imaginary friend, Hobbes, are serenely lying under a tree, contemplating life. …
By: Dave Young on October 15, 2014
Sitting around the table at Cork Grinders was a diverse group of people: A late-thirties former pastor currently a teacher with advanced degrees in theology from a Lutheran seminary; a newlywed twenty-something young woman working downtown in IT; a middle-aged nurse who is young and inquisitive in her faith; a millennial philosophy major who’s also a…
By: Travis Biglow on October 10, 2014
With all due respect I think that critical thinking is an important tool to use in ministry and in board meetings. Some of the best decisions that you will make will come from other people rationalizing an issue from another perspective. More than that I am sure critical thinking is going to be critical while…
By: Brian Yost on October 9, 2014
In their book The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools, Dr. Richard Paul and Dr. Linda Elder not only make a case for the need for critical thinking, they give practical tools to help us get there. They offer a great working definition, “Critical thinking is the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking…
By: Dawnel Volzke on October 9, 2014
Although it is a fact we may not like to admit, egocentric or sociocentric thinking is a common for many individuals. We tend to be biased based on our experiences, knowledge, and education. Our worldview can be very limited, as we don’t often look at the world through a more objective lens. It takes purposeful action,…
By: Jon Spellman on October 9, 2014
An Accomplished Thinker A Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking, Concepts and Tools is a remarkable little book for a number of reasons. Brief, compact, helpful, practical, all are words that accurately communicate characteristics of Paul and Elder’s work. Each of these is laudable and has been mentioned already in my colleagues’ posts and since…
By: Nick Martineau on October 9, 2014
This book left me with lots to think about. Ha…see what I did there? Dr. Richard Paul and Dr. Linda Elder do a great job of giving methods, tools, and examples of critical thinking in this compact book. It is a super quick read but I spent a lot of time reading and rereading these…
By: Mary Pandiani on October 9, 2014
When I was in 5th grade, my teacher told my mother never to expect me to go beyond high school in the area of academics. I’m not exactly sure what my teacher saw, or didn’t see, that would lead him to believe that I was not capable. However, I do know that I’ve always viewed myself…
By: Mary Pandiani on October 9, 2014
When I was in 5th grade, my teacher told my mother never to expect me to go beyond high school in the area of academics. I’m not exactly sure what my teacher saw, or didn’t see, that would lead him to believe that I was not capable. However, I do know that I’ve always viewed…
By: Dave Young on October 8, 2014
Who wouldn’t want to think more critically, who wouldn’t want to increase their ability to be fair, thoughtful, informed in their judgments? Certainly Drs. Paul and Elder’s book “A miniature guide to critical thinking[1]” provides the necessary insights and tools. One of my major motivations for going into this doctoral program was to stretch myself…
By: Phillip Struckmeyer on October 8, 2014
I once heard the quote, “Nothing effects your life more profoundly than your thoughts of God.” In light of Richard Paul and Linda Elder’s book, The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools, I am beginning to think the quote falls short of the full truth. There is something that impacts your life more…
By: Len Hjalmarson on September 25, 2014
Its been great fun to meet so many of you at Capetown! Many great conversations, often filled with threads that I know will be woven into a greater fabric over this three year period. Each of you adds color and life and helps to create that tapestry. This morning at breakfast I had two conversations…
By: Travis Biglow on September 19, 2014
Thinking and feeling a combination of knowing As we go through life it is always a challenge to go beyond what we feel. I preach to people about faith a lot because I know that people are more prone to feel their way through life. But reading this book has made me conceptually a…
By: Dawnel Volzke on September 18, 2014
Sensory ethnography explores the way “that perception and senses impact one’s view of culture. The ethnographer is, in fact, part of the sensory material and, as such, is subject to having political or ideological agendas.”[1] There is an interrelationship between the body, mind and environment, which impacts the way that we interact and perceive cultural…
By: Brian Yost on September 18, 2014
Years ago I found myself in a mall. I wanted to kill some time, so I wandered into a Bose outlet store. As a musician, I was familiar with Bose sound equipment and always loved their speakers. I was familiar with their slogan “Bose for the Pros”, but this was my first exposure to their…
By: Jon Spellman on September 18, 2014
Story. The Gospel is incarnational. It is primarily a story about the ultimate Other making himself one of us, putting on our flesh and walking in our shoes (or sandals as it were) so that we could be reunited to him and ultimately reconstituted to perfection. It is a powerful story. Incarnation. In his important…
By: Phillip Struckmeyer on September 18, 2014
On Tuesday of this week, I was talking with a co-worker about a multi-ethnic ministry event we have coming up in November. Santes and I were discussing the session he is going to lead at the event and he made mention of a video, a TED Talk, he would like to show a clip from…
By: Nick Martineau on September 17, 2014
I can still vividly remember being 20 years old and leaving the country for the first time. I can remember walking off the plane in Entebbe, Uganda. There was a burning smell in the air that I didn’t recognize. I remember grabbing my bags, leaving the airport, and being swarmed by men wanting me to…
