By: Mary Mims on February 22, 2020
Humans have been fascinated with time travel for some time now. One would only have to look at the plethora of Hollywood movies that deal with the subject of time travel such as “Back to the Future”, “The Terminator”, “Time After Time”, and one of my favorites, “Somewhere in Time”. It seems there is…
By: Tammy Dunahoo on February 21, 2020
“Why should I live?” This was the question posed by a student to Steven Pinker, cognitive psychologist and Harvard professor. He then took an evangelistic posture to share his worldview with the young woman. He explained that though this was not in his “usual job description as a professor of cognitive science,” he was…
By: Jenn Burnett on February 21, 2020
This week our living room gained a Nutritower. This 5’5 innovation will allow my family to grow our own food year round, using 95% less water and will save 1 million food miles.[1] The added benefit is that my children will learn how to grow and pollinate their own food. It is one minuscule way…
By: Harry Fritzenschaft on February 20, 2020
I have a relationship with Walt Disney dating back to the New York World’s Fair in 1964. I was in the third grade, and my class made a field trip to the Fair, where I first saw the wonders of Disney’s animatronics. The Carousel of Progress was a rotating theater audio-animatronic stage show attraction created as the prime feature for the…
By: Harry Edwards on February 20, 2020
I am not quite sure how I feel about Steve Pinker’s Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. It was like riding a roller coaster for me. There is the thrill and edge-of-the-seat anticipation of ratcheting to the peak just before a heart stopping descent through the twist and turns, not knowing…
By: Mario Hood on February 20, 2020
FYI, the title has nothing to do with my post, it just came in my head so I decided to go with it :)! Steven Pinker, Ph.D., is the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. In his book, Enlightenment Now, he lays out his argument for why the Enlightenment, reason, and humanism, aka…
By: Rev Jacob Bolton on February 20, 2020
“Too long!” It was three weeks after Christmas and the pastoral staff was going over the feedback we had received after Christmas Eve. We had led four worship services, 11:00 AM (the Early Service), 4:00 PM (the Family Service), 8:00 PM (Lessons and Carols – with Communion) and 11:00 PM (the Midnight Service – with…
By: Andrea Lathrop on February 20, 2020
Steven Pinker is a Harvard Professor of Psychology who has studied languages and cognition. He is an ardent atheist and a staunch proponent of reason, science, humanism and progress. His project in Enlightenment Now is to demonstrate the successfulness of the modern era and to recapitulate it so that we do not lose the precious…
By: Jer Swigart on February 20, 2020
A decade ago, I sat in the back of a room in the Palestinian territories. I was a part of a delegation of US American Christians traveling throughout Israel and Palestine in an effort to understand the conflict there more fully. The overall objective of our presence became evident as I listened to a prominent…
By: Sean Dean on February 20, 2020
In the book Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress experimental psychologist Steve Pinker explains that using the tools of the Enlightenment humanity is seeing measurable progress. He argues that, while there are risks to be aware of, there is reason for optimism in a world that seems to be bombarded with…
By: Wallace Kamau on February 20, 2020
In most the African traditions, children were taught by their aunts and grand parents through stories which have been passed through generations, that help explain certain myths and traditions that are related to specific communities. Its common in Africa to have stereotypes that are related to particular tribes. Its through these stories that you can…
By: Shawn Cramer on February 19, 2020
In our call this week we talked about the power of metaphor. Metaphors are not just rhetorical devices, but are visions or pictures by which we align our will. Metaphors capture stories by which we orient our lives. I will suggest here that we (American Evangelicals) need to exchange the metaphor of the promised land…
By: Greg Reich on February 18, 2020
Pinky: “Gee, Brain. What are we going to do tonight?” The Brain: “The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world” This was the response at the beginning and end of every episode of the 1995 animated parody television series oriented around two genetically altered lab mice with the intentions…
By: Steve Wingate on February 18, 2020
Dr. Hunter, a social theorist, provides summaries of world-changing philosophies and practices by comparing and contrasting views on how to change the world. His book, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity Today addresses various modes and means of both groups and individuals; their effort and ideals for how to make…
By: Dylan Branson on February 17, 2020
Ever since I read Hunter’s To Change the World last summer, I have been wrestling with the thoughts and implications presented. What made this so relevant to me was being in the midst of the political turmoil and calls for freedom in Hong Kong. To summarize the recent Hong Kong political climate, the trouble began…
By: Joe Castillo on February 17, 2020
Who is Hunter? Hunter began his career at Westmont College as an Assistant Professor of Sociology from 1982-1983. He then moved to the University of Virginia, where he taught as an Assistant Professor of Sociology from 1983 to 1989. He then became a Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies from 1989 to 1994. He held…
By: Darcy Hansen on February 17, 2020
“If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” Isaiah 58:10 This is the foundational Bible verse for Noonday Collection, which was founded by Jessica Honnegger in 2010 after a transformative trip…
By: Chris Pollock on February 16, 2020
There was a time when I was less affected. Everyday there is opportunity for a new awakening. I believe there is an easier way, one that I can’t seem to get far enough away from. That way is apathy. Over the last year, whilst facing confounding heartbreak, I asked my mom to pray that I…
By: Rhonda Davis on February 16, 2020
**First, I apologize for my tardiness to this discussion. All five members of my family are recovering from round three of the flu. I have either been acting as a nurse or patient over the last couple of weeks, and this week got the best of me. I am happy to be back in touch…
By: Nancy VanderRoest on February 15, 2020
Life is all about experiences: some are good, and some are bad. But experiences are what make up our perceptions and perspectives. It is through experiences that our story is told. I have a friend who wrote a powerful book a few years ago. Roxanne became a close friend who unexpectedly passed away recently. But…
