DLGP

Doctor of Leadership in Global Perspectives: Crafting Ministry in an Interconnected World

Do we have the right to hate?

By: on March 7, 2024

Bothersome, that is how I found this book and my trying to understand.  I do not believe I would’ve ever been a philosophy major….it hurts my head.  My thoughts on Steven Hicks book Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault;  I get it, or I think I get it, we are going down…

9 responses

Postmodernism goes against our brain structure

By: on March 7, 2024

This week as I read, Explaining Postmodernism, by Stephen Hicks, I kept thinking about the brain and our emotions. Please bare with me as I discuss how our brain, emotions, and immune system are connected by God and how this goes entirely against most of what postmodernism postulates. Anterior Midcingulate Cortex (aMCC) There’s a brain…

8 responses

The Pendulum Keeps Swinging

By: on March 7, 2024

I have a bittersweet relationship with philosophy. I think it is incredibly useful to not only examine knowledge, but it exposes the invisible assumptions we have when making claims about truth and points out the tinted glasses sitting on our noses when interpreting data and our experiences. Nancey Murphy, a philosopher from Fuller Theological Seminary…

3 responses

Now I See

By: on March 7, 2024

When doing some research for undergraduate assignments I ‘discovered’ that my home state has incredibly deep racist roots.  In 1857 Oregon voted for statehood and adopted a constitution which explicitly said that no free negro or mulatto could legally move into Oregon, own property, or make contracts.  Further, the state would make laws to punish…

14 responses

Not About Conformity, All About Respect and Acceptance! (Bukan Mematuhi, Tetapi Hormat Dan Penerimahan…)

By: on March 7, 2024

Here is an individual I like to have coffee with! Yascha Mounk’s book, The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time refers to a situation where rigid adherence to group identities, whether based on ethnicity, nationality, religion, or other factors can hinder meaningful dialogue and understanding between different groups. Here are…

16 responses

A Return to the Supernaturalistic

By: on March 7, 2024

“To the extent that reason is the standard, faith loses, To the extent that reason develops, science develops, To the extent that science develops, supernaturalistic religious answers to be accepted on faith will be replaced with naturalistic scientific explanations that are rationally compelling.”  [1] Supernaturalistic religious responses in faith are the buzz. In conversations with church…

2 responses

Postmodernism…Free To Live Your Truth?

By: on March 7, 2024

  My Limited Understanding I would like to claim that my understanding of Postmodernism expanded after reading Explaining Postmodernism and listening to The Jordon B. Peterson Podcast with Stephen R. C. Hicks but that would not be true. I did not truly understand the concept of Postmodernism and I am not really sure if that’s…

4 responses

The Box: It’s a [White] People Thing

By: on March 7, 2024

Befuddled.  That’s the word I would use to describe my efforts to understand where Yascha Mounk is coming from in The Identity Trap.  On the one hand I weighed his personal background: his mother lost most of her family in the Holocost, he became a teenage activist noting Germany’s lack of support of refugees, and…

5 responses

Don’t Light A Match

By: on March 7, 2024

My teenage daughter and I recently discussed the book she just finished reading for school, Ray Bradbury’s novel “Fahrenheit 451.”[1]  What we both found fascinating was how, nearly 75 years ago, he imagined much of the situation we find ourselves in today.  Written in 1951 Bradbury portrays, he imagined a world where people are entertained…

7 responses

I Am Me

By: on March 7, 2024

Hi, I am a follower of Jesus. My given name is Ryan, my family name is Thorson. I have lived almost all of my life in the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America in the late 20th and early 21st century. I have been married to my best friend for almost twenty years…

11 responses

Escaping The Trap

By: on March 7, 2024

“The Identity Trap” by Yascha Mounk is a book that I didn’t want to read but, ultimately, I’m glad I did. I was born and grew up in Cape Town, South Africa in the darkest days of apartheid. I was born with a number assigned to me that identified my gender as male and my…

18 responses

Postmodernism: The Cancellation of Hope

By: on March 7, 2024

After reading, Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault, by Stephen R. C. Hicks, I find this post more challenging to write than usual. I’m tossing around a number of thoughts struggling to find the right words. Thanks to Chapter 5: The Crisis of Socialism, I keep getting tripped up by my experiences…

10 responses

Watch out, it’s a trap!

By: on March 7, 2024

In 2021, my family moved to Austin, the most liberal city in the state of Texas. I love it here. I love the diversity and honestly have no intention of leaving this city as long as I live in Texas. I laugh when my conservative family worries about the influence this city has on us.…

17 responses

Being known matters

By: on March 6, 2024

Author Yascha Mounk in The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time starts his book by reminding the reader that throughout history there have been small groups of people who have mistreated, enslaved, and otherwise wielded power over other large numbers of people who have been deemed to be less equal.…

9 responses

The Inside is Bigger Than the Outside

By: on March 6, 2024

Goodreads describes Explaining Postmodernism as an “intellectual history with a polemical twist, providing fresh insights into the debates underlying the furor over political correctness, multiculturalism, and the future of liberal democracy.”[1] Its author, Stephen Hicks, takes us on another step of our journey in understanding the current context in which we find ourselves. Themes from…

2 responses

Confronting Postmodernism

By: on March 6, 2024

In 2016, the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year was post-truth: “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”[1] In that same year, the people around the world from all political and religious beliefs watched with mourning as unbelievable stories were…

2 responses

Postmodern Musings: Swimming in the Waters of Uncertainty

By: on March 5, 2024

I am ever so guilty of throwing around the word, “post-modern” without fully understanding how deeply ingrained this philosophy is in how I think and live. As I slogged through Stephen R.C. Hicks’ book, Explaining Postmodernism Skepticism from Rosseau to Foucault, and more willingly listened to some podcasts with Hicks as a guest, I began…

4 responses

Hate Never Wins!

By: on March 5, 2024

The year was 1995. I was 22 years old, and it was a regular Wednesday morning. Nothing was out of the ordinary. The skies were clear with a soft, cool April breeze. The typical rush hour traffic had subsided, and people had successfully shuffled themselves nicely into their cubicle workstations for the day. Tick tock…

12 responses