By: Nancy Blackman on March 5, 2024
“Wer bin ich? Der oder jener? Bin ich denn heute dieser und morgen ein andrer?”[1] ——Dietrich Bonhoeffer Who am I? This one or that one? Am I then this one today and tomorrow another? The Identity Trap by Yashca Mounk covers six concepts: identity politics, group identity vs. individual identity, social fragmentation, intersectionality, tyrannies…
By: Debbie Owen on March 5, 2024
“I’d say that it’s one short step from ‘Wizards first’ to ‘Purebloods first,’ and then to ‘Death Eaters,’” replied Kingsley. “We’re all human, aren’t we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.” — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows [1] I was applying to colleges during the fall of 1980. My father…
By: Glyn Barrett on March 5, 2024
The challenges associated with the Identity Trap make leading a faith community increasingly tricky. We see increased tension when we add the complexity that the Bible is often at odds with popular societal thinking. In 2013, the Telegraph printed an article in which Amber Dillon writes, “I can’t help thinking that some of the Bible’s…
By: Scott Dickie on March 4, 2024
In his book, Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (1), author Stephen Hicks attempts to…well…explain postmodernism! I suppose that’s relatively self-evident (Although I will argue a little later that he actually seeks to dismantle it and not simply explain it). Hicks begins his book with a few chapters introducing the topic and…
By: Jeff Styer on March 4, 2024
Have I fallen into The Identity Trap? In his book, The Identity Trap, Yascha Mounk identifies and discusses the seven main themes of what he calls “Identity Synthesis.”[1] Mounk states that Identity Synthesis was “deeply shaped by the triple influence of post modernism, postcolonialism and Critical Race Theory.[2] I teach a course titled Cultural and…
By: Adam Cheney on March 4, 2024
I am white. I am male. I am heterosexual. I am middle-class. I am Christian. I voted for Bush, and I voted for Obama. These traits are identifiers, some outside of my control. Yet, none of them speak to my true identity. My true identity is found in Christ, as a child of God.…
By: Tim Clark on March 4, 2024
I spent my formative teenage and young adult years in 1980’s/90’s Los Angeles, which seemed to be a ground zero for postmodernism in the United States at the time. In fact, I remember in college hearing a lecture on emerging postmodernity and thinking “that’s not emerging, it’s what I grew up with” (now I would…
By: Kim Sanford on March 4, 2024
“Conflict and contradiction are the deepest truths of reality.”[1] I certainly grappled with inner conflict and contradiction as I read Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault by Stephen Hicks. Plowing through chapter after chapter was laborious, but (to my own great surprise) when I closed the book, I actually felt like I…
By: John Fehlen on March 4, 2024
U2 is a rock band from the north side of Dublin, that was formed in 1976. The group consists of Bono (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), the Edge (lead guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar), and Larry Mullen Jr.(drums and percussion). Each of these members were teenagers at Mount Temple Comprehensive School…
By: Travis Vaughn on March 4, 2024
Postmodernism is “skepticism toward metanarratives.”[1] In an interview with clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson, Stephen Hicks attributed this perspective to the French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard. I recall a seminary professor once describing a metanarrative as a “grand and expansive account of truth and meaning,” something postmodernism rejects. In Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to…
By: Russell Chun on March 3, 2024
ܙܒܢܐ ܡܬܚܠܦܢܐ، ܣܟܢܐ ܕܟܠ ܓܒܪܐ” (zevna methhalphana, sekana dkul gavra) Aramaic, Shifting Sands, Everyman’s Peril Introduction – Shifting sands, Everyman’s peril Part 1 Post Modern Impact on Christianity Part 2 Focus on Chapter 6 Epilogue – Not a modernist or a post-modernist. Introduction Post modernism is not a topic that excites “everyman.”[1] To even begin…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on March 2, 2024
“Race did not give birth to racism. Racism gave birth to race.”[1] I was apprehensive about this week’s reading. The idea of discussing race with my cohort was not one that I was looking forward to. I have had many discussions over the years about race, and they almost always end with someone triggered or…
By: Akwese on March 2, 2024
As I continually examine my current state of leadership, I find myself reminiscing about the days when I could truly live out what I believe, putting it into action. Now, more often than not, I find myself frustrated that much of what I know and think about leadership, I am failing to move into action,…
By: Jana Dluehosh on March 2, 2024
Sankofa is an African word from the Akan tribe in Ghana. The literal translation of the word and the symbol is “it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind.” The word is derived from the words: SAN (return) KO (go) FA (look, seek and take)[1] In my early career, at North Park University in Chicago, IL,…
By: Mathieu Yuill on March 2, 2024
As I sat down with a steaming cup of Joe this morning, the sun barely peeking over the horizon, I found myself deep-diving into the mesmerizing world where neuroscience meets leadership. Picture this: David Rock, with his groundbreaking exploration into the neural pathways of leadership[1], Jim Wilder and Marcus Warner, who seem to have cracked…
By: Noel Liemam on March 1, 2024
‘Thinking, Fast and Slow,’ by Daniel Kahneman is a highly recommended reading to anyone including leaders and aspiring leaders. He talked about the two ways in which our brain works, “System 1 and System 2. System 1 operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort of voluntary control. System 2 allocates attention to the…
By: Dinka Utomo on March 1, 2024
“To believe in social transformation is to be an optimist. It has to have an element of utopianism about it. I live in hope that we can create such a movement again.” -Kenan Malik- (cited from https://tribunemag.co.uk/2023/05/not-so-black-and-white) To be honest, I have never directly experienced racism regarding my ethnic or racial identity. However, I had…
By: Jenny Dooley on February 29, 2024
“To tell the story of one, we also must tell the story of the other.”[1] I began reading Kenan Malik’s book, Not so Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics as a fascinating history and social science text tracing the invention of equality, race, and white identity. I immediately…
By: Erica Briggs on February 29, 2024
Pretend you’re being chased by a bear. You are all alone, you have no weapons, no sense of which direction might aid escape. You don’t even have the right footwear. The bear is getting closer, you can hear the forest brush cracking and snapping behind you. The ground shakes from his weight. Suddenly, your kindergarten…
By: Elysse Burns on February 29, 2024
This was a challenging book. I found each idea made sense on its own, but I struggled to connect the ideas to get the big picture. I became a bit suspicious that I might be part of Kahneman’s research project to observe ways doctoral students panic when they do not fully understand the assigned reading.…
