{"id":5770,"date":"2015-09-17T10:17:42","date_gmt":"2015-09-17T17:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=5770"},"modified":"2015-09-17T10:17:42","modified_gmt":"2015-09-17T17:17:42","slug":"do-we-have-a-critical-mind-or-a-critical-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/do-we-have-a-critical-mind-or-a-critical-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"Do We Have a Critical Mind or a Critical Mind?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2014Europe.0142\"<\/a>I think we may be uncovering something of what our D Min faculty wants for us. It LOOKS like we\u2019re learning how to read actively, analytically, and critically. But I think this is a ruse. We\u2019re actually learning to be WRITERS with those traits and skills. Ok – so I have my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. Obviously, to do research well requires critical and analytical reading skills.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019ve been asking myself is: \u201cDo good readers make good writers?\u201d At the same time I\u2019m contemplating: \u201cDo good thinkers make good writers?\u201d I guess the answer to both questions is, \u201cNot necessarily, but it helps.\u201d Perhaps the living reality and dynamic is that good reading, good thinking, and good writing are at least kissing cousins – closely related.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m trying to think critically about the word \u201ccritical.\u201d In church circles where I\u2019ve traveled, having a \u201ccritical spirit\u201d is not a godly thing. But I think we need to be careful to see a different type of being critical. Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking<\/em> brings to us a positive application of the word \u201ccritical.\u201d \u00a0This past week as we studied visual ethnography we\u2019ve been thinking about different\/multiple layers that exist in the viewing of a photograph or image. Perhaps multiple layers of thinking are brought to us by Adler\/Doren and Elder\/Paul. The former write about \u201canalytical reading\u201d while the latter focus on being \u201ccritical\u201d in our thinking and analyzing of what we read. Once again, aren\u2019t these two concepts at least first cousins, if not siblings?<\/p>\n

I think that thinking critically has to do with thinking with an ever-sharpening mind. Thinking critically has something to do with honing our thinking skills, and the last time I checked it\u2019s not terminal to have to think hard, even when that process forces us out of what feels safe.<\/p>\n

Based on Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking<\/em> I\u2019m thinking critically about our culture\u2019s tendency toward sociocentric thinking. The book points out that in healthy cultures \u201cclosed-mindedness is systemically discouraged; open-mindedness systematically encouraged.\u201d Is this process true in America today? I think not. \u00a0We might be fooled into thinking that the push in recent years toward \u201ctolerance\u201d means that we are in fact systemically discouraging closed-mindedness. I fear that what is actually happening is that the epicenter of our sociocentric thinking has just shifted.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example of what I mean. Yesterday as I was jotting notes for this blog I happened upon a facebook posting from a friend who cited this quotation: \u201cWe\u2019ve distorted things to the point where people believe that anyone who opposes mothers killing their babies is waging a war on women. How can we be so foolish to believe such a thing? One must be able to recognize the depravity to which we have sunken as a society when valuing a baby\u2019s life is frowned upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

This quotation is from Ben Carson. Before you relegate me to any particular political ideology, let me quickly say that I have no political party loyalty and do not endorse any candidates. I had to quote this because it\u2019s like Dr. Carson also just finished reading Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking<\/em>, particularly the section on sociocentric thinking, wherein SOCIETIES as a whole do not dare to think critically outside the cultural norms.<\/p>\n

I think one could make a case (although space does not allow this here and now) that there are a number of moral issues and behaviors discussed today that enjoy far more societal acceptance than they did forty years ago. NOT to agree with current group-think, in the name of tolerance, is simply not tolerated.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it is the call of the Christian to be the best at critical thinking, fearlessly speaking into a culture enmeshed in sociocentric thinking. Perhaps this is the prophetic call on the follower of Jesus, as we seek to live and articulate the norms of the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think we may be uncovering something of what our D Min faculty wants for us. It LOOKS like we\u2019re learning how to read actively, analytically, and critically. But I think this is a ruse. We\u2019re actually learning to be WRITERS with those traits and skills. Ok – so I have my tongue firmly planted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[290],"class_list":["post-5770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-elder","cohort-lgp6"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5772,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5770\/revisions\/5772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}