In the last 50 years, the speed of change has progressed exponentially. We have seen technology change, and we\u2019ve seen world view changes\u2014both in rapid progression. I\u2019ve heard it said that my generation is the only generation who has seen and lived through the major technological advances of all time. However, technology is not the only change that my generation has seen, we have moved from a time when to question authority was a punishable offense, to a moment where we question everything. Researchers continue to study whether it was the speed of change or the change itself that cause the questioning. Whatever the cause, we find ourselves daily searching for the\u201ctruth\u201d that seems often cloaked mystery and shrouded in intrigue. The consensus is that critical thinking helps us remove the shroud and break the code.<\/p>\n
The fact is, we need critical thinking to survive in today’s world, and we need it to study and learn. It is imperative that we learn and practice the skills of critical thinking and Paul and Elder help with that. There is no need to rehash the content of the mini guide\u2014it is, however, amazing at how much valuable material they pack into a few pages. Underneath the whole discussion of critical thinking methodology, there is a nagging question. At what point does critical thinking lead to unbelief? At what point does critical thinking fall short of grasping the spiritual \u201cTruth\u201d of God\u2019s salvation plan for humankind? At what point in our search for the truth could critical thinking lead us from the truth?<\/p>\n
I return to Rowntree for an interesting quote. I believe it was Stu that mentioned it in his post last week. Rowntree says: \u201cNever lose sight of the fact that someone (the authors or speakers)\u00a0is trying to sell you something.\u201d Even Paul and Elder elude to the selling component when they speak of the implications\/consequences of our reasoning. In this light, they ask the question, \u201cIf someone accepted my position, what would be the implications? What am I implying?\u201d (P. 6) In other words, \u201cwhat am I trying to sell?\u201d<\/p>\n
I sometimes watch television commercials with the volume completely turned off. When there is no voice or music, it often becomes evident what the ad is trying to sell. It\u2019s usually not a product, but a lifestyle. We are barraged with these influences and influencers; therefore, we need to be critical thinkers to survive the onslaught. However, critical thinking without boundaries can produce negative results. It can lead away from the truth for which we are so desperately seeking and lead others to act on our stated and flawed position. Take for example the recent study that concluded that religious kids were meaner than non-religious kids. The results were immediately published and picked up and disseminated via the standard media outlets. However, upon further questioning, it was determined that the researchers failed to take into account the cultural differences among the children who were a part of the study and ended up miscoding the data. Paul and Eldar would call this a classic \u201csociocentric thinking\u201d error. After the data had been recoded to include the cultural differences, the researchers found no difference in the \u201cmeanness factor\u201d between religious and non-religious children. 1<\/p>\n
To the nagging question, I think that Paul and Elder make a point where others may not. Their point: critical thinking is not done in a vacuum. Furthermore, they admit that higher level critical thinking can often be \u201cinconsistent in quality. It can be fair or unfair.\u201d Therefore, \u201cTo think at the highest level of quality, we need not only intellectual skills, but intellectual traits as well.\u201d (P. 7) Paul and Elder provide some insights into the nature of critical thinking. For example, the tendency to go too far, the tendency to think that we have “it” when we don\u2019t. The tendency to rely too much on our intellectual pursuits and forget to \u201cconsider the rights and needs of others.\u201d Or, when we refuse to acknowledge that our culture and society has prejudiced us to find other cultures, systems, and beliefs as somehow inferior to our own. (P. 21, 22) Because of this, the thinker needs \u201cintellectual traits\u201d that guide the critical thinking process. Though there is no indication that Paul and Elder operate from a biblical worldview, these traits, as Paul and Elder present them, are quite biblical in nature\u2014humility, courage, empathy, autonomy, integrity, perseverance, confidence, and fair-mindedness. (P. 14, 15) These traits form boundary lines for an otherwise boundless pursue of questioning everything via critical thinking methodology. And so, the inclusion of the eight intellectual traits by Paul and Elder make their critical thinking methodology, for me as a Christian, a healthy mix and brings some welcome relief \u00a0to the nagging question.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the last 50 years, the speed of change has progressed exponentially. We have seen technology change, and we\u2019ve seen world view changes\u2014both in rapid progression. I\u2019ve heard it said that my generation is the only generation who has seen and lived through the major technological advances of all time. However, technology is not the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"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":[441,924],"class_list":["post-9697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-elder-and-paul","tag-paul-and-elder","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9697","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\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9697\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}