This election season has produced a lack of trust. This is especially true in the media. In a recent article in WaPo a journalist complained to Alberto Ibargüen, president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, “that we no longer have trusted sources in our 21st century, social-media environment.” Ibargüen’s repose is telling: “How can there be,” he asked, “until we figure out … how to decide what a trusted source is?” What I want to suggest is that we need to re-build an atmosphere of trust. There are two virtues involved in doing so. The first is perhaps quite trivial in principle but we seem to be…
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How To Read Difficult Books
Here is a truism about studying: Sometimes we have to read things we don’t understand. This happens to me more than I would like. However, in most cases it is a problem in me rather than the book. After all, if the author understood what he wrote and what he wrote is, in principle, comprehensible (and these facts are not guaranteed), then I should be able to understand it. If you are struggling to understand something, here are 8 tips: #1 Read wide and shallow. Skim the writing. What is the topic or problem? What is the rough idea or view? Once you know these basic facts you have enough…
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How to be a Life Long Learner
One of my teachers at school used to joke about slow students. “You’re going to be here with a white beard one day” he’d say. I don’t quite have a white beard yet but I am certainly not done in the classroom. Learning, once you catch the bug, is pretty hard to stop doing. We are all life-longer learners. In fact, the longer we think of ourselves as learners, the better. I’d rather be still asking difficult questions when I finally get a white beard than think I know it all already. If you want to keep learning here are some tips: Read something you don’t understand. This sounds nuts,…
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For the Love of Dot: On Being An Intellectual Capitalist
Civilization is, in large part, indebted to its elders who built a vast mountain of intellectual and practical capital. We all rely on it to some degree. In my studies I am utterly indebted to previous work. And there is a ton of it. Though I have only scratched the surface I am aware of the vast capital of those who went before me. I could barely utter a coherent thought if it wasn’t for the hard work of thinkers who blazed the trail. And none of them did it without start up funds from their teachers. The trouble with capital is that you can quickly run out. Dorthy Sayers…
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What’s Theology?
What is theology? Is it the science of God,[34] the study of world religions or the enjoyment of God?[35] Is it practical, theoretical or existential?[36] Is it a systematic study of belief or a study of the development of the bible’s themes?[37] To some extent theology, broadly construed, might mean all those things. David Finkbeiner offers a definition in attempt to cover all the bases: “Theology is the significant reflection on the God of the Bible including his nature, person, works and will and his interaction with the world in general and human beings in particular based on his revelation of himself.”[38] The definition is God-specific, emphasizes the revealed nature of the source material, encompasses…
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What Are All Those Marks in Your Book?
Yes, I write all over my books. Over the years I have gone from underlining the important bits to developing a system of markings to help me grasp the argument of the book/paper. Here is my system: A: An assumption, given, or some premise held for the sake of the argumentC: Claim or conclusion.P.1, P.2 etc: Premise 1, premise 2 etc. of an argument that supports a claim/conclusion.Obj. 1, 2, 3 etc: ObjectionsResp. 1, 2, 3 etc: Responses to objectionsRej. Rejoinder.T [: Thesis statement of the book, chapter, or section.P [: Purpose statement of the book, chapter, or section.R: An argument or claim that the author is going to refute.Q: A Question!: Unusual/counter intuitive claim or something I…
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Creation and Evolution: Plantinga’s Solution
Just how do we relate science and faith, specifically, the Christian faith? Christians who take their Bible seriously will also take reason seriously. God is eminently reasonable; one could even say God is reason. But all too often there is a feeling that Christians are caught between irrational, reason and science denying positions and compromise with their faith. Plantinga outlines three approaches to the problem. First, the two-truth approach. According to this view one might affirm a proposition in science and deny it in theology. Second, the truth-from-a-standpoint approach suggests that we can hold to apparently contradictory propositions since we can be sure of both being true according to the discipline…