Education – Page 4

Mind the Gap I: Diagnosing Split-Brain Syndrome in Young Adults (and the rest of us)

September 10, 2015November 17, 2015Posted in Bible, Christianity and Science, Education, Evolution, hermeneutics, Philosophy, Science, TeachingTagged aliens, answers in genesis, bible, Carl Sagan, christianity, david suzuki, dinosaurs, dragons, Hal Lindsey, neopaganism, New Age, science, skepticism, superstition, ufos2 Comments

Many Christians seem to suffer from what I am calling “Split-Brain Syndrome”. That is, many Christians seem to switch unwittingly between a Science Brain and a Church Brain. This psychological problem is nurtured by a culture that divides the public and private spheres and is reinforced by a popular polemics that are framed by the conflict models of religion vs. science, faith vs. reason, religion vs. secular, Ham vs. Dawkins, etc. As my own story will demonstrate, this “double-mindedness” is not peculiar to Christians.

Though not a Christian at the time, in my youth, I experienced this split-brain syndrome. Continue reading “Mind the Gap I: Diagnosing Split-Brain Syndrome in Young Adults (and the rest of us)” →

Ham-Handed Hermeneutics 2: Reading the Church Fathers II: Theophilus of Antioch (Bishop of Antioch ca. 169-181 AD)

September 9, 2015September 11, 2015Posted in ANE, Answers in Genesis, Bible, Christianity and Science, Church Fathers, Education, Ken Ham, Philosophy, Science, TeachingTagged answers in genesis, church fathers, evolution, Genesis 1, hermeneutics, interpretation, ken ham, philosophy, theophilus of Antioch2 Comments

Answers in Genesis (AiG) are consistent in a few things. For instance, they are consistent in their assertions that every geological and archaeological discovery that seems to suggest an old earth can be explained by a global flood. Second, they are consistent in their general inconsistency. (In a future post, I will write about the inconsistency of Ken Ham and AiG with respect to adopting a “biblical scientific worldview”.)

Related Posts & Pages: Ham-Handed Hermeneutics 1: Origen, Heresy of Ham, How to Teach Genesis 1, Why Seven Days?, Cosby’s “Interpreting Biblical Literature”, How To Read the Bible for All Its Worth

On the one hand, they decry those who appeal to “the traditions of men” whenever those traditions seem to contradict their raison d’etre. Yet, on the other hand, they are quite prepared to appeal to those same traditions when it suits their purposes. Continue reading “Ham-Handed Hermeneutics 2: Reading the Church Fathers II: Theophilus of Antioch (Bishop of Antioch ca. 169-181 AD)” →

Have Sex and Eat: The First Two Commands in Scripture

September 8, 2015September 9, 2015Posted in ANE, Bible, Biblical Theology, EducationTagged Ancient Near East, ANE, bible, biblical interpretation, biblical theology, chrisitianity, Christian Scriptures, commandments, eden, food, Genesis 1-11, sex3 Comments

If I were to ask you to tell me the first commandment God gives in the Bible, I suspect many, if not most, of you would think of “Do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” We tend to think of the LORD’s commandments as a list of “Do nots” but the “don’t”s are always given in the context of the “do”s. In a sense, by focusing on the “do not”s, we have already accepted the premise of the Serpent’s question. Implicitly, the Serpent suggests, “Isn’t the LORD rather stingy and withholding?”. Continue reading “Have Sex and Eat: The First Two Commands in Scripture” →

How To Teach Genesis One in 30 Minutes

September 7, 2015September 7, 2015Posted in ANE, Answers in Genesis, Bible, Biblical Theology, Education, Evolution, hermeneutics, Ken Ham, Sunday School, TeachingTagged Ancient Near East, ANE, answers in genesis, bible, creation, education, Genesis 1, interpretation, myth, Psalms, sunday school, three tiered cosmos5 Comments

Having spent many words critiquing Ken Ham and AiG’s approach to this discussion, it is about time that I offered an alternative constructive approach to teaching Genesis 1. Continue reading “How To Teach Genesis One in 30 Minutes” →

Thanks for reading #POPChrist

September 4, 2015September 4, 2015Posted in EducationLeave a comment

I just had my 500th page view and I am nearing 250 unique visitors.

Please subscribe my next goal is 10 subscribers.

Thanks for the positive feedback. Feel free to post comments, reactions, questions, and book recommendations for me or my readers.

Ian

#popchrist

@panth_ian

Syrian Refugees and Jews Aboard the St. Louis

September 4, 2015November 18, 2015Posted in Education, Holocaust, Jewish/Christian Dialogue, PoliticsTagged holocaust, Islam, Israel, Jews, Nazis, Pakistan, Race, racisim, refugees, Schindler's List, St. Louis the Ship, Stephen Spielberg, SyriaLeave a comment

In the wake of Kristallnacht, some Jews were able to flee Nazi controlled Germany. Yet, when the St. Louis bound for Cuba sailed across the Atlantic, they were not allowed to disembark. Eventually, they sailed back across the Atlantic where various nations took in a few hundred Jews each.

It should not be forgotten that anti-Semitism was not only a problem in Germany nor were the theories of race and religion and fitness for life*. Continue reading “Syrian Refugees and Jews Aboard the St. Louis” →

What Evolution Is by Ernst Mayr

September 3, 2015September 3, 2015Posted in Christianity and Science, Education, Evolution, Science, TeachingTagged christianity, Conor Cunningham, creationism, Ernst Mayr, evolution, J.I. Packer, Richard Dawkins, Ronald Numbers, science, science and religion7 Comments

Mayr, Ernst. What Evolution Is. (Basic Books, 2002) $9.99 Kindle/$12.91 Paper

Truly wanting to understand the theory of evolution as it is currently held and the evidence for it, I asked a fellow church member who is also a biologist to recommend a book that would describe the theory to me in a non-polemical tone. That is, I wanted to read a contemporary account of the theory of evolution by someone who was not also trying to convince me either that I ought to be an atheist or that I ought to reject the evidence if I wanted to remain a Christian. Nor was I looking for books about theistic evolution or Intelligent Design. I wanted a book about the scientific theory of evolution as I might want a book about string theory or the nature of blackholes. Continue reading “What Evolution Is by Ernst Mayr” →

Review: Interpreting Biblical Literature by Michael R. Cosby (Stony Run Publishing, 2009)

September 2, 2015May 30, 2016Posted in ANE, Bible, Commentaries, Education, hermeneutics, TeachingTagged Ancient Near East, ANE, answers in genesis, bible, biblical interpretation, Christian Scriptures, education, Genesis 1, textbooks4 Comments

Interpreting Biblical Literature: An Introduction to Biblical Studies by Michael R. Cosby (Stony Run Publishing, 2009)

As I prepared to teach a section of Baylor’s Christian Scriptures course, I spent a day or two examining the available introductory textbooks. While it is not a survey course, Baylor’s Christian Scriptures course does cover both Testaments in a single semester. In a survey course, I would feel more compelled to say something about every book of the Bible. Such courses often leave little room for actually modeling and teaching exegetical (or interpretive) practices. Continue reading “Review: Interpreting Biblical Literature by Michael R. Cosby (Stony Run Publishing, 2009)” →

The Golden Compass, the Occult, and Reading with Children

September 1, 2015September 1, 2015Posted in Education2 Comments

[This post is a revision and reblog of a post I wrote in 2007 in response to the Ontario Roman Catholic School Board’s decision to ban Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass from their libraries and the overall popular Christian reaction to these books and proposed films. I have reblogged it because of its relation to my recent entry “Damn Right I’ve Got the Gospel”]

In the original blog entry, I suggested that the decision by the Ontario Roman Catholic School Board to ban The Golden Compass from their libraries lacked wisdom. Have Christians learned nothing from our experience with The Last Temptation of Christ and Harry Potter?, I asked.

The popular Christian reaction to The Last Temptation turned a mediocre, low budget, esoteric film into a must see event. Not being a Christian at the time of its release and being somewhat antagonistic toward “organized religion”, Continue reading “The Golden Compass, the Occult, and Reading with Children” →

Comment on The Last Temptation of Christ (1988 film)

September 1, 2015September 1, 2015Posted in Education1 Comment

In the case of The Last Temptation, if Christians had read and encouraged others to read Nikos Kazantzakis wonderful novel on which the film is based, rather than offer to buy up and destroy the film, perhaps, people would have encountered the Gospel in an unexpected place {see my “Damn Right I’ve Got the Gospel”}. (Kazantzakis’s novel deserves a post of its own. I will link it when I write it.) Yet, I suspect that despite Kazantzakis’s preface, many Christians would have misunderstood the novel as well. It is a wonder to me that while we are a so-called “people of the the Book”, many of us are poor readers {see my “Why Seven Days“, for instance}. Or become better readers of the Book see my page How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth.

Return to “The Golden Compass, the Occult . . . “