Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

Friendship

Jim Sire on “Finding common ground with someone radically different”

James W. Sire
James W. Sire (Ph.D., University of Missouri), retired editor of InterVarsity Press and author of The Universe Next Door and other books on worldviews and apologetics.

The Worldview Question-and-Answer series with Jim Sire continues with the question:

How can we find common ground when someone has a radically different world view from our own? — Micheal Hickerson, ESN Blog Contributor

James W. Sire’s response:

As a Christian we start with a distinct advantage. We know that all human beings are made in the image of God and that we all live in God’s orderly and meaningful creation. In other words, there is a truth to know, and we were designed to know the truth. The fall has separated all of us from our creator and our ability to know has been adversely affected. But in Christ, we can know the truth and the truth will set us free, first of all from the consequences of sin and then from much of the blindness induced by our fallen nature. This we know. It is a part of our common faith as Christians. In this sense, the content of our Christian faith is a fact of reality. It is who / what we and our world really are. It is not only our ontological reality but the reality of all human beings.

Of course, this fundamental ontological ground is not “known” by those who are not believers. In fact, it is not even “known about” by many of our unbelieving friends. While most of us use the necessary “laws of logic” to think (they are indeed part of who / what we are), we do not share a fully common intellectual (epistemological) ground. That is, we neither assume nor argue from the same fundamental notions about ourselves in the world. So how do we communicate with our non-believing friends?

First, we place our confidence in our own Christian foundations as outlined above. Let’s say we are conversing with Mary, a casual friend and unbeliever. We know that despite our many, many differences, she is created exactly like us. We know she bears the broken image of God as we do. We know that when she thinks, she obeys the same “laws of logic” as we do. We also know that even if she is a naturalist (i.e., atheist) and thinks she lives in totally material reality, she actually lives in the same real God-created world as we do.  In fact we have a common ontological ground. Reality is one thing. There really is a God or there is not. [Read more…] about Jim Sire on “Finding common ground with someone radically different”

Week in Review: Why Can’t We Be Friends? Edition

What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

1. In the last Week in Review we kicked off with highlighting Seth Godin’s take on the coming melt-down in higher education. Since then, the Chronicle of Higher Education thought Godin’s piece was worth posting. That action, along with the material from the article, has created conversation worth consideration, visit here. I [Tom] think it is helpful to note that the meltdown is “as seen by a marketer” and the “facts” are told the way a marketer tells the “facts.” Bigger questions: What is the End of Education? How are followers of Christ salt and light in higher education, even advocating, developing, and maintaining structures (not just in the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities) which truly educate to the glory of God, making the small list of redemptive outliers instead of the mass of marketers selling their wares?

2. A School Pushing Back Against Facebook (Mark Bauerlein, Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/2010) brings to mind the question of How should educators interact with Social Media and teach students to handle Social Media? I [Tom] think that phenomena such as Soical Media, e.g., Facebook and Twitter, are too much of a larger cultural issue for educators to address alone. Educators should be finding ways to dialogue with children, parents, community leaders, and Social Media advocates/leaders to wisely discern it’s proper place, use, parameters. Those in the nonprofit and ministry sector have much to offer. Note: Jon Boyd has an excellent handout on Mistakes You Can Avoid on Facebook and Twitter for people in the nonprofit and ministry sector. [Read more…] about Week in Review: Why Can’t We Be Friends? Edition

Week in Review: Friends of Computers and Animals Edition

What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to  Tom or Mike.

1. Friend Request: Confirm or Ignore? (Tom Bartlett, Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/5/2010). Are “we” (are you) becoming more friendly due to increased use of the internet tools such Facebook? Is there a positive feedback loop of increased number of friends with whom one communicates and friendship? How do you define friend in the context of social media such as Facebook?  Is there a threshold for the time/energy expended in virtual versus face-to-face friendships.  Maybe it’s time to read the research instead of the summary ;-)  HT:  Gordon.

2.   Swing by the Mustard Seed Associates (MSA) for their series 2010-2020, New Challenges-New Possibilities:  Technology & Social Networking, e.g.,  Rosie Perera‘s thoughts on The 10 Commandments of Computer Ethics. Note (3/10/2011): MSA’s site has been under attack. I’ve substituted other links to the same material. Praying for full restoration of MSA’s valuable on-line resources.

3.  Christian Legal Society v. Martinez: Can Government Funds be Denied to Religious Groups on Campus? by David Masci, Senior Researcher, Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, 4/6/2010.

On April 19, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, a case that will determine whether a public institution can refuse official recognition to a religiously-based organization that prevents those who do not share its religious and moral values from becoming voting members. The case arose in 2004 when a chapter of the Christian Legal Society (CLS) expressed a desire to register as an official student group at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law.

4. Science, Advocacy, and the What It Means to Be Human: “Can Animals Be Gay?” (Jon Mooallem, New York Times, March 29) raises some fascinating questions. This would be an excellent article to read and discuss with a campus group. Questions that you might raise:

  • What’s the connection between scholarship, advocacy, and application?
  • How do we determine good models for being human?
  • What do you do when your research is misinterpreted or misapplied?
  • How should Christians interact with topics like “heterosexist bias”?

5. Are you missing chances for Christian community? From Mike: I’m at the Stone-Campbell Conference today at Cincinnati Christian University, an annual academic conference for faculty and students at universities affiliated with the Christian Church, Church of Christ, and Disciples of Christ (“Stone-Campbell” churches).  So far as I can tell, there isn’t anyone here from a secular university, yet here are some of the plenary and seminar topics:

  • Scot McKnight (North Park U., author of Jesus Creed, Blue Parakeet, Embracing Grace) is the main speaker, addressing Spirituality in a Postmodern Age and Spiritual Disciplines for Today
  • Tomorrow, David Fleer of Lipscomb University will speak on The Challenge of Spirituality for Academic Scholars.
  • Seminars include:
    • The Relevance of the Philosophy of Science for Christian Faith
    • Finding God in the Midst of Crisis
    • Spiritual Direction in the Mentoring Relationship
    • 10 Things You Can Do Now to Get Published
    • Post Civil Rights Spirituality
    • Pursuing a PhD: Tips and Warnings

Wow! If you’re at a secular university, don’t those sound like great topics to discuss with your fellow Christian academics?

Books:

Tom’s almost finished with Brian Godawa’s Word Pictures: Knowing God Through Story & Imagination (InterVarsity Press, 2009) and it continues to be excellent!  Yesterday Tom couldn’t resist picking up The Comet and the Tornado: Reflections on the Legacy of Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture and the Creation of Our Carnegie Mellon Dream Fulfillment Factory by Donald Marinelli, Executive Producer of Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center.  Anybody else reading it?  Note:  For Tom’s take on the last lecture, click here.