What is real? . . . If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain (43) Material Naturalism With the above quote from The Matrix (1999), Mary Poplin introduces Part 2 of Is Reality Secular? What is the nature of reality? (Post on part 1). Morpheus' words and the exploration of Material Naturalism bring back memories not only of a decade of conversation at Carnegie Mellon University as an InterVarsity Campus … [Read more...] about Is Reality Secular? Part 2
Mary Poplin
Is Reality Secular? Part 1
Is reality secular? Is adequate knowledge secular? And is that something that has been established as a fact by thorough and unbiased inquiry? Is this something that today's secular universities thoroughly and freely discuss in a disciplined way? (11) Mary Poplin wastes no time in establishing the centrality of Dallas Willard's questions to Is Reality Secular? What is the nature of reality? (InterVarsity Press, 2014). Early in Chapter 1: Truth and Consequences, she relates the story of a seminar in which she asks, … [Read more...] about Is Reality Secular? Part 1
Is Reality Secular?
I am glad to call attention to this book by Mary Poplin of Claremont Graduate University. Is Reality Secular? is a challenge, by an insider to the secularism that is now assumed, with no significant evaluation, to be the height of intellectual respectability and that dominates the most elevated and the most inclusive levels of higher education. From there it pervades professional, social and official life in our world, with effects that severely diminish human aspirations of the type that have traditionally been upheld … [Read more...] about Is Reality Secular?
What Books Should We Suggest at Urbana 12?
In only 15 days, ESN will be joining 18,000 of our closest friends at Urbana 12, InterVarsity's triennial missions conference. As in years past, we'll have an exhibitor table, and I'll be hosting a seminar on "Serving Christ as a Professor." One of my favorite things about conferences is learning about new books —or, even better, old books that I somehow hadn't known about. Most of the attendees at Urbana are undergraduates, so the conference is a great opportunity to send them away with a fresh reading list for … [Read more...] about What Books Should We Suggest at Urbana 12?
Would You Support ESN With An End-of-the-Year Gift?
If you're an official member of the Emerging Scholars Network, then you've received my recent end-of-the-year emails. (If you aren't an ESN member, then why not join right now?) These updates share the good news of ESN's recent activities and invite ESN members to contribute to ESN. Last week, I reported the great work going on here at the Emerging Scholars Blog, which you, of course, already know about! Today, I reported on the ministry that my co-blogger Tom Grosh leads in South Central Pennsylvania. So you too can … [Read more...] about Would You Support ESN With An End-of-the-Year Gift?