🌿Sapling 🙂Agree 🟡Consideration 🏖️Universe-Humans
The Big Idea
In Making Sense of Our Moment in History give a very brief overview of how modernity and post-modernism work together to give us the world we live in now. Here are a few collected thoughts for how to test ideas and start to see how these ideas are competing and emerging into ever changing world pictures that all end up distracting us from the reality of Jesus as the center of everything.
Testing Philosophies
- Jesus Christ is Lord Test If an idea or philosophy intentionally avoids committing to a full confession of Jesus as Lord of the whole heavens and earth we should be suspicious.
- Where is God Test We can ask where an idea or philosophy puts God within the picture of how the world works. Is He deeply involved or not? Is He close to each person or far away? Does the idea “work” just as well with or without God? Is there an alternative way to think about this subject that sees God more directly interacting with our lives? If so that alternative is probably closer to the truth. more right.
- Where does this Category come From Test Philosophy and Theology give us categories to see the world through. Male and Female comes straight from Gen 1 while toast and sandwich come from the culinary world. Where a category comes from should tell us how important or foundational it really is. Further discussion on this topic: A Categorical Mind
Example Exercise
Walk through opening lines of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and see how modernity shows up. Use the three tests to see how well it lines up with a Biblical perspective.
Common Things Emerging Pictures Tend to Center around
- Where is God in the Universe and in Human lives?
- What is the world made up of?
- How do you know what is True or Real?
- What are Humans and the world meant for in the first place?
- What is the most important part of a Human?
- How do Humans learn/know how to be moral?
- Do Humans have free will?
- How does the inner and outer world of a Human relate?
- Where are Humans and Society going?
Scripture has answers to all these core questions!
Smaller Scale Philosophical Movements
- Embodiment Movements. Think Frank Senn other heavy liturgy or just wellness people that are super focused on body heath as a unifying piece of what makes life. Not all bad but does tend to drift toward Eastern Mysticism.
- Enchantment movements: looking at trying to reintroduce a sense of supernatural elements to one’s world picture. Example of Irish Christians arguing for the existence of fairies.
- Reemergence of classical Greek philosophy. Especially stoicism, or platonic dualism, etc.
A Christian Response
This is an essay I have been writing and rewriting for a while to try and grapple with all this: A Creature Among Machines