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Progressive Christian

2021-08-17T14:16:57-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’m Working On It

Last updated on: August 17, 2021 at 2:16 pm By Vance Morgan

Any caring human being asks the question What is the right thing to do? on a regular basis. As a philosophy professor who teaches ethics regularly, I am aware that in the minds of many, the whole purpose of thinking systematically and rigorously about the moral life is to provide reliable and confident answers to that very question. Moral philosophers from Immanuel Kant to Iris Murdoch, from Aristotle to Alasdair MacIntyre, have provided frameworks within which to answer the question. But... Read more

2021-08-14T16:21:26-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Coronavirus and End Times

Last updated on: August 14, 2021 at 4:21 pm By Vance Morgan

Sometimes various elements of real life align in unexpected ways. In the Spring semester of 2020 I was team-teaching a colloquium called “Apocalypse” for the third time. Just about exactly half way through the semester, a real-life apocalypse–Covid-19–forced our campus, along with virtually everything else in this country to go into quarantine. All of the remaining classes for the last weeks of the semester were taught remotely. Not surprisingly, the essay that I posted less than a week after classes... Read more

2021-08-12T06:40:00-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What is the Point of a Professor?

Last updated on: August 12, 2021 at 6:40 am By Vance Morgan

When I was a young professor, the chair of my department frequently would say in department meetings that, in her estimation, one of the primary goals of the philosophy department was to shape and mold our students into moral human beings. I didn’t buy it then and I still don’t. Making moral people is well above my skill level and pay grade–God doesn’t even seem to be very good at it. Every summer one of my projects is to tackle a... Read more

Development of Western Civilization

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Virgil

2021-08-09T14:53:02-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What Does the Lord Require? More Cowbell

Last updated on: August 9, 2021 at 2:53 pm By Vance Morgan

Guess what? I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. Bruce Dickinson Regular readers of this blog know that I very seldom make it through any post without refering to something from the Bible. This is partially because I know the book well; extensive study and memorization of scripture beginning at an early age was a required part of the religious world I was raised in. More often than not, I use the Bible as a tool to... Read more

2021-08-05T12:12:23-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Charles Darwin and the Creator of the Universe Walk Into a Bar . . .

Last updated on: August 5, 2021 at 12:12 pm By Vance Morgan

I’m currently reading Shankar Vendantam’s Useful Delusions; one of his continuing points throughout the book is that human beings depend on stories as much as on data and facts in order to orient themselves to and understand the world in which we find ourselves. Vendantam writes that Science itself . . . relies on stories. The frames and metaphors we use to understand the world shape the scientific discoveries we make; they even shape what we see . . . Darwin’s... Read more

2021-08-05T07:26:51-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

How To Tell the Difference Between Arrogance and Expertise

Last updated on: August 5, 2021 at 7:26 am By Vance Morgan

After participating in a frustrating “discussion” on Twitter the other day (is there any other kind of discussion on Twitter?), I posted the following on my Facebook page: Here’s a dynamic I don’t understand. A person asks for my qualifications that justify my saying what I am saying. I briefly provide those qualifications. I am in short order accused of being arrogant and thinking that I am better than everyone. I expected that I would get a number of interesting... Read more

2021-08-02T17:14:42-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Divine Plan for Delegating Authority: Just About Anything Goes

Last updated on: August 2, 2021 at 5:14 pm By Vance Morgan

I recently had the opportunity to have a face-to-face conversation with the new Provost at my college. For those unaware of what a Provost is or does, the Provost is the top academic officer at a college or university. She or he is, or at least attempts to be, the liaison and bridge between the faculty and the administration. It a very tough and often thankless job. I had the opportunity for many reasons to interact with our previous Provost,... Read more

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2021-08-01T12:50:55-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Is Christianity a Way of Life or a System of Belief?

Last updated on: August 1, 2021 at 12:50 pm By Vance Morgan

August is this blog’s anniversary month! It’s hard to believe that it has been nine years since I reluctantly decided to try blogging as a vehicle for the short essays that I had been writing ever since a transformational sabbatical in early 2009. I told Jeanne that I would do it only until it became “just another damn thing that I have to do.” Life is too full of such things already. I am grateful for everyone who has, regularly... Read more

2021-07-28T22:43:51-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Is This America?

Last updated on: July 28, 2021 at 10:43 pm By Vance Morgan

During Tuesday’s initial hearing of the Congressional select committee tasked with investigating the January 6th insurrection, Capitol police officer Harry Dunn described in detail the racial epithets that members of the mob hurled at him and other Black officers that day. “Is this America?” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Cal) asked him. Dunn replied The fact that we had our race attacked and just because of the way we look, you know … To answer your question, frankly, I guess it is... Read more

2021-07-26T12:03:55-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Of Marx and Vineyards

Last updated on: July 26, 2021 at 12:03 pm By Vance Morgan

After getting sucked into an discussion on Twitter a few days ago in which it was clear that most of the participants did not know the difference between communism, socialism, fascism, oligarchy, tyranny, democracy, and a hole in the ground, I was reminded of the importance of being informed about a topic before jumping into a discussion about it. I also was reminded that I will be spending some time with Karl Marx and a bunch of Honors sophomores this... Read more

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