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Evangelical

2017-01-04T10:49:49-08:00

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 Strong Is Your Will to Live, to Love, and to Hate? Musings on the Movie “The Revenant”

Last updated on: January 4, 2017 at 10:49 am By Paul Louis Metzger

SPOILER ALERT FOR THE NEW MOVIE, “THE REVENANT”! I went to a movie theater in the Portland area last night for an advance screening of “The Revenant”. Here is the official trailer for the movie, which releases tomorrow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg72UQCJFEM. Conditions were bad on the roads by Portland standards earlier in the week. Schools had been closed because of snow and ice. So, it was a relief to be able to get out last night to see the movie. Talk about... Read more

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2017-01-04T10:49:49-08:00

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.

Monogamous Sex Makes ‘Good’ Sense to Reason, or Does It?

Last updated on: January 4, 2017 at 10:49 am By Paul Louis Metzger

In my last post titled “What’s Up with Monogamy? Reflections and Resolutions in a Time of Transition,” I noted the overriding sense in American society to look upon extramarital sex critically. Then I went on to ask: Why does American society, by and large, still look upon extramarital sex with disfavor? Does the disfavor point perhaps to the receding echo of an ancient divine decree? Vestiges of the essential nature of things, created and/or evolved?… Does the disfavor follow from... Read more

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2017-01-04T10:49:49-08:00

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’s Up with Monogamy? Reflections and Resolutions in a Time of Transition

Last updated on: January 4, 2017 at 10:49 am By Paul Louis Metzger

2015 was a revolutionary year for defining marriage, to say the least. It has even been debated as to whether or not the legalizing of same sex marriage opens the door to the legalizing of polygamous marriages, among other things. See for example the following articles: “Beyond Gay Marriage;” “It’s Time to Legalize Polygamy;” “The Case Against Encouraging Polygamy;” and “Polygamy Is Not Next.” The purpose of this article is not to focus on this particular aspect of the debate,... Read more

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2017-01-04T10:49:49-08:00

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.

Away in a Manger—Away in a Spaceship? How Should We View Jesus’ Incarnation and Human Life If There Is Extraterrestrial Life?

Last updated on: January 4, 2017 at 10:49 am By Paul Louis Metzger

How will Christians worship on Christmas if scientists report this week that there is extraterrestrial life? Will we reword the title of the Christmas carol “Away in a Manger” to “Away in a Spaceship”? Would this suggest that Jesus would need to travel to other planets and become incarnate as a Martian or a Plutonian, or wherever else conscious life is found? Not necessarily. It is not a matter of our being inherently more special as humans than extra-terrestrials. Perhaps... Read more

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2017-01-04T10:49:50-08:00

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.

Keep Your Eyes Wide-Open: Don’t Discount Donald Trump

Last updated on: January 4, 2017 at 10:49 am By Paul Louis Metzger

Many people with whom I speak can’t get over Donald Trump’s ongoing ascendance in national polls. He leads the field of candidates for the Republican Party’s nomination by staggering numbers. Whatever you think of him, he is hard to dismiss as an outlier (See “Latest Polls Set Stage for Unprecedented Circumstances”). An African-American civil rights lawyer with whom I spoke on Sunday agreed. Keep your eyes wide open. Don’t discount Trump, for he speaks to our base passions. He makes... Read more

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2017-01-04T10:49:50-08:00

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.

Be Patient with Patients: They Are Far More than Temporarily Animated Corpses

Last updated on: January 4, 2017 at 10:49 am By Paul Louis Metzger

Is a patient near the end of life simply temporarily animated matter–a soon-to-be corpse that is turned to ash or locked in a box?[1] Is the patient a combination of material and immaterial substances, the latter of which is easily separated like a pound of flesh that lessens the body’s weight at death?[2] Or is the patient a relational energy (namely, a soul or spirit), who returns to the divine Spirit, the same Spirit who enlivens his or her bodily... Read more

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2017-01-04T10:49:50-08:00

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.

Ban Nastiness and Naiveté, not Muslims

Last updated on: January 4, 2017 at 10:49 am By Paul Louis Metzger

Donald Trump’s recent statements about banning Muslims from the States has met with a wide array of reactions—from total support to outright disgust. Some fear that Trump’s stance is counterproductive and will only benefit ISIS propaganda that the States and the West as a whole are anti-Muslim. Tribalism only intensifies conflicts rather than reduces them, as Steven Pinker argues in The Better Angles of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. While some dispute Pinker’s view that violence is on decline... Read more

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2017-01-04T10:50:20-08:00

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.

Science, Metaphysics and Metaphorical Ladders: When Science is Theology

Last updated on: January 4, 2017 at 10:50 am By Paul Louis Metzger

Anti-Theologies Are Theologies, Part I For those who think that metaphysics and theology are antiquated disciplines that have no place in our scientific age, please think again. Take one prominent contemporary example—Richard Dawkins. Like Freud, he is an anti-theology theologian in disguise. The anti-theological Dawkins presents theological or metaphysical claims. His fundamental thesis that the gene is selfish and that it governs all reality is not a hypotheses that Dawkins could readily jettison on the basis of empirical observations. Rather,... Read more

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2017-01-04T10:50:20-08:00

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.

Should Ethics Be “Biologicized”? What Might that Mean for Eugenics?

Last updated on: January 4, 2017 at 10:50 am By Paul Louis Metzger

In the concluding chapter of Sociobiology: A New Synthesis, Harvard University’s Edward O. Wilson states, “Scientists and humanists should consider together the possibility that the time has come for ethics to be removed temporarily from the hands of the philosophers and biologicized.”[1] Wilson is certainly not the first to recommend this move.[2] For Wilson, it is bound up with his aim to promote the “Modern Synthesis” involving sociobiology, which he defines as “the systematic study of the biological basis of... Read more

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2017-01-04T10:50:20-08:00

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.

Lights Out: Shining a Light on Caring for the Dying in a Multi-Faith World

Last updated on: January 4, 2017 at 10:50 am By Paul Louis Metzger

What would you do if you were a chaplain or pastor or trusted friend given the honor of caring for someone of another faith tradition who is approaching death? My students and I have heard from many faith leaders in my world religions class this semester talk about their views of the soul and body as well as end of life care. There were a variety of views presented, as one would expect. For all the differences, though, we can... Read more

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