Intellectual Engagement
December 23, 2015
Cultivate Friends You Disagree With
From Aesop’s animals seeking the wise owl to the people of Israel soliciting Solomon, the value of good advice has not diminished. However, one might argue that it can be harder to come by in a close-minded culture that silences dissent with the constant refrain of “do not judge me.” Nonetheless, one of the most brilliant scholars in academia – and Christian Union’s 2014 Christian Leader of the Year Award recipient – is regularly sought out by several major presidential candidates for his guidance, instruction, and wise counsel. November 16, 2015
James Davison Hunter on A Way Forward
To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World
By James Davison HunterHow does real culture change happen? Dr. James Davison Hunter, a sociologist who is the LaBrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture, and Social Theory at the University of Virginia and a Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum, addresses Christian assumptions about power, culture, culture change, and public engagement in a 30-minute lecture followed by 30 minutes of Q&A...
This link will take you to the website of the Trinity Forum, which hosted this fascinating lecture:
Listen Now >
February 23, 2015
Q & A with Professor David Skeel
Making Sense of True Paradoxes
Christian Union: The Magazine recently interviewed David Skeel, the S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Pennsylvania. A speaker at Veritas Forums on various college campuses, Skeel is the author of several books on law. He recently wrote his first apologetics book, True Paradox: How Christianity Makes Sense of Our Complex World.How would you define apologetics?
At bottom, I think the Apostle Peter defined apologetics best, at least for Christians, when he admonished his readers to "always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15). That's how I see apologetics, as trying to explain why I believe Christianity is true, especially for those who think an ancient religion like Christianity can't possibly make sense of the complexities of our contemporary world.
February 19, 2015
The Apologetics of Love
Considering Nietzsche and Jesus of Nazareth
by Jesse Peterson
At the risk of an absurd reductionism, I'd like to propose an audacious thesis: that in Western history there have been only two distinct ethical philosophies. Every other ethic ultimately falls under the banner of one of these two. The two stances are represented by two teachers: Friedrich Nietzsche and Jesus of Nazareth. Their fundamental disagreement? What it means to be human, and what it means to love.The Ethics of Nature
There could hardly have been a more fitting philosopher to follow on the heels of Darwin's mid-19th-century discoveries than Nietzsche. Nietzsche translated into ethical-prescriptive terms ("ought") what for Darwin had merely been biological-historical description ("is"). Darwin's "survival of the fittest" in the war of nature became Nietzsche's "will to power":December 30, 2014
