Category: Religion

Dr. Mickey L. Mattox, Essays, Fall 2022, Religion

Made in Our Image?: Straight (Theological) Talk About Transhumanism

Prior to my arrival at Hillsdale College this fall, I had designed and offered several times a new course on a trendy topic: transhumanism. It was something of a devil’s bargain. While I had come to believe that all young men and women ought to know something about this movement, I was also looking to design a topical course that would be popular. For mainstream … Continue reading Made in Our Image?: Straight (Theological) Talk About Transhumanism

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Essays, Fall 2022, Jonathan Schultz, Religion

Know Thy Beliefs, Know Thyself

Our foundational beliefs, whether they come from tradition, meaningful experiences, or unquestioned theories, shape our perceptions of reality to the extent that we cannot easily conceive of them as separate from reality. This is exemplified by our deep convictions about the relative size, shape, and movement of the Earth and the other heavenly bodies; convictions we rarely feel the need to prove to ourselves or … Continue reading Know Thy Beliefs, Know Thyself

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andrew winter, Essays, Fall 2022, Religion

To Feel and to Hold: Touch as a Love Language

“‘Put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth…’” (Genesis 24:2, NAB). This is one of those verses where even the Christians have to ask: “Did Abraham really say that?” In fact, he did, and he meant it. Modern Americans keep a bipolar relationship with physical touch. On the one … Continue reading To Feel and to Hold: Touch as a Love Language

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December 21, Essays, Religion

The Problem of Christian Philosophy

God is not an answer to the enigma of being; He, veiled and hidden, tenuous to the human eye, is wrapped in its center In a 1935 series of lectures, Martin Heidegger asserts that Christian philosophy is a contradiction in terms. If philosophy—especially metaphysics—is the exploration of the fundamental question “Why is there being rather than nothing?”, then religion, and dogmatic religion in particular, cannot … Continue reading The Problem of Christian Philosophy

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December 21, Essays, Religion

Suffering Redeemed: Work as an Act of Love

While it is true that manual labor has an inherent value, to focus primarily on the meaning of the activity and ignore the way that activity is experienced largely misses the point I have heard many different philosophical explanations for the value of hard work and the dignity of America’s working class. They offer a response to those among the upper and upper- middle classes … Continue reading Suffering Redeemed: Work as an Act of Love

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December 21, Essays, Miscellaneous, Religion

Waiting to Remember

To remember is to restore. To return to one’s memories, particularly the painful ones, is to revisit a place of holy ground. It is to return to the breaking ground and the winnowing field. In drear nighted December John Keats, 1817   In drear nighted December,      Too happy, happy tree,  Thy branches ne’er remember      Their green felicity— The north cannot undo them  With a sleety whistle … Continue reading Waiting to Remember

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Miscellaneous, Religion

“An old thing born of a very distant place”: On the oddness of Christianity

By Evan Gage “Christianity was the last great work of Greek mythology.”I’d heard some odd things hosting an English conversation club with a Turkish university’s Theology Department, but I couldn’t quite make sense of this one. I must have betrayed my confusion, so my student continued.  “It’s just another Zeus story. Zeus is a god, then Zeus is a bull. Zeus, God, comes to earth. … Continue reading “An old thing born of a very distant place”: On the oddness of Christianity

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Miscellaneous, Religion

Restoring Liturgical Imagination

By Timothy Troutner By the time I returned from Turkey this summer, I’d become convinced that American Christians have a lot to learn from the builders of the underground cities and towering domes that I and the rest of my class in the Honors Program had wandered through on our three-week trip. The iconography and Marian devotion displayed in ancient near eastern Christianity presented a … Continue reading Restoring Liturgical Imagination

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Bible!
August 2014, Religion

Biblical inerrancy is a modernist mistake

Fighting modernity with modernity places limitations on the study of scripture. by Timothy Troutner Though Hillsdale students gladly consider differing perspectives on politics and theology, I have seldom seen tools of historical and literary analysis turned on the Bible itself. Outside Associate Professor of English Dr. Justin Jackson’s class on Reading Biblical Narrative, there seems to be a disconnect between our education and our reading … Continue reading Biblical inerrancy is a modernist mistake

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