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6 Short Videos for Teaching Critical Thinking

Everyone knows how to think. Not everyone knows how to think well.

That can be rather frustrating.

Fortunately, thinking is a skill. And, like any skill, you can improve thinking through instruction and practice.

Here are some excellent, short videos introducing different aspects of critical thinking. Since they’re introductory, don’t expect a lot of detailed information. But I could see using these to start discussions on what it means to think well and how each of these relates to studying the Bible and theology.

I found the fourth video on “getting personal” particularly helpful. Although I think most people intuitively know that you shouldn’t disagree with someone just because you don’t like them (and, conversely, you shouldn’t agree with someone just because you do like them), this is still such an easy mistake to make that we all need to be reminded of it.

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“Who Am I?” (a poem by Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born February 4, 1906. Who was Deitrich Bonhoeffer? Was he a spy? a martyr? a theologian? a musician? a genius? a pastor? This list could keep going, but would never end. Not even Bonhoeffer could answer the question of who he was. This is a poem which he wrote, I pray that it helps you understand Bonhoeffer, and yourself, to a fuller extent.

“Who am I?”

Who am I? They often tell me
I stepped from my cell’s confinement
calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
like a Squire from his country-house.

Who am I? They often tell me
I used to speak to my warders
freely and friendly and clearly,
as though it were mine to command.

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The Trinity and Religious Pluralism

This is a guest post by Todd Miles, Associate Professor of Theology at Western Seminary.

Keith E. Johnson, Rethinking the Trinity and Religious Pluralism: An Augustinian Assessment (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2011), $30.00.

“Trinity” is the current buzzword of theology. That, along with its related words and phrases like “perichoresis,” “mutual-indwelling” and “social-Trinity,” function in de facto manner as the shibboleth of legitimate theological enterprise. Unless one sprinkles in some sort of Trinitarian reference every page or so, the project is not to be taken seriously. So the doctrine of the Trinity is used to bolster or justify theological proposals on a wide range of topics including gender, marriage, the church, social justice, and the environment. This “turn to the Trinity” has not gone unnoticed by Keith Johnson, national director of theological education for Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) and an Augustine scholar. Of particular interest to Johnson are those proposals in the area of theology of religions that seek to justify, by appeal to the Trinity, either pluralism (many paths lead to God) and inclusivism (one is saved by Christ’s work alone, but one does not have to hear and believe the gospel in order to be saved on the basis of that work).

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Gregory of Nazianzus takes our error away

Gregory of Nazianzus hardly needs an introduction. He is a Saint, Church Father and the Church Doctor of the Theologians. He, along with Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, helped formulate many Church doctrines, especially concerning the Trinity. He was the first person to coin the term perichoresis, which is essentially a description of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existing together in love throughout eternity. Today (Jan 25) he is honored by the Church, and I have selected an excerpt from Oration 29.20, It is truly on of my favorite descriptions of Jesus:

As man he was baptized, but he absolved sins as God; he needed no purifying rites himself – his purpose was to hollow water. As man he was put to the test, but as God he came through victorious – yes, bids us be of good cheer, because he has conquered the world. He hungered – yet he fed thousands. He is indeed “living, heavenly bread.” He thirsted – yet he exclaimed: “Whoever thirst, let him come to me and drink.” Indeed he promised that believers would become fountains. He was tired – yet he is the “rest” of the weary and the burdened. He was overcome by heavy sleep – yet he goes lightly over the sea, rebukes winds, and relieves the drowning Peter. He pays tax – yet he uses a fish to do it; indeed he is emperor over those who demand the tax. He is called a “Samaritan, demonically possessed” – but he rescues the man who came down from Jerusalem and fell among thieves. Yes, he is recognized by demons, drives out demons, drowns deep a legion of spirits, and sees the prince of demons falling like lightning. He is stoned, yet not hit; he prays, yet he hears prayer. He weeps, yet he puts an end to weeping. He asks where Lazarus is laid – he was man; yet he raises Lazarus – he was God. He is sold, and cheap was the price – thirty pieces of silver; yet he buys back the world at the mighty cost of his own blood. A sheep, he is led to slaughter – yet he shepherds Israel and now the whole world as well. A lamb, he is dumb – yet he is “Word,” proclaimed by “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” He is weakened, wounded – yet he cures every disease and every weakness. He is brought up to the tree and nailed to it – yet by the tree of life he restores us. Yes, he saves even a thief crucified with him; he wraps all the visible world in darkness. He is given vinegar to drink, gall to eat – and who is he? Why, one who turned water into wine, who took away the taste of bitterness, who is all sweetness and desire. He surrenders his life, yet he has power to take it again. Yes, the veil is rent, for things of heaven are being revealed, rocks split, and dead men have an earlier awakening. He dies, but he vivifies and by death destroys death. He is buried, yet he rises again. He goes down to Hades, yet he leads souls up, ascends to Heaven, and will come to judge quick and dead, and to probe discussions like these. If the first set of expressions starts you going astray, the second set takes your error away.

The Coming of the King (Happy birthday Tolkien!)

I am sure we all have our favorite books or at least favorite scenes in books that completely captivate us. One scene in particular that blows mymind in so many ways is in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973).

The cloaked man spoke and said: “He is come”

… For it is only in the coming of Aragorn that any hope remains for the sick that lie in the House. Thus spoke Ioreth, wise-woman of Gondor: “The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.”

…When the black breath blows and death’s shadow grows and all lights pass, come athelas! Come athelas! Life to the dying in the king’s hand lying!

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What will our heavenly “rest” be like?

Mike Wilkerson has written an interesting post on on what it will be like to “rest” in heaven. Drawing on C.S. Lewis’ description of the future in The Last Battle, he argues that our “rest” will be like forever exploring “farther up and further in.”

In the final chapters of The Last Battle, amidst that final battle in front of the barn around which much of the story revolves, the children passed through the barn door. They went in expecting death, but, on the other side, they found a new world instead. It was beautiful, unlike anything they’d seen, and yet at the same time it was familiar. Eventually they recognized it: this was in fact Narnia, the real Narnia, remade into what Narnia was always supposed to be, only somehow more real and more beautiful.

A unicorn beckoned them explore—“Come further up, come further in!”—and then sprang forward in a great gallop. They followed in amazement and delight. And then, “the most strange thing happened.” They all found that they were running—fast enough to keep up with the unicorn, without tiring! And so they ran, exhilarated, through one gorgeous vista after another.

When I read this something in me shouts: “Wait! Slow down and enjoy this! Rest already!” If you’ve ever watched children on Christmas morning, you might have felt a similar apprehension as they tear feverishly through their presents. In their excitement, they can’t seem to slow down. But you know there will soon come an end to the presents, and the faster they go, the sooner that end will come, and then will come, perhaps, some disappointment that it’s all over.

Read the rest here.

Who’s Going to Clean Up after the Horse? (5 Reasons the Ascension Matters)

Why do heroes ride off into the sunset? Wouldn’t it be better if they stayed? Who wants a hero who skips town as soon as the crisis is over? The hard stuff is what comes next. Sure you beat up the big bad guy, but what about all the little ones? What about all the problems you didn’t fix? What about the daily grind of living in a broken world? Look at you on your cool horse. Who do you think is going to clean up all that poop it left behind?

Forget the sunset. I want a hero who sticks around, not one who takes off.

But isn’t that exactly what Jesus did? His people waited thousands of years for him to come. And finally, the Messiah arrived. Then….bam! He’s gone. One minute he’s there with the disciples, and then “he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight” (Acts 1:9).

He ascended. He left.

I can just picture the disciples standing there, staring into the sky like a bunch of kids watching all their balloons float away.

The Messiah rode off into the sunset.

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Waiting for Christmas: The Importance of Advent

My daughters don’t believe in Santa Claus. They never have. That’s mostly because my wife and I are evil and we told them from the very beginning that Santa Claus wasn’t real. (If this is news to you, please accept my apologies for breaking the news in such a heartless way.) We made sure they knew that many people like to pretend that Santa is real. And, since we don’t want to ruin their fun, we shouldn’t tell other kids the truth about Santa. The last thing we wanted to deal with were a bunch of angry parents wanting to know why our kindergartener had ruined their holiday traditions.

Although I like how we’ve handled the Santa Claus issue, and I wouldn’t want to do it differently, it’s hard not to notice that my daughters never approached Christmas with the same kind of anxious anticipation as other children. There were no eager questions about “When will Santa be here?” or whispers of “I think I hear him.” An element of expectation comes with the story of Santa Claus that has a nearly irresistible sense of childish delight. And, when he’s finally arrived, all of that pent up expectation–all the anxious hours of waiting, all the uncertainties and anxieties–explode in the delighted yell, “He came!”

To some degree, that’s what the Advent season is all about.

Read the rest here….

Let’s Be Frogs: an allegory of the church

I was recently listening to a song by M83, and I was struck by what an interesting allegory this could be for the church: a people transformed by the power of the gospel such that they see the world in completely new ways and are drawn together into a new community that will someday fill the earth with joy and laughter forever.

I’m pretty sure it’s actually about drugs.

But that’s okay. I’m a frog now. So I see things differently.

Raconte-Moi Une Histoire

it’s a very tiny frog
but it’s also very special
you can only find it in the jungle
so far away from me
but if you find it and if you touch it
your world can change forever

if you touch its skin
you can feel your body changing
and your vision also
and blue becomes red and red becomes blue
and your mommy suddenly becomes your daddy
and everything looks like a giant cupcake
and you keep laughing and laughing and laughing
nothing is ever quite the same really

and after you finish laughing
it’s time to turn into a frog yourself
it’s very funny to be a frog
you can dive into the water
and cross the rivers and the oceans
and you can jump all the time and everywhere
do you want to play with me?

we can be a whole group of friends
a whole group of frogs
jumping into the streets
jumping into the planet
climbing up the buildings
swimming in the lakes and in the bathtubs
we would be hundreds, thousands, millions
the biggest group of friends the world has ever seen
jumping and laughing forever
it would be great, right?

4 Key Problems with Our Gospel

Over at Western Seminary’s Trans·formed blog, I’ve been reflecting on 4 key problems that arise from the way that we normally tell people about the gospel. (It was originally supposed to be 3 key problems, but I cheated.) If you haven’t been following along, here are all the posts in that series.

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