Weathering the storms of life in rural Australia

My daughter gave me a copy of the novel, The Dry by Jane Harper. It successfully achieves several things that one rarely sees in a novel: a captivating and clever murder mystery, wonderful prose, a story of people coming to terms with the trauma of their past, and a picture of life in a specific community: a small town in rural Australia suffering in a drought.
The novel was praised in a New York Times review.

What does theology have to do with a secular university?

I was asked to write an article ``What is a university for?'' for the journal IFES Word and World. Here is the current version. Comments welcome.
Here is a good video introduction.

Anger and isolation in the city

I enjoyed watching the movie Can you ever forgive me? based on the life of Lee Israel, a struggling writer who found "success" by forging and selling personal letters from famous authors.

 

The lead character is played well by Melissa McCarthy, who I am more used to seeing play buffoons.
It is a great story. But the movie also catches some of the angst, internal struggles, alienation, and anger of someone who is so alone because they just cannot get along with others.
God's ideal is that we live in community but we are too often our own worst enemies. We yearn for this too but others disappoint us and hurt us and so we lash out in anger and the spiral continues...
The cycle is only broken when grace, mercy, and forgiveness breaks through.

The ambivalence of Christians towards the social sciences

Since I am a physicist and Christian, over the years I have thought, read, and written a lot about the relationship between the physical sciences and Christianity. I have come to the view that, contrary to the claims of some, there is a positive relationship between Christian theology and the physical sciences. This is seen in many ways: the historical origins of modern science, awe and wonder inspired by scientific discoveries, the order in the universe found to be encoded in laws of nature, fine-tuning, the beginning of the universe, ....
But, what about the social sciences (psychology, sociology, anthropology, ...)?
They are sometimes used to argue for atheism and against Christian belief. Many beginning undergraduates encounter this in university classrooms. Indeed, one study in the USA found that studying the social sciences led to a decline in "religiosity", whereas studying the physical sciences did not.

Examples of common claims are:
Religious belief is a neurosis reflecting personal insecurity (psychology).
Religious belief and morality result from social pressures to conform (sociology).
The unique claims of Christianity are not valid because there is a multitude of different religions in a multitude of different cultures (anthropology).

According to the Wikipedia entry on Psychology of Religion

When Freud spoke of religion as an illusion, he maintained that it "is a fantasy structure from which a man must be set free if he is to grow to maturity."
Freud views the idea of God as being a version of the father image, and religious belief as at bottom infantile and neurotic. Authoritarian religion, Freud believed, is dysfunctional and alienates man from himself.

The Wikipedia entry on Sociology of Religion, describes the views of Emile Durkheim, one of the founders of sociology

Religion, for Durkheim, is not "imaginary", although he does deprive it of what many believers find essential.^[8] Religion is very real; it is an expression of society itself, and indeed, there is no society that does not have religion. We perceive as individuals a force greater than ourselves, which is our social life, and give that perception a supernatural face. We then express ourselves religiously in groups, which for Durkheim makes the symbolic power greater. Religion is an expression of our collective consciousness, which is the fusion of all of our individual consciousnesses, which then creates a reality of its own. 

The Wikipedia entry on Anthropology of Religion states

Anthropology circa 1940 assumed that religion is in complete continuity with magical thinking,^{[a][3][dubious – discuss]} and that it is a cultural product.^[b][4] The complete continuity between magic and religion has been a postulate of modern anthropology at least since early 1930s.^[c][6] The perspective of modern anthropology towards religion is the projection idea, a methodological approach which assumes that every religion is created by the human community that worships it, that "creative activity ascribed to God is projected from man."^[7] In 1841, Ludwig Feuerbach was the first to employ this concept as the basis for a systematic critique of religion.^[8]

Thus, it is understandable that Christians may be critical, skeptical, or scared of the social sciences.
However, for several reasons I want to argue for a balanced, critical, and constructive engagement. This follows the perspective of John Stott about "double listening": listening to the world and to the Word.

I give my reasons in no particular order.

First, I find the social science arguments against Christian belief unconvincing.
Sometimes these arguments fail to distinguish causality and correlation or involve the is-ought problem or naturalistic fallacy. For example, the observation that there are many different religions and that they have certain common features does not necessarily imply that they are all equally true (false), equally valid, or of equal social value.

A major claim of sociology was the secularisation thesis: with time as science progresses, societies become more modern and rational, and the influence of religion, particularly in politics and culture, decreases. By the 1960s almost all sociologists agreed that this was true, but now it is contested. While this is true in Western Europe, there are many parts of the world where actually the opposite is true. In a similar vein, the Harvard psychologist Stephen Pinker claims that ``scientific data'' proves how the Enlightenment (as defined by him) has been good for society. However, Peter Harrison has given a robust critique of Pinker's arguments.

Second, in some social sciences, Christians have played an influential role. Examples include Peter Berger and Jacques Ellul in sociology, Malcolm Jeeves in psychology, Alan Tippett in Anthropology, and Kenneth Pike in linguistics.

Third, the social sciences are particularly relevant to Christian ministry and mission. One might consider this as in the vein of Augustine's idea of plundering truth from non-Christians as the Israelites plundered treasure from the Egyptians (Ex 3:22). (See Augustine, Confessions 7.9.15 and On Christian Teaching 2.40.60–2.42.63.)
Important insights can be gained from their concepts, discoveries, and techniques. Examples include mental health, cross-cultural communication, and social justice.
Mental illness is complex and has biochemical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions. Psychology can provide significant insights into the causes of mental illness, prevention, and strategies for healing.
Christian mission involves introducing the Gospel to new cultures. This is now far beyond the old stereotype of a white Westerner going to an obscure African tribe. Most urban societies and universities are now complex, pluralistic, and multi-cultural. Anthropology can provide important insights into how to understand different cultures and how to communicate with them. Furthermore, anthropology can help us discern what is cultural and what is Christian.
Another important dimension to Christian mission and God's Kingdom is that of social justice. Economics and sociology can provide insights into how entrenched systems oppress certain people and promote inequality. A concrete example is the work of Cameron Townsend among indigenous people in Mexico.

Two books I am looking forward to reading are Psychology through the eyes of faith and Sociology through the eyes of faith.

Even a scrooge can be redeemed

My lovely daughter's Christmas gift to our family was an outing to see A Christmas Carol, the theatrical adaptation of the classic novella by Charles Dickens.
I am not sure I have ever seen it before.

The story brings together many substantial themes: economic inequality, the plight of poor children, joy, judgement, love of money, the meaning of Christmas, altruism, and redemption.
The Bible story it most reminded me was the story of Lazarus and the rich man that Jesus told.

Christmas is about Emmanuel: God with us. Jesus is God's great and generous gift to humanity. He reveals who God is and offers us free redemption. This generosity should inspire us to be generous, particularly to those less privileged than us.

The scandal of the evangelical mind

This is the title of an influential book, written in the context of the USA. Recently, I gave a talk with this title, based on Philippians 2:1-13. My argument is that although the book is important and has valid points there is actually a much bigger scandal.

Institutions, virtue, secularism, and human flourishing

A week ago I attended a fascinating meeting, on “Science, Philosophy, Religion and Human Flourishing” in Cyprus. It brought together about thirty scientists, philosophers, diplomats, people with a range of religious convictions and none.
The sessions were structured as follows. First, three or four speakers gave 7.5-minute talks around a common theme or issue. The talks were meant to stimulate discussion. Then we broke out into small groups of about six people for about 30 minutes of discussion, and then all the participants came together for group discussion. I will post later about some of the things I was challenged on.

Here are the slides for my 7.5-minute talk, ``The role of institutions in human flourishing: challenges and potential''. I was pleasantly surprised at how a range of people said the talk was helpful and stimulating.