College Faith

#19: Is Reality Secular? A Former Secular-Progressive Professor Says No!

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Dr. Mary Poplin was a self-described “radical progressive Marxist”  professor before coming to faith in Christ by meeting Jesus in a dream. Since then she has worked tirelessly to integrate biblical truth and the field of education as a professor of Education at the Claremont Graduate University. She has also authored numerous books on Christianity and higher education. Here we talk about her most recent book Is Reality Secular? Testing the Assumptions of Four Global Worldviews.

In this podcast we discuss:

  • Defining a “worldview”
  •  How she identified the four worldviews and decided to write about them
  • Summarizing the four worldviews: Materialism, Secular Humanism, Pantheism, and the Judeo-Christian worldview
  • Why it is so important for Christians to understand these four worldviews
  • Her journey from a radically secular professor to Christ’s follower
  • Her time volunteering with Mother Theresa, and how this influenced her
  • How God convicted her to begin teaching what is true, integrating biblical truth into her teaching
  • Her assessment of current secular higher education after 40 years as a professor
  • How she had to rethink ideas of “justice” from a biblical perspective 
  • Her struggle to distinguish between Secular Humanism and Christian thought
  •  How Christianity is excluded from higher education
  • Why professors often promote their worldview as the only answer to life’s big questions
  • How her Secular Humanist worldview shaped her thinking about training elementary and secondary school teachers, and how her thinking changed once she became a Christian
  • Advice to students in identifying different worldviews their professors are presenting
  • The best chapters in her book to read for students in the sciences, in the social sciences, the humanities, and the applied sciences
  • How the Judeo-Christian worldview best fosters a flourishing university and society
  • How students can thrive if they have professors promoting other worldviews, and make a difference in the lives of their non-Christian professors
  • How students can find Christian professors like Mary, and the importance of campus fellowships
  • Why going to a “Christian” college doesn’t solve the problem for students
  • Why the university is not really a “marketplace of ideas”
  • Why it sometimes makes sense not to go to college right after high school
  • The historic unity of the university, how it is “dis-integrating” and what can be done about it 
  • Why “getting a job” is not the main reason to go to college
  • Why Critical Theory is the opposite of all the university stands for

    • Resources mentioned during our conversation:

    • Mary Poplin, Is Reality Secular? Testing the Assumptions of Four Global Worldviews
    • Mary Poplin, Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service
    • Works by Steven Smith, University of San Diego School of Law, such as The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom, The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse, and Getting over Equality: A Critical Diagnosis of Religious Freedom in America
    • Julie Reuben, The Making of the Modern University: Intellectual Transformation and the Marginalization of Morality
    • Dr. Poplin’s email: [email protected]
    • James Sire, The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalogue

      • ...more
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      College FaithBy Stan W. Wallace
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