On Saturday, October 11th, Joshua Perlin gave a public lecture at Christian Study Center’s 25th Anniversary Celebration. Joshua is the current Assistant Director of Educational Programs at the Christian Study Center.

In the third lecture at the 25th Anniversary Celebration, Joshua gave a talk about what we might consider when we encounter two or more truths that seem paradoxical. Christian theology is imbued with this paradoxical thinking (i.e. the Trinitarian nature of God). In the first porting of his talk, Joshua sketches a model of four distinct psychological approaches to thinking about two contrary truths (“either/or” thinking or “both/and” thinking). In the second part, Joshua elaborates on the distinctly Christian quality of both/and thinking. And finally, he asks us to consider how the adoption of this paradoxical thinking can serve us in integrating our personal faith narrative with the larger narrative of Christianity.

Lecturer Bio

Josh Perlin earned his B.A. in Psychology from Emory University, with minors in Religion and Ethics, and has recently completed his Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Florida. His research interests concern narrative identity, liturgical formation, and theological anthropology. Specifically, his dissertation examines whether liturgical style shapes how Anglican Christians narrate their religious autobiographies. In his role as Assistant Director of Educational Programs at the Christian Study Center of Gainesville, Josh works on program development and implementation, as well as connecting faculty, staff, and graduate students at the University with the work of the CSC.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christianstudycenter.substack.com