Postmodern Realities Podcast

For more than one year, Neil deGrasse Tysons book, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, has sat on the bestsellers list. Is it a book Christians should read? This episode gives listeners an overview of Tysons world view, an overview of the book, and explores what Tyson thinks of the Big Bang theory and the multiverse. This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Guillermo Gonzalez about his Volume 41, No. 4 book review, Missing the Signposts. To read his review, please subscribe to our journal

The cable TV series The Story of God with Morgan Freeman will return for a third season in 2019 on the National Geographic Channel. Hosted by Freeman who famously played God in the 2003 movie Bruce Almighty, the show attempts to be a comparative religion course translated into edutainment. Like many such courses, it espouses the claim that all religions are equally valid in their truth claims. Freeman and his writers emphasize similarities between religions in the attempt to foster mutual understanding and tolerance between religious people. But The Story of God is also honest about the differences between religions and at points seems to admit that Christianity was a genuine improvement over earlier religions. Yet the show takes an evolutionary approach to religion familiar from secular anthropology. Different religions are explained as various cultural responses to the same human instincts that are hard-wired into our brains. Thus Freeman typically concludes that a particular aspect of religion belief in God, miracles, the afterlife, the end of the world is grounded in human nature and contributes to the survival of the species by giving us comfort or helping us cope with fear and suffering. The Story of God is mostly accurate and fair but is guided by naturalistic assumptions and occasionally includes Freemans own New Age beliefs, such as the quasi pantheist doctrine that every human being is God. Freeman is no Oprah, so it is unclear how much influence his theological ideas have on average Americans, but his series does illustrate some trends already prevalent in todays culture. Indeed, it reflects an interesting combination of scientism and antiintellectualism. This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author John McAteer about his Volume 41 3 feature article, The Story of Morgan Freeman Not God.

We live in a climate dominated by information technology. Before the glow of our screens, we constantly are tempted to divide our attention between this reality and the digital virtual world. Of course, we cannot be both in the real world and in the digital world, so this leaves us feeling torn, conflicted, and distracted. Such a steady psychological struggle leads us to seek ways of escaping the maelstrom of exigencies. On its long journey from its Eastern religious origins in the other side of the world, mindfulness emerged in America in the late twentieth century as an easy, healthy, if not momentary, deliverance from such a life. A major reason mindfulness has been successfully mainstreamed is that we are so overstimulated and chronically busy that our minds are desperate for some sort of rest that takes as little time as possible. But like many popular activities, the mindfulness of mainstream America is not necessarily the same as the original activity from which it originated. Because mindfulness has entrenched itself in American culture, Christians need to investigate it thoroughly in order to determine whether it is friend or foe. This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Sarah Geis about her Volume 41, No. 03 feature article, Thinking through Mindfulness Psychology, Religion, or Both? subscribe to the JOURNAL and your June 2018 subscription starts with the issue in which her article appears

This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Dr. Kevin Schut. Kevin is Professor of Media and Communication and Associate Dean of the School of the Arts, Media and Culture at Trinity Western University, a Christian university in Canada. He teaches about media, culture, and technology from a faith based perspective. His research focuses on video games and how they intersect with our culture and faith in a number of different ways. Dr. Schut is also the author of the book Of Games and God A Christian Exploration of Video Games. He has also written on games and history, games and masculinity, games and religion, and games and story telling. He enjoys playing strategy video games as well as playing adventure video games. The conversation covers topics like How is a particular video game constructed and why might the designers have constructed it that way? Are kids more impulsive after they play violent games? Is playing first person shooter video games morally wrong for Christians? The new video game phenomenon, Fortnite, is discussed. How parents can keep up on the latest video games to find out what they are about is also covered. In addition, there is a discussion about Christian parents can model screen behaviors to their kids and how families can determine appropriate uses of technology, gaming, and social media. For more cultural apologetics articles like this one, please subscribe to the CHRISTIANRESEARCH JOURNAL

Christians may find themselves approached on the street being asked to consider religious faith. Sounds like Christian street witnessing, right? Well, it may be youre face to face with an atheist and often a GoPro video recorder being engaged in whats come to be known as street epistemology. What is street epistemology? According to Peter Boghossian atheism advocate and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Portland State University, this is an activist approach for engaging the faithful in conversations that help them value reason and rationality, cast doubt on their beliefs, and mistrust their faith. He wants people equipped with an array of dialectical and clinical tools who actively go into the streets, the prisons, the bars, the churches, the schools, and the community into any and every place the faithful resideand help them abandon their faith and embrace reason. Street epistemology has two main goals. First, the street epistemologist aims to get religious folks to apply reason to faith. But this isnt the primary goal of street epistemology. The ultimate goal is to eradicate the virus of faith. This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Travis M. Dickinson about his Volume 40, No. 6 feature article, Street Epistemology The New Atheist Evangelism

It seems that most popular new movies these days are sequels, prequels, reboots, or remakes. The reason Hollywood seems unoriginal is because, when it comes to films, we prefer nostalgia to novelty. Every human has a basic desire for how things are actually meant to be. Nevertheless, this ideal is perverted by sin to the extent that, more often than not, our desires themselves are wayward. The reason sequels, reboots, and remakes become mixed up in this desire is because our broken world is deficient to satisfy our hunger. Instead, we attach the desire to something more tangible, but still vague enough to provide an ineffable hope, like memories of feelings we have had during certain times in our past when things seemed just right. We are drawn to sequels and prequels because they promise to take us back to a place we remember enjoying. We are drawn to remakes because they promise to recreate encounters with characters and stories that once gave us comfort. This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Jeffrey Porter about his 2017 Postmodern Realities column article, Looking for Heaven at the Movies What our Fondness for Nostalgic Films Says about Us. For more cultural apologetics articles like this one, please subscribe to the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat as the ubiquity of social media expands, we are drawn, whether unwittingly or not, into their orbit a relentless cycle demanding as much of our time, energy, and attention we choose to offer. For human beings who are created in the image of our triune creator and share His characteristic impulse toward relationship, social media provides an avenue for both knowing and being known for community. Whether its finding a niche Facebook group for a particular hobby or life experience, connecting with people otherwise unknown via Twitter, or watching distant friends raise their family on Instagram, each creates opportunities to create long lasting community. Yet a growing number of people, both Christian and non Christian alike, are increasingly wary about social medias promise of providing a meaningful community. We need the church, and the particular relationships created within, to offer true north in the midst of an increasingly transient and digital world. The community of the church provides a number of essential resources for us as we go out into the world. The church offers a place of safety and security in which its people can be truly vulnerable as they confess their individual and collective need for grace. This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Kyle A. Keating about his Volume 41, No. 2 Postmodern Realities article, Cream or Sugar? Fostering Authentic Community in the Expanding Age of Social Media

It is important to understand the sources of our modern distaste for the teaching of the doctrine of hell, for these are part of the strongholds characteristic of our times. By critically exploring these sources, we can best instruct children in the essential biblical doctrine of hell and avoid an abuse of greater severity their being unaware of its reality. This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Rebekah Valerius about her upcoming Volume 41 3 feature article, Is It Abusive to Teach Children about Hell?

Christians dont have a shining track record in addressing sex. It may have been presented in unhelpful and unbiblical teaching through poor teaching of the Bible or ignored altogether. Women in the church have struggled with the louder silence in regard to female sexuality. In a world spiraling into a sexual free for all, many Christian women are succumbing to the cultural insanity that says sex is all about you do what you want. On the other hand, others are smothered in shame concerning their sexual struggles, because supposedly only men struggle with sexual desires gone amok. God speaks to all of these issues and He does so without blushing, shaming, or offering cliches. Sexual sanity, which is gained through the wise, unashamed, and bold teaching of the Bible, is Gods gift for all. Freedom and the healing grace of Jesus are for all those including women who have experienced broken heartedness and the captivity of sexual addictions. Sexual sanity is a reality women can grow into as we embrace Gods design for sexuality rather than the ever increasing expressions of broken sexuality. This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Ellen Dykas about her 2013 feature article, Sexual Sanity for Women in a World Gone Mad. For more articles about biblical sexuality like the forthcoming feature article on solo sex masturbation and the Christian, please subscribe to the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL.

We live by a fudge factor, seeing our value in our achievements as greater than they really are. God, however, sees us as we really are sinful, irrational beings willing to cheat and lie to ourselves, exaggerating our accomplishments to others. Despite our faults, God also views us as inherently valuable, based not on our flawed image but His perfect one. This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Richard J. Poupard about his Volume 41, no. 2 cover feature article, Lying to Ourselves Why We Cheat