Postmodern Realities Episode 078 - Mindfulness

06/27/18 • 31 min

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

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Postmodern Realities Episode 077 - Video Gaming, Kids & Addiction

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

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Postmodern Realities Episode 079 - Theology of Morgan Freeman

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.