Mark Meador
On May 31, 2008, at the World Science Festival in New York City, a panel of scientists gathered to discuss what it means to be human.
It appears to have been quite an interesting seminar, and the things that were spoken were true and insightful. Yet most were plagued by a somewhat restricted perspective. All of the contributors being scientists, the insights were mostly of a scientific nature, but scientific insights into the meaning of being human largely center on identifying the limits of science more than pointing out fundamental truths of what it means to be human. Even the sociologist’s views culminated in the summary, “I think we’re more than biological creatures. I’m not sure biology has answers.” Several contributors talked about humans being uniquely rational, having the ability to remember, having a “human program” in our DNA, and so on; but these ideas don’t seem to capture the fullness of humanity conveyed by ideas like justice, love, and friendship. At the end of the day, it was the neuroscientist in the group that had the most meaningful input: “I like to think of a generator of diversity in the frontal lobe—and those initials are G-O-D.”
Mark Meador is a 2008 John Jay Institute Fellow interning with the Trinity Forum.
Gleanings, Being Human, Tue 10 Jun 2008
To demand "neutral discourse" in public life, as some still do, should now be recognized as a way of coercing people to speak publicly in someone else's language and thus never to be true to their own.
Os Guinness
Hannah and Nathan (Audio) by Wendell Berry, foreword by Gregory Wolfe.
Steve Brown narrates this Trinity Forum Reading selection that helps us think about love, marriage, and our place in the world.
The Institutionalization of Greed
John Piper explains Why Calvinists are so Negative: This, with the item below from Frederica, offer two timely perspectives on appropriate humility—which could also be approached with profit from the perspective of strategy. “I must tell you that whenever I have had a profound experience of God through reading his word or encountering God in worship or community, it tends to just humble me, and make me want to say something like what Joni Mitchell said about love—‘it’s love’s illusions I recall; I really don’t know love, at all.’ I have barely touched the hem of the Master’s garment, I hardly know him though I long to know him better. In the face of the divine-human encounter, even Barth’s Dogmatics appear to be little more than a good start to understanding God.” (New Testament scholar Ben Witherington III • 2008 11 19)
Confessions of an Obnoxious Orthodox: Salutary. “Most people like to be polite and get along, so they highlight our commonalities. But every church must have its distinctiveness, or we’d all be in the same church. At the time, I was so occupied with comprehending this strange thing called Orthodoxy that I emphasized the differences, and was impatient with kindly big-tent suggestions.” (Frederica Mathewes-Green, Beliefnet • 2008 11 19)
Finding Home: A worthwhile meditation on place: “My parents have moved a lot in their lives, and view towns and cities as places to go for opportunities, not places to live for love of the place itself. They still pressure us occasionally to move closer to them. Maybe someday we will; as I said above, I know I would find things to love wherever we lived. But after all the moves of my childhood, I find myself warmly grateful to this city for being a place where I can send my roots down deep, grateful that I have at last found my home.” (Veronica Mitchell, Toddled Dredge • 2008 11 18)
The Obama Dilemma: “Which of these factions in evangelicalism’s divided house is more reflective of its essential character? In truth, both have a strong claim. Evangelicalism has always been centrally concerned with social reform as the necessary expression of spiritual regeneration. It is not merely a religion of inwardness. Nor is it a religion devoted to maintaining the status quo and propping up social elites. Instead, it challenges settled arrangements and champions the lowly and the marginalized.” (Senior Fellow Wilfred M. McClay, The Wall Street Journal • 2008 11 01)
• Stephen Fry in America (2008 10 10)
• Give Me Liberty and Give Me Death (2008 09 30)
• Give Me That Old-Time Religion (2008 09 29)
• The Real Digital Revolution (2008 08 27)
• Après Lewis (2008 08 15)
Life’s Living Toward Dying: A Theological and Medical-Ethical Study by Vigen Guroian.
Guroian evokes a classical Christian understanding of "living toward dying" as antidote both to denial of death and to its too-eager embrace of purely technical truth.
