Faith, Judgment, and Edification

As many of you are aware, I have been teaching philosophy and ethics for the past years, and a written response I received from one of my ethics students was as interesting as it was informative.  The student wrote: “Ethics is based upon knowing the good, knowing the good inside each one of us.  WhatContinue reading “Faith, Judgment, and Edification”

Minimal Decency as an Obligation for Our Leaders

By Harold W. Anderson, Ph.D., M.A., M.Div. I have never lived in a country ruled by a dictator.  Basically, in a dictatorship, anyone who does not agree with the dictator is considered an enemy and dealt with as such. Since policy under a dictator is at the whim of the dictator, no one really knowsContinue reading “Minimal Decency as an Obligation for Our Leaders”

A Lie Is a Lie…Right?

By Harold W. Anderson, Ph.D., M.A., M.Div. Emmanuel Kant believed that a lie was a lie and lying was and is always wrong.  Do you agree?  Most of my ethic students weren’t quite sure.  Surely, they thought, a little lie—sometimes called “a white lie”—won’t hurt anything, would it?  In fact, contrary to Kant, they wouldContinue reading “A Lie Is a Lie…Right?”

Faithful Living and the Difference between Kerygma and Myth

By Harold W. Anderson, Ph.D., M.A., M.Div. It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles.  We may think we can manage it in our own lives, butContinue reading “Faithful Living and the Difference between Kerygma and Myth”

Faithful Living and the Difference between Kerygma and Myth

by Harold W. Anderson, Ph.D., M.A., M.Div by Harold W. Anderson, Ph.D., M.A., M.Div         It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles.  WeContinue reading “Faithful Living and the Difference between Kerygma and Myth”

The Problem with Truth

by Harold W. Anderson, Ph.D. It is more important that a proposition be interesting than it be true. … But of course a true proposition is more apt to be interesting than a false one. Alfred North Whitehead, The Adventure of Ideas Truth is a problem.  Throughout history, philosophers have quested for truth and politiciansContinue reading “The Problem with Truth”

Goodness, not Self-Interest, Is Our Truth

Sermon based on I Peter 1:17-22, written by Harold W. Anderson, Ph.D. on April 18, 1999 Let me begin this morning by telling you several different scenarios.  I want you to think about each one and answer to yourself what you think you would do in these different circumstances.  Here’s the first scenario: You areContinue reading “Goodness, not Self-Interest, Is Our Truth”

Red-Letter Christians and the Prophetic Imagination

The basis of spiritual community is truth; the basis of emotional community is desire. The essence of spiritual community is light. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together “The red letters are the words of Jesus.” Told to me by my mother as a child When I was a young child, our church had a contest.  The firstContinue reading “Red-Letter Christians and the Prophetic Imagination”