Shows
The Natural TheologianJordan Peterson: He Who Wrestles With GodThe evangelical takes on Jordan Peterson’s “We Who Wrestle With God” tour are coming out. Jake Meador attended Peterson’s lecture in Omaha and says that Peterson’s ideology is focused on excellence to the exclusion of mercy. Aaron Renn attended in Indianapolis and says that Peterson’s message is, at the end of the day, a New Age alternative to Christianity.Anna and I attended on Valentine’s Day in St. Louis. It was a moving experience. Here are some of our reflections.Anna’s ReflectionsGoing to hear Jordan Peterson was quite a life...2024-03-0716 min
The Natural TheologianAre Thoughts Sins?This is our first joint post. Enjoy!I (Anna) have been counseling many people who experience obsessive thoughts and actions due to OCD. Some of them experience a cognitive distortion where a person conflates the thought of doing something with actually having done it.Psychologists call this “thought-action fusion.” The mind conflates the thought with the action. Meanwhile, I (Joel) have been writing about sexual desire and sin, mainly same-sex attraction. I have argued that same-sex attraction is not sin.But in that discussion, many people argue that...2024-02-1410 min
The Natural TheologianA Newcomer's Guide to "The Natural Theologian"As I began to write this Substack, I did not know what direction my writing would take. Following the directions of my own interests, I found that the convergence of my interests in philosophy and theology and in the relationship between the two was captured in the theological problem of “nature and grace.”The questions that drive me have to do with the relationship between natural human life and eternal, spiritual things. In a parallel way, there is the question of the relationship between secular forms of knowledge, chiefly science and philosophy, and religious forms, revelation and theo...2023-03-0803 min