21AR26-17

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AR 26:17 - Migrating from madrasas to Western universities

In this issue:

AGNOSTICISM - how science and philosophy "generate their own partial defense of theism"

CULTURE - responding to "the cult of progressive ideology"

+ how today's culture wars mirror first-century conflicts between Christians and the Roman Empire

EXODUS - competing views in biblical studies, Egyptology, and archaeology

ISLAM - Whose Islam? (Middle Eastern or Indonesian?)

WITCHCRAFT - reactionary fear, fatal resolve

Apologia Report 26:17 (1,522)
April 29, 2021

AGNOSTICISM

How often do you see an agnostic defending theism? Does that even make sense at first? Palgrave Macmillan suggests you consider the example of Bryan Frances, whose book, An Agnostic Defends God: How Science and Philosophy Support Agnosticism [1], "contains a unique perspective: that of a scientifically and philosophically educated agnostic who thinks there is impressive - if maddeningly hidden - evidence for the existence of God. Science and philosophy may have revealed the poverty of the familiar sources of evidence, but they generate their own partial defense of theism. Bryan Frances, a philosopher <www.bit.ly/3uE4UWd> with a graduate degree in physics, judges the standard evidence for God's existence to be awful. And yet, like many others with similar scientific and philosophical backgrounds, he argues that the usual reasons for atheism, such as the existence of suffering and success of science, are weak. In this book you will learn why so many people with scientific and philosophical credentials are agnostics (rather than atheists) despite judging all the usual evidence for theism to be fatally flawed." Huh? <www.bit.ly/3g1FWMi>

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CULTURE

What can you do when someone rejects the traditional Christian worldview and yet, will not listen to reason? Consider the new release Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology, by Noelle Mering (editor for theologyofhome.com and "frequent contributor for National Catholic Register, The American Mind, The Federalist, and Catholic World Report") looks like a good candidate for evaluation.

Roman Catholic publisher Saint Benedict Press tells us: "Discourse seems futile when we are no longer a people with shared principles or even a shared understanding of reality. What seems obvious to one person is patently absurd to the next. This collapse of meaning is not accidental. It has been plotted and documented for decades, and now presents in its current form as Woke ideology."

Mering unmasks this ideology by examining progressive history, major players, premises, and tactics - "showing us that 'Wokeness' at its core is an ideology of rupture." She provides answers to such questions as:

* - Why are the Woke considered blameless?

* - Why have politics become all-absorbing?

* - Why is violence the natural end of Woke ideology?

* - Why does tolerance seem to only go in one direction?

* - How is the movement fundamentally a rejection of the Logos?

* - Why is the corruption of children a logical outgrowth of Woke principles?

* - How does the ideology create enemies, eroding friendship across the sexes and races?

"This is a spiritual battle, and it is not accidental. The architects of revolution have long known that the transformation of the West had to come by way of destabilizing the social, familial, and religious pieties of a citizenry. But there is a road to restoration, and it begins with identifying and understanding the operating principles of the Woke movement. While the revolution is a counterfeit religion resulting in alienation and division, the One True Faith brings restoration. It is this restoration - of the person, the family, and the Faith - for which we all hunger and is the most fitting avenue toward a more harmonious and whole society." [2]

Pagans and Christians in the City: Culture Wars from the Tiber to the Potomac, by Steven D. Smith (Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego and serves as codirector of the university's Institute for Law and Religion) [3] -- the Eerdmans promo reports: "Traditionalist Christians who oppose same-sex marriage and other cultural developments in the United States wonder why they are being forced to bracket their beliefs in order to participate in public life. This situation is not new, says Steven D. Smith. Christians two thousand years ago faced very similar challenges. Picking up poet T. S. Eliot's World War II-era thesis that the future of the West would be determined by a contest between Christianity and 'modern paganism,' Smith <www.bit.ly/3dogv65> argues in this book that today's culture wars can be seen as a reprise of the basic antagonism that pitted pagans against Christians in the Roman Empire. [Smith] looks at that historical conflict and explores how the same competing ideas continue to clash today. All of us, Smith shows, have much to learn by observing how patterns from ancient history are reemerging in today's most controversial issues."

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EXODUS

Five Views on the Exodus: Historicity, Chronology, and Theological Implications, Mark D. Janzen, ed. [4] -- Zondervan explains that "many scholars regard the exodus as fictitious or a cultural memory that may not be a historical event. Even among those who believe the exodus happened, there is no consensus regarding its date." Here "experts in the fields of biblical studies, Egyptology, and archaeology to discuss and debate the most vexing questions about the exodus. Each offers their own view and offer constructive responses to other leading views on the exodus. The five views presented:

* - Early Date: The Exodus Took Place in the Fifteenth Century BC (Scott Stripling)

* - Late Date: A Historical Exodus in the Thirteenth Century BC (James K. Hoffmeier)

* - A Hyksos Levite Led Exodus in the Time of Ramesses II (Peter Feinman)

* - Alternative Late Date: The Exodus Took Place in the Twelfth Century BC (Gary A. Rendsburg)

* - The Exodus as Cultural Memory: A Transformation of Historical Events (Ronald Hendel)

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ISLAM

According to Stanford University Press, Megan Brankley Abbas <www.bit.ly/3vols4U> argues in her new book, Whose Islam?: The Western University and Modern Islamic Thought in Indonesia [5], that "the Western university has emerged as a significant space for producing Islamic knowledge and Muslim religious authority. For generations, Indonesia's foremost Muslim leaders received their educations in Middle Eastern madrasas or the archipelago's own Islamic schools. Starting in the mid-twentieth century, however, growing numbers traveled to the West to study Islam before returning home to assume positions of political and religious influence. Whose Islam? examines the far-reaching repercussions of this change for major Muslim communities as well as for Islamic studies as an academic discipline. As Abbas details, this entanglement between Western academia and Indonesian Islam has not only forged powerful new transnational networks but also disrupted prevailing modes of authority in both spheres. For Muslim intellectuals, studying Islam in Western universities provides opportunities to experiment with academic disciplines and to reimagine the faith, but it also raises troubling questions about whether and how to protect the Islamic tradition from Western encroachment. For Western academics, these connections raise pressing ethical questions about their own roles in the global politics of development and Islamic religious reform. Drawing on extensive archival research from around the globe, Whose Islam? provides a unique perspective on the perennial tensions between insiders and outsiders in religious studies."

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WITCHCRAFT

Reporting for Christianity Today (Nov 23 '20), Daniel Silliman and Griffin Paul Jackson explain: "Ghana Pentecostals Come to the Defense of Accused Witches. ...

"More than 90 percent of Ghanaian Christians believe witchcraft is a problem in the country, and more than half have visited a Pentecostal prayer camp to ask for deliverance from witches and demons, according to a study by Opoku Onyinah, theologian and past president of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC) <gpccghana.org>. The Spirit-empowered churches in the West African country don’t take the issue of witches lightly.

"[T]his summer, the GPCC decided to speak up for the women who are accused of witchcraft. The Pentecostal group, an umbrella organization of 200 denominations and parachurches, called for new laws and a national conversation about how to better take care of the more than 2,000 widows who have been exiled over allegations of working with demons.

"The churches decided to make a statement after an elderly Muslim woman in a rural village was beaten to death when she refused to confess to witchcraft. Akua Denteh was accused of causing irregular rain, starting fires, and killing children with supernatural powers. A video of her violent death—as a crowd stood watching - was shared widely around the country, and Christian leaders decided they could no longer be silent." <www.bit.ly/3s0M89T> (paywall awaits)

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Agnostic Defends God: How Science and Philosophy Support Agnosticism, by Bryan Frances (Springer, June 2021, hardcover, 140 pages) <www.bit.ly/3g1FWMi>

2 - Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology, by Noelle Mering (TAN, 2021, hardcover, 256 pages) <www.bit.ly/3e840uf>

3 - Pagans and Christians in the City: Culture Wars from the Tiber to the Potomac, by Steven D. Smith (Eerdmans, 2021, paperback, 408 pages) <www.bit.ly/3djpZPY>

4 - Five Views on the Exodus: Historicity, Chronology, and Theological Implications, Mark D. Janzen, et al. (Zondervan, 2021, paperback, 304 pages) <www.amzn.to/3dmTFvs>

5 - Whose Islam?: The Western University and Modern Islamic Thought in Indonesia, by Megan Brankley Abbas (Stanford Univ Prs, June 2021, hardcover, 280 pages), <www.amzn.to/3t7FTT1>

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