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Definitions I must start this posting with a definition of terms. All words have connotations set deeply in our culture, memory, and emotions. But those connotations can be a distraction when we use the same word in a fresh way or to correct a misunderstanding. The word “science” means many different things to different people.…
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As I said in the beginning, I would work hard to keep this story simple. I had intended, following the chronological order, to move from Constantine the Great, who died in 337, to Augustine, who was born just twenty-seven years later, in Hippo, which is now in Algeria. However, first I must backtrack a few…
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It is another moment when I interrupt this historical journey for a sidebar. I think it is important to point out a couple of issues as we continue this pilgrimage: how we got to this point in our churches and society at large… the total loss of interest in factual truth. Mike, aren’t you overthinking…
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I remember circa 1984, I was teaching a Sunday School class to a group of college students, most from either the University of Michigan or Eastern Michigan University, on the history of Christianity/Christian missions. I was naive at the time, using just one source for my work, The History of Christian Mission, by Anglican scholar…
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I have barely scratched the surface of the history of how we got to the subjective culture we live in now. However, people get easily bored with history without knowing the point of the study; just ask a high schooler. So, I will come up for air and refocus on the point before I resume…
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Let me start by saying that if you don’t know me, I am not a historian by training. I am an armchair historian, just like I am an armchair philosopher, an armchair writer, and, considering how much multiple myeloma has taken from me, some days I feel like an “armchair human being.” So, if you…
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History is profoundly important to how we understand our present cultural state. I make the case that our present hyper spirituality is an aberration in the history of the Christian church. Now, the cornerstone of Christian and even secular culture is a spiritual, mystical, or subjective experience at the expense of the objective, evidence-based understanding…
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I often awaken in the middle of the night with words bouncing around inside my head. Part of those thoughts includes guilt about my previous post being too negative. My main point with yesterday’s posting is that the first problem with the American church’s emphasis on subjective experience is that it forces us, who relate…
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I was prepared to launch into the story of how we, our Christian society, got here in this hyper-spiritual age. However, I think I need to provide a bit more explanation first. I have been writing about the problem I see of the dwindling Church in America. My own church denomination, Presbyterian USA, had 3.1…
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I want to speak truth to power. I turn 71 tomorrow, which feels unbelievable. Not only because the time has flown, but because I wasn’t supposed to live to 65. When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma with associated renal failure, at age 63, my particular type of myeloma had a life expectancy of 11…
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J. Michael Jones 