Contemporary Social Issues Midterm Study Guide - Bo Sutherland

Premise: fact claim in an argument

Good argument: true premises with a conclusion that naturally follows

Inductive Reasoning: determining universal norms by examining individual cases

Deductive Reasoning: reasoning down to particular cases given universal norms

Postmodernism: Cultural Relativism after the enlightenment

Metaphysical Realism: mind independent reality

Correspondence Theory of Truth: when thinking matches reality; truth is when things are

the way one takes them to be

Deconstructionism: setting aside author’s meaning (in literature) for the interpreter’s

Incarnational Organism: the Church is a living organism that is God’s physical

representation in the world

Amorphous: the Church is when two or more believers are gathered “in His name”;

without definite shape or form

Gnosticism: all matter is evil, therefore Christ was never full human; Gnosis=inspiration

Ekklesia: “congregation”

Spiritual Gifts: distinct from talents of the flesh, as they are given by God through

sanctification in Him, and are practiced for the edification of the Church

Linguistic Reference: language/words refer to reality

Rational Objectivity: ability to discern, even with bias

Psychological Objectivity: absence of bias in discerning

Falsifiability: logical possibility that an assertion can be proven false by experiment or

observation
Appeal to Authority: argument based on single person’s authority

Appeal to Pity: argument based solely on Majority

Appeal to Force: argument based on assumption that the person with the most power

must be right

Appeal to Pity: argument that attempts to manipulate emotions of compassion to persuade

Appeal to Ignorance: argument that claims to be true because an opponent cannot show it

false

Ad Hominem: “Personal Attack”

False Cause: argument based solely on a casual relationship between 2 things but fails to

establish this relationship

Slippery Slope: assumes a claim of events will follow on event without a right to this

claim

Either/Or Fallacy: claiming only two solutions are possible when there are more

solutions

Equivocation: using 2 distinct terms as if they were the same (meaning) without

identifying the definition

Hasty Generalization: basing an argument on insufficient data

Fallacy of Composition: what is true of individual parts must be true of the whole

Fallacy of Division: what is true of whole must be true of individual parts

False Analogy: assuming two things are alike in more ways than they are

Begging the Question: restating question into a conclusion

Straw Man: sets up oversimplified argument to defeat it easily

Red Herring: argument loosly based on question to distract from real question
Philosophy of Education~

*University = Unity in Diversity; because God is a God of Logos, he has created a

universe with rational order; this means that everything leads back to God-theology is the

center of everything and provides meaning to all the “arts and sciences.”

*Multiversity = the constellation of colleges each dedicated to separate truths; motivation

is “joining the conversation” rather than theology; education for the sake of

specialization; separate arts are not interacting and ambiguity is now maturity.

*To know God more intimately, we must learn: to “think God’s thoughts after Him”, to

examine God’s revelation more carefully and see the way He wants me to see the world,

to set God’s truth as clearly and meaning fully as I can, and to be the best self for God’s

glory.

*Postmodernism results from (Distrusting Authority of Church & Distrusting our Senses

& Distrusting Reason to Existentialism & Darwinism).

Truth is whatever a culture defines it to be. Truth is an attribute or property of the speaker

or people. Psychological objectivity is best. One cannot be rationally objective, so truth

can never be found. Language is a construct of cultures and words only function as labels

for meanings we invent. Dichotomous thinking is bad. The Local Narrative is better than

the Big Story.

*Image Culture results from shift from (Oral to Written {Guttenberg Printing Press} &

Written to Image {Television and Media}). Because of the shift to the image culture, we:

can no longer process complex arguments, are stuck in a techno stupor, and cannot think

of abstract concepts without recalling an image. Our memories are also reduced to a

cluttered mass of irrelevant data.

Debugging the System~

*Overexposure to modern entertainment is causing good Christians to think bad thoughts

and do bad things and is causing people to not think at all or contributing to a generation

of poor and shallow figures.

*Neil Postman- “We are amusing ourselves to death.”

*Literate-Image = Active-Passive

*The Medium should match the Message.

*To access God’s voice (or even a shadow thereof) we should be patient with books of

substance, be engaged in complex arguments and detailed descriptions, and meditate in

lengthy times of contemplation.

Postmodernism (as by JP Moreland)

*It rejects realism-reality is social construction.

*We have no way of knowing truth. (It rejects Correspondence Theory of Truth.)

*Truth is what your community agrees to accept.

*Language cannot be used to refer to reality.

*No objective reasoning

*Elevates rhetoric over reason

*Rejects dichotomous thinking and meta-narratives

Basic Logic

*Law of Non-Contradiction: A cannot be both A and Non-A at the same time and in the

same relationship.

*Principles of Correct Reasoning

Persecution Era~

*Romans persecuted Christian on main basis of Atheism and denying emperor as Lord.

Origen(2nd Century): radical ascentic or the “suffering of an athlete”; father died for the

sake of Christianity, so Origen further explored it; wrote Hexapla (6 Volumes or Versions

of Hebrew Bible); believed in allegorical interpretation of “inapplicable” OT-though it

was subject to human error and subjectivity, he thought only the Spiritually gifted and

clean shall do this job.

Tertullian: Christian Pacifist and montanist towards the end; thought of penance idea;

threw off philosopher’s robe to disassociate with paganism.

Justin Martyr(100-165): keeps philosophers robe as a traveling teacher; opposed

Marcian and Gnosticism; Christianity on basis of miracles and ethics; beheaded in Rome

b/c he exasperated Crescens

Polycarp(69-160): last acquaintance of an apostle (John); dreamt of own martyrdom to

dismay of own congregation; compiled and preserved epistles of Ignatious; called

Marcian “1st born of Satan” and died at age 86.

Ignatius(dies at 177AD): martyred under Trajan; letters written en-route to martyrdom at

Rome (a fate he joyfully accepted); oppsed gnostic heresies; 1st to distinguish that outside

of an elder-there is no church

Clement of Rome(30-100): is considered to be 4th pope; started Apostolic Succession

(Phil. 4:3- ?); martyred under Domitian.

Iranaeus(c.177-200): believed strongly in oral transmission of word; disciple of

Polycarp; primary opponent of Gnosticism; incarnation and recapitulation

Persecuting Emperors~

[65AD] Nero: local in Rome only; Christian blamed for burning Rome; sadistic measure

taken to punish them; killed 2 of his sons and his mother and teacher and committed

suicide; sadistic and thought he was a god.

[90-96AD] Domitian: Rome and Asia Minor Christians refused to offer incense to the

Emperor; 1st in insists “My god, my Lord”

[161-180AD] Marcus Aurelius: philosophically opposed Christianity-they were blamed

for natural disasters; stoic philosopher

[202-211AD] Semptimus Severus: persecution breaks out in N.Africa; Christians there

believed him to be the Anti-Christ

[303-311AD] Diocletian (& Galerious): worst of all other persecutions combined:

churches destroyed, Bibles burned, rights revoked