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Randal Rauser

Home of progressively evangelical, generously orthodox, rigorously analytic, revolutionary Christian thinking (that's what I'm aiming for anyway)

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education

Avoid the Futility and Hubris of the Uninformed Apologist

July 27, 2020 by Randal

Imagine the absurdity of a would-be mountain climber arriving at the base of a great mountain one afternoon, prepared to climb it by himself. You ask him, “What preparation do you have? What have you studied about this great mountain?” And he replies, “I read a couple of articles on the internet.” And with that, […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, education

Would you indoctrinate your child to save their soul?

November 29, 2019 by Randal

This should be interesting. I just posted this Twitter survey. It seems to me that if you believe that the failure to be a Christian ensures eternal separation from God and the concomitant deprivation of the unimaginable goods of the new heavens and new earth, then in principle you would have excellent grounds to indoctrinate […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: education, indoctrination, soteriology

A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing, or the biggest problem with popular Christian apologetics

April 30, 2017 by Randal

Thirty years ago popular Christian apologetics (henceforth PCA) was thin on the ground: Josh McDowell, John Warwick Montgomery, Norman Geisler, and a smattering of others largely carried the field. But these days the field of PCA is crowded with luminaries ranging from distinguished academics (e.g. William Lane Craig; Gary Habermas; Timothy McGrew) to lay church […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, education, indoctrination

Freethinking children? Not so much.

January 17, 2016 by Randal

Today I came upon the following tweet courtesy of a retweet by Secular Outpost. (As a disclaimer, Secular Outpost does not consider a retweet an endorsement of the tweet. Nor, for that matter, do I.) Meet Zea, the 7-year-old who stood up to a homophobic hate preacher this week by holding up a rainbow sign. […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, education, freethought, ideology, indoctrination, Richard Dawkins

What chance has she?

August 22, 2015 by Randal

Richard Dawkins begins his famous 1991 essay “Viruses of the Mind” with the following words: “A beautiful child close to me, six and the apple of her father’s eye, believes that Thomas the Tank Engine really exists. She believes in Father Christmas, and when she grows up her ambition is to be a tooth fairy. […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: education, freethought, pedagogy, Richard Dawkins, skepticism, worldview

Preparing Christian kids for the university faith-buster class

March 24, 2015 by Randal

A couple days ago I posted an article responding to a comment by Lee Strobel given in the midst of an interview with Darrell Bock at Dallas Theological Seminary. In this article I want to return to that interview to address an interesting exchange Bock and Strobel have over so-called “faith-buster” classes, i.e. university classes […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, Darrell Bock, discipleship, education, indoctrination, Lee Strobel, university

What’s an education worth?

April 27, 2012 by Randal

For the last few months university students in Quebec have been “on strike” from classes because of the government’s intention to raise tuition by $325 a year over five years for a grand total of an additional $1625. It is an interesting turn of a phrase. Calling this a strike is about as ridiculous as calling […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: boycott, education, liberal arts, protest, quebec, tuition

The Atheist Missionary continues to justify his prejudices

May 25, 2011 by Randal

Why do I keep dumping on poor Atheist Missionary? Is it because I have a curious, morbid fascination in an intelligent denizen of western civilization defending  his prejudices in a painfully ad hoc manner? In part, perhaps. But that’s not the whole story. The real lesson here is that we all attempt to justify our […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, dogma, education, indoctrination, naturalism, pedagogy, social epistemology, The Atheism Missionary

Royal flushes, resurrections, and the things you teach your children

May 24, 2011 by Randal

The Atheist Missionary’s criteria for what he would teach his children has continued to evolve (or devolve, I’m not sure yet). That’s a good thing because it is important for him to work out the principles that guide how he raises his progeny. The key issue concerned past event types that are unique and unrepeatable. […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: education, historiography, indoctrination, naturalism, pedagogy, resurrection, worldview

Would you teach your child that Great Grampy got a Royal Flush?

May 23, 2011 by Randal

Occasionally a line of questioning / dialogue opens up in a thread which deserves to be put in the spotlight. This is one of those cases. It all began yesterday when The Atheist Missionary questioned me on what it is appropriate to teach a child. I’ve reproduced the nuts and bolts of that conversation below. […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: education, epistemology, indoctrination, miracle, pedagogy

Entomophobia meets Reason: A teachable moment

May 22, 2011 by Randal

Jerry Rivard responded to my criticism of the terrible advice Dawkins gave to his daughter by asking: “So what would your advice be to your daughter?” Good question. Here’s an eminently practical response. Just this morning we were driving along when my nine year old began “freaking out” in the back seat. “What is it?” I […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: education, epistemology, faith, indoctrination, rationality, reason

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