Hearing, caring for all points of view,
Even if we disagree.
Working in a pluralistic culture, many voices need to be heard.
Hearing is not the same as believing, so how does one honor another’s point of view?
Watch our Truth in Two to find out (full text & links below).
The public university should expose the full to a diversity of views.
Find out more about becoming a Christian APOLOGIST. I would be glad to talk with you about the work of RATIO CHRISTI (here). Subscribe to “Truth in Two” videos from Comenius (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), hosts a weekly radio program with diverse groups of guests (1 minute video), and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).
Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappy Goat
FULL TEXT
This spring I was accepted as a member of The Heterodox Academy, a group promoting viewpoint diversity in the university. Working in the public square, my approach to higher education is to participate as a teacher-scholar-writer, caring for all people, listening to their ideas, and finding common ground where possible. At the same time, I explain why I believe the orthodox Hebraic-Christian worldview is distinctive.
The gospel writer Luke, himself a medical doctor, believed in promoting truth wherever he found it. For instance, the good doctor recorded the voice of Gamaliel in Acts 5. Gamaliel was certainly no friend of The Church. As a physician, however, Luke knew that hearing alternative voices, voices that spoke true Truth, should be heard. After Peter and John were arrested for preaching, Gamaliel said, “If this undertaking is of man, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it. You might even be found opposing God.”
I too believe it is incumbent upon me to celebrate true Truth wherever it’s found. Dr. Freeman Dyson believed in viewpoint diversity on the university campus. He did not believe in “group think,” questioning everything, including climate change theories. Dyson said, “doing good works,” like solving poverty, should be the practical work of the scientist. He prized science and religion both for the same reason: mystery. He won the Templeton Award, consulted for the government, and had a prodigious writing output from the age of 55 until his death at 96. The university needs more people like Dr. Dyson. I know little of Dr. Dyson’s personal beliefs apart from articles I have read. Yet, Psalm 64 is clear. Humans discover true Truth, recognizing its origin in God pondering what He has done.
I believe that orthodoxy gives the basis for practicing heterodoxy: belief in true Truth encourages the hearing of diverse viewpoints.
For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, President of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.
Watch the Heterodox three minute video on the link: https://heterodoxacademy.org/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/science/freeman-dyson-dead.html