Review of: Science and Spiritual Practices by Rupert Sheldrake

Column by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox on 18 April 2019 1 Comments

Science and Spirituality need each other. This has always been the case—from Aristotle (who concludes his classic work on Physics with positing an Unmoved Mover) to Aquinas (who fought the fundamentalists of his day about the value of bringing science, namely Aristotle, and the scientific method of his day, namely scholasticism, into the world of faith).

Please login with your account to read this essay.
 

Question

 
How to talk to Fundamentalist Evangelicals? I grew up as one but like to ask questions and realize you are all on the right track. I along with my wife attend an Evangelical church nearly every Sunday and wonder the best ways to talk about science, global warming, the age of the earth, evolution, biblical errors and so on, of which Evangelicals seem so terrified.

Answer

 
Dear Lonnie,

Many Evangelicals are so 100% bought in to the whole package they have been given -  original sin, penal substitutionary atonement, biblical inerrancy, young earth creationism, denial of climate change, unwillingness to hear the arguments for LGBTQ equality, support for Donald Trump - that if you challenge them, they'll feel attacked and respond defensively or simply start avoiding you. When people become defensive, they tend to double down on what they're defending and identify themselves even more closely with it, so any attempts to argue can actually cause people to become more resistant to different ways of thinking.

I think of Jesus' words about being wise as serpents and innocent as doves, meaning that we have to be completely non-aggressive (doves) but also look for the tiniest opening (serpents) to get the seed of a new message through their defenses. Here are four suggestions:

1. You can wait for someone to say something you find false, unhelpful, or offensive. Then, rather than arguing back, just say, "Wow. I see that differently." They'll likely ask why, and rather than arguing (especially in public, which almost guarantees a defensive reaction), I'd recommend you say - with pleasantness and kindness, "I'd rather not go into it now. For now I just wanted you to know that I see it differently. If you're curious sometime in the future, I'll be glad to share why in private." There's great power in a non-directive, non-aggressive statement (I see that differently), and a great gift in differing without needing to convince. 

2. You can share your perspectives in a way that makes it easy for others to differ, while always remaining positive, emphasizing not just what you're against, but what you're for. You might say, "I'm pretty sure that I hold a minority opinion on this, but I find the creation story in Genesis much richer when read as a poem that conveys meaning instead of a scientific or historical account." You're not asking anyone to agree with you (I hold a minority opinion), and you're focusing not on their fault (interpreting literally) but on what you have found meaningful (reading poetically).

3. You can share books or other recommendations. Most Evangelicals won’t be ready for Jack Spong or even Marcus Borg, but they might listen to Rachel Held Evans or Pete Enns or Brian Zahnd, or perhaps even some of my books. There are some tremendous podcasts out there to recommend too, geared especially for questioning Evangelicals. Pete Enns’ “The Bible for Normal People” and Tripp Fuller’s “Homebrewed Christianity” and Jen Hatmaker’s “For the Love” are among my favorites.

4. Whenever possible, tell your story. Don't say, "You're a homophobic bigot" or "You're so Islamophobic!" Instead, say, "You know, I used to see things the way you do. But then, a lifelong friend confided to me that he was gay...." Or, "I often hear the opinion of Muslims that you just expressed, but I should tell you about my friends Mustafa and Zaid. We met two years ago ..." When you share your story, you're adding data to their data bank that they can process later on their own.

Soren Kierkegaard said that "the apostle" (the person who carries a message of good news) must be like a midwife. Midwives know that no mother wants to give birth in public. Similarly, people generally prefer to give birth to a new opinion in private. So we offer what we can in public, but then withdraw so that people can process and "go through labor" on their own.

~ Brian D. McLaren

 

Comments

 

One thought on “Review of: Science and Spiritual Practices by Rupert Sheldrake

  1. WordPress › Error

    There has been a critical error on this website.

    Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.