Posted by: gcarkner | October 8, 2016

Shame, Courage and Vulnerability

Quotes by Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

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Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.

Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.

Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.

If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can’t survive.

Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.

When I look at narcissism through the vulnerability lens, I see the shame-based fear of being ordinary. I see the fear of never feeling extraordinary enough to be noticed, to be lovable, to belong, or to cultivate a sense of purpose.

What we know matters but who we are matters more.

The willingness to show up changes us, It makes us a little braver each time. Read More…

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Posted in Faith & Culture, Prayer & Spirituality, Seeker Corner, Stewardship

Posted by: gcarkner | October 7, 2016

Incarnation Identity

The Identity that Endures and Grows

~Gord Carkner~

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What are the implications of the incarnation (God with us) for graduate students, one of the central doctrines of the Christian faith.  What of their identity, their posture and their voice on campus? Incarnation is “where God’s eternity and creation’s temporality meet” (D. Stephen Long, Speaking of God, p. 86). There is no simple answer, but it is great territory to explore, good sod to turn over. There is a language to recover, golden insight and a new experience of self to be discovered.

Silence is clearly not the answer, although it is often our default position. We drop down into silence, dumb down our views and shrink inside. Sometimes, it seems that we need to offer one another the permission to think and speak religiously, biblically and theologically at UBC (while in language exile), to open the intellectual windows on a Closed World Order or ethos.  Why is God talk so unpopular, so hush hush? What is the point of this? We propose to offer some resistance to the policing of the supernatural by a secular outlook in our language usage and thought processes. Do you feel that you have to self-edit your comments in seminars, lab and class—to avoid the offense of theistic references. Is this a good, appropriate or just situation?

http://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-the-great-professors-blind-spot

Many university folks think that religious conversation should be kept to the private or personal sphere (keep it in church), since religious language is seen to be beyond reason (mere emotion/sentiment or for some superstition), while our university linguistic currency is evidence, reason, statistics and science. Is this a legitimate state of affairs or one to which we should submit? Many Christian students do just this; they believe that they cannot speak about God in a sophisticated world like UBC, University of Victoria or SFU without being marginalized by peers or professors. I sympathize; it happened to me  as a first year undergrad in science at Queen’s. Read More…

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Posted in Faith & Culture, GCU Personality, Prayer & Spirituality

Posted by: gcarkner | October 5, 2016

Durham University Biophysicist Tom McLeish @ UBC Early November

Graduate and Faculty Christian Forum Announces

its November Feature Presentation

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PROF TOM MCLEISH, FINSTP, FRS

Durham University

Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research (2008-14)

Professor in the  Department of Physics

Professor in the  Department of Chemistry

Member of the  Biophysical Sciences Institute

Member of the  Centre for Materials Physics

Member of the  Durham Centre for Soft Matter (DCSM)

Member in the  Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies

 

Investigating the Deep Structure of Modern Science: the Search for Wisdom

Wednesday, November 2 @ 4:00 p.m., Woodward (IRC) Room 6, UBC

http://www.csca.ca/mcleish-2016/

 

Abstract

Tom McLeish takes a scientist’s reading of a historical series of texts (the oldest is the celebrated nature poem from the ancient Middle-Eastern ‘wisdom’ text – the Book of Job) describing the search for understanding of nature.  He makes the case for science as a deeply human, social and ancient activity, embedded in some of the oldest stories told about human desire to understand the natural world.  Drawing on stories from the modern science of chaos and uncertainty alongside these medieval, patristic, classical and Biblical sources, this narrative approach challenges much of the current ‘science and religion’ debate as operating with the wrong assumptions and in the wrong space. It also develops a natural critique of the cultural separation of sciences and humanities, suggesting an approach to science, or in its more ancient form natural philosophy – the ‘love of wisdom of natural things’ – that can draw on theological and cultural roots that remain highly relevant today. McLeish suggests that deriving a human narrative for science in this way can transform the way political discussions of ‘troubled technologies’ are framed, the way we approach science in education and the media, and reframe the modes in which faith traditions engage with science.

Biography

Tom McLeish is a very accomplished prize-winning biophysics professor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research (2008-2014) at the highly ranked University of Durham in the UK. In 2011 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.  He served as Vice-President of Science and Innovation in the Institute of Physics 2012-2015, and is currently chair of the Royal Society’s Education Committee. Tom did a first degree in physics and PhD (1987) in polymer physics at Cambridge University.  A lectureship at Sheffield University in complex fluid physics was followed by a chair at Leeds University from 1993.  He has since won several awards both in Europe (Weissenberg Medal) and the USA (Bingham Medal) for his work on molecular rheology of polymers, and ran a large collaborative and multidisciplinary research program in this field from 1999-2009 co-funded by EPSRC and industry. His research interests include: (i) molecular rheology of polymeric fluids); (ii) macromolecular biological physics; (iii) issues of theology, ethics and history of science.  He has published over 180 scientific papers and reviews, and is in addition regularly involved in science-communication with the public, including lectures and workshops on science and faith.  He has been a Reader in the Anglican Church since 1993, in the dioceses of Ripon and York. In 2014, he published an important book called Faith and Wisdom in Science (Oxford University Press).

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https://tcbmcleish.wordpress.com

Tom McLeish’s scientific research over the last 25 years has contributed to the formation of the new field of ‘soft matter physics’. Interdisciplinary work with chemists, chemical engineers and biologists has sought to connect molecular structure and behaviour with emergent material or biological properties. He has also worked intensively with industrial researchers developing molecular design tools for new polymeric (plastic) materials, leading large national and international programs, with personal contributions mostly theoretical. Throughout he has also maintained an interest in public engagement with science, science policy and public values including the underlying, but often hidden, public narratives of science. He has been especially interested in the potential for theological narratives to inform debates in science and technology, both explicitly and implicitly.

 

Support and Sponsorship Gratitude to: Oikodome Foundation, Canadian Science & Christian Affiliation, Templeton Foundation, UBC Murrin Fund, Regent College

New Book Now Available: The Great Escape from Nihilism

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Posted in Apologetics, Faith & Culture, GCU Events, Public Lectures, Science Reflections, Seeker Corner

Posted by: gcarkner | September 23, 2016

Power: a Re-boot for the Twenty-first Century

A Re-evaluation of Power 

The cross offers a meta-critique, and an alternative vision, of ‘power through weakness’. Biblical Christianity promotes a renunciation of privilege, but this is not passivity. Philosopher-Theologian Anthony Thisleton talks about the cross as a ‘meta-critique’ in New Horizons in Hermeneutics, (614-619) a paradigm of God’s self-giving love. Nietzsche’s will-to-power is transformed into a will-to-love under this critique. Contrary to the entitlement expectations of the late modern self, the ethic of the cross in principle shatters the boundaries and conflicts between tribes, Jew and Gentile, female and male, free person and slave (Galatians 3:23; Ephesians 2). It is anti-hegemony.

Biblical Christianity is counter-cultural, calling for love where there is conflict, service where there are power-interests, and trust where there is suspicion. Nietzsche’s ‘solution’ of will-to-power, must be confronted and critiqued. People like Foucault are right when they exposes power-bids which are rooted in self-interest, but it is very wrong (extreme) to assume that all truth-claims are in essence nothing but a power-play. Truth cannot be subsumed or fully defined under power-knowledge. We must never give up on the genuine search for the truth of a matter. Sometimes it leans in the opposite direction to power or resists power interests. This is what the quest for justice is all about. Without truth that transcends interest, we have no basis upon which to confront the abuse of power. Biblical discourse offers a means of separating disguised self-interest from statements with integrity. Read More…

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Posted by: gcarkner | September 19, 2016

Book Review: Faith & Wisdom in Science

Book Review: Faith and Wisdom in Science by Tom McLeish (OUP, 2014)

~Dr. Olav Slaymaker, UBC Geography

Tom McLeish is Professor of Physics and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the highly ranked University of Durham in the UK.. With this book he has initiated a new genre of writing about the relation between science and faith. I have a raft of books on theology AND science; this book is the first one of which I am aware that attempts a theology OF science. It is an exciting book in so many ways and is marked by great originality. For some readers the case for the identicality of the scope of theology and science will be too radical to contemplate. Yet the argument is succinct and equally well grounded in Biblical exegesis and experiential empirical and theoretical science. I expect to continue to mine this book for several years to come.

 The central theme of the book is that the scope of science and theology is identical and that therefore there must be insights that are worthy of exploration and exchange between the two disciplines. Both science and theology are built on faith; they are both more about imagination and creative questions than about method, logic and providing answers and they both involve pain and love as their central emotions. Perhaps the most revelatory part of his thinking is his view that order and chaos are equally part of God’s world and his refusal to accept the simplistic argument that God’s existence is proven from the fine tuning of the universe. He insists that we must grapple with the chaos and disorderliness of much of creation and incorporate this into our theology beyond simply throwing up our arms and declaring that the disorder is caused by the Fall. And he bases his view on an original exegesis of parts of Proverbs, Psalms, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Hosea, Job (especially Job) and Genesis 1 and 2 and bolsters his argument with insights from Romans, I Corinthians, the Gospel according to John and the Revelation of John. Read More…

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Posted in Apologetics, Faith & Culture, GCU Events, Public Lectures, Science Reflections

Posted by: gcarkner | September 14, 2016

New Book Now Available: The Great Escape from Nihilism

As of October 18, Available on Amazon

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Kindle e-book

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MCV1LQC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1476802183&sr=8-1&keywords=the+great+escape+from+nihilism

Paper Version on Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Escape-Nihilism-Rediscovering-Modernity/dp/0995096821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1476802301&sr=8-1&keywords=the+great+escape+from+nihilism

Book Description This book is about a journey: out of the confines of nihilism into the heart of meaning. It presses the question: Does nihilism have the last word? The book addresses a contemporary crisis of faith, a crisis of identity, and a sense of lostness in late modernity. Our companions on the journey are a fine, seasoned group of writers, poets, social reformers, scientists, scholars and public intellectuals. Among the notables are Alvin Plantinga, Miralslov Volf, Jürgen Habermas, David Bentley Hart, Michel Foucault, Calvin Schrag, Jim Wallis, Tom McLeish and Jens Zimmermann. Special mention goes to eminent philosopher of modernity Charles Taylor for his deep, insightful cultural lens. He brings a major contribution to the discernment of our circumstances and our critical choices. The Great Escape from Nihilism is about a courageous and somewhat dangerous journey, but ultimately it is a path towards hopeful alternatives to the forces that weigh down our spirits, and the tensions that divide us. We must decide whether the quest to escape outweighs the risks. After mapping the contours of nihilism and the immanent frame in Part 1, the story proceeds with diagnosis and then prognosis. The ten substantial conversations that follow in Part 2 are modeled on real, ongoing discussions and lively debates over several years on university campuses across Canada, the United States and Europe. Despite how practical they are, there is more to life than science, technology, business and algorithms. Our journey involves the quest for the Holy Grail of human flourishing, the deeper life, the thick self.

Keywords  Nihilism, Secular Age, Search for Meaning, Scientism, Apologetics, Radical Individualism, Ideology of the Aesthetic, Recovery of the Good, Agape Love, Incarnational Humanism, Communal Responsibility, the Common Good, Late Modernity

Through the complex “lens” of Charles Taylor and the writings of some of the most influential philosophers and theologians of our time, Dr. Carkner provides wise and persuasive suggestions of ways forward in navigating the landscape of late modernity. The transcendent turn to agape love is the most challenging concept he exposits. This project is a rare and provocative contribution of high integrity.

~Olav Slaymaker, Professor Emeritus, UBC Geography

As a graduate student from the Middle East, this book has helped me understand Western culture better. I highly recommend it.

~Mary Kostandy, UBC Education PhD student (from Cairo, Egypt)

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Posted by: gcarkner | July 26, 2016

Welcome to GCU Fall 2016

 GCU Fall Term Welcome 2016

This group exists to help you reach your fullest potential as a graduate student. You help us build community among other grad students on campus and respond to those pursuing the deeper life.

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UBC is a Great Opportunity to Expand Your Horizons and Sharpen Your Skills

 Welcome to UBC! GCU sponsors a reception for new students second week of classes Wednesday, September 14 at 6:00 pm at the home of Professor Emeritus Dr. Ed and Anne Jull, 1828 Western Parkway. Our study group begins in September on Thursday evening at 7 p.m.: rooted in the book of Philippians. Our hikes begin on September 10 and 17. Our Fall Retreat will be held at A Rocha Centre in White Rock on September 23, 24. We are all on a journey both academically and spiritually. We hope that GCU can add fun, spice, wisdom and colour to that adventure.

Our updates are on the GCU Blog Site www.ubcgcu.org We post important lectures, social events and study group information, places to intersect with others who can build your imagination. It is a great network of creative minds and you add much with your background experiences, academic passion and searching questions. We hope that you will find it a home away from home in a community of mutual support. You can also ask questions or get more information from Gord at gcarkner@shaw.ca or  Ute at ucarkner@shaw.ca

Key Words to Capture the GCU Narrative Curiosity, Community, Digging Deeper into Faith and Reason, Integration, Science-Religion Dialogue, Identity Capital, Big Questions, Meta-Biology, Meaning and Calling, Adding Value to Education, Culture Making, Justice and the Common Good, Creative Imagination, Good Scholarship, Innovation, Christo-centric Inspiration, Incarnational Humanism, Adventure and Fun, Celebrating Creation, Re-thinking the Secular, Social Relevance.

GCU is interdisciplinary and international, it creates a lively conversation as people bring their wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise to the table. They also bring their heart, humour and their joy to community. Let’s get to know each other and explore new horizons together during this important journey of postgraduate education. GCU helps you keep perspective on your studies and career development.

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Long hours in the laboratory, thesis proposals, the weight of comprehensive exams means that a grad student needs a support infrastructure. I can’t speak highly enough about getting involved with a group on campus like GCU, and also finding a good church home base. Also as you are walking into your office or biking into campus, try praying for your profs, fellow students, or admin staff; this can help stimulate surprisingly fruitful conversations. And don’t forget that you are here to serve undergrads with grace. Feel free to track me down for coffee; I love ideas exchange.

~Dr. Craig Mitton, PhD

Associate Professor

School of Population and Public Health

As a graduate student several decades ago I found the Grad Christian Union community at my university uplifting spiritually and socially. In an often chilly secular environment, it was a great venue to meet other grads outside my own field and cultural background and develop friendships and join in events with those who shared the same core values. I am still in contact with several of these friends 30 years later. With some other faculty and graduate students, I helped to launch the Graduate & Faculty Christian Forum a number of years ago. Gord has been a solid advisor to this group as well 

~Dr. David Ley

Professor Department of Geography

University of British Columbia

There is no more important bellwether for our society and our culture than the university — and yet Christians within academia often travel incognito, which isn’t good for them, isn’t good for the university, and isn’t good for other Christians, who often feel alone when really they’re not. A ministry to grad students and thus provides a vital venue where Christians can connect, show their colours, and stimulate each other to play the full role they’re called to play as fully alive and “out” followers of Christ. Decide to be a public Christian at UBC.

~Dr. Dennis Danielson

Professor of English

University of British Columbia

Graduate research is often like looking for a lightswitch in a totally dark room. It can be frustrating at times. It certainly was for me! It was invaluable for me to have close connection with other Christians whom I could share that load with, and who were praying for me.

~Dr. Bé Wassink

Instructor, Materials Engineering

University of British Columbia

We will buy you a free coffee of your choice. Looking forward to hearing your story and your aspirations for grad school.

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Graduate Christian Union Fall Orientation

 Fall Dinner Reception for New UBC Students

Wednesday, September 14 @ 6:00 p.m. home of Dr. Ed and Anne Jull, 1828 Western Parkway: Find out about the GCU program and meet other students and UBC faculty.

Hikes and Coffee on Saturday, September 10 and 17    Contact Ute: ucarkner@shaw.ca Get to know the natural beauty of the local mountains.

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GFCF Scholarly Lecture Series with Durham University Biophysicist Tom McLeish: November 1- 4 Includes fall book study on Faith & Wisdom in Science http://www.ubcgfcf.com

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First Study Group Meeting, Thursday, September 22, 7:00 pm @ 277 west 16th ave. (near Cambie) on the Book of Philippians under the theme Daring Greatly. T: 604-349-9497

 

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How You Can Flourish with GCU

  • Building a Christian Voice with Integrity in Academia: faith and reason as partners
  • GCU Blog org   reaching students in 92 countries. Spark a conversation.
  • Scholarly Christian Lectures: UBC Graduate and Faculty Christian Forum
  • New Book: The Great Escape from Nihilism: rediscovering our passion in late modernity by Gordon E. Carkner, Ph.D.
  • Providing Cutting Edge Resources for Students and Faculty:    Mentorship and support by senior UBC faculty and Gordon Carkner
  • Apologetics Training and Resources: Ravi Zacharias Conference Sept 6 & 7; Apologetics Canada Conference March 5 & 6.
  • Hospitality and Friendship at our Bible Study in the Book of Philippians (Thursdays)
  • Prayer and Spiritual Direction: Contact GCU Staff Ute Carkner ucarkner@shaw.ca
  • Join our Listserv Today for information on future events and opportunities: Contact Gord Carkner, GCU Director and Mentor gcarkner@shaw.ca  

 

Our Core Values

  • Students engaging and encouraging fellow students on the cutting edge of thought and research.
  • Courage and integrity in the pursuit of excellence in research and noble personal character.
  • Winsome exploration of fullness and joy in our work and life, to live large with humility.
  • The agape love posture of respect in relationships with high goals for collegiality and friendship.
  • In preparation for global citizenship and pursuing hope for a better and more just world.
  • A stance of intellectual openness in the pursuit of a reasoned faith and faithful, responsible, virtuous reasoning, handling the pursuit of knowledge wisely.
  • A constructive contribution to campus discourse, raising important questions, and exploring fresh ideas and horizons.
  • Drilling down into the richest heritage of Judeo-Christianity, leaving no stone unturned. Exploring how this can inspire and open up channels for academic investigation.
  • Develop a deep identity in Jesus Christ and the biblical narrative while respecting difference in convictions of others, promoting a responsible spiritual quest for truth, beauty, goodness and community.
  • Encouraging intense curiosity that draws from the wisdom of faculty across the disciplines and scholarship from around the globe.
  • Advocating for others who are less fortunate or less privileged, pursuing their empowerment and freedom from oppression and grinding poverty. Pursuit of the common good towards an integral humanism.

 

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GCU Staff Gordon Carkner is a visionary, passionate about dialogue on salient questions of meaning and identity, faith and culture.  He has worked as a meta-educator, a networker, and campus pastor for over 30 years in Canadian universities. As a voracious reader, his vision is to mentor future leaders within academia with excellent resources: to keep them on the cutting edge and to broaden their horizons. Together with his team of university faculty and graduate students, he has sponsored countless book studies, lectures, panels, discussions and debates on the connection between a wide range of academic scholarship and Christian faith, helping people find their voice, grow their identity, and develop a spirit of curiosity. His present work is located in Vancouver, Canada at the University of British Columbia. He is also keen to feed relevant scholarship intelligence and critical thinking insights to church leaders. He is joined in his work by his lovely wife and ministry partner Ute and their two charming daughters. As a family, they enjoy getting out in the mountains of British Columbia, Alberta, and the Austrian and Swiss Alps. Gordon and Ute together have hiked the Grand Canyon and Ute joined an Australian expedition in Nepal.

Dr. Carkner holds a B.Sc. in Human Physiology from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada; a Masters of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois; and a PhD in philosophical theology from University of Wales, with a strong emphasis on the moral self and the making of the modern identity. His curiosity and expertise lies in the arena of questions concerning freedom and the good, secularity, meaning, worldviews, and philosophical anthropology, as they get articulated, discussed and debated within late modern Western culture. His current intellectual hero is Canadian McGill University philosopher, Professor Emeritus Charles Taylor. He is also well read in history and philosophy of science, science and theology. Gordon co-authored with Michael Green the popular book Ten Myths about Christianity, which sold over 200,000 copies in twenty languages and assisted many people around the world to reconsider what faith offers to their journey in life. He has also authored a number of key papers on scientism, individualism, worldviews and pluralism, tools for effective dialogue, and Charles Taylor’s recovery of the good for moral discourse. He hosts an active blog for postgraduate students, which reaches people in 92 countries, at http://www.ubcgcu.org.

Dr Carkner has just finished a book to be released this fall called The Great Escape from Nihilism.

 

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Posted in Apologetics, GCU Events, GCU Personality, Grad Student Strategies, Prayer & Spirituality

Posted by: gcarkner | July 17, 2016

Summer Good Reading

Gord’s Summer Reading 2016

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If we encounter a person of rare intellect, we should ask what books they read

Brené Brown (2012). Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead. Avery. This is a surprisingly insightful book on human and family relationships; you might have seen her popular TED Talk on vulnerability or shame. She is a shame researcher in Texas who offers pearls of wisdom. We know a family of a GCU Alumnus in the UK that has been totally transformed by her teaching. Shame is the big elephant in the room for many of us.

Companion Volumes

Curt Thompson, The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves. (IVP, 2015)

Andy Crouch (2016). Strong and Weak: embracing a life of love, risk and true flourishing. IVP His books Culture Making and Playing God have been a huge hit for Christians looking to engage culture and find a creative, biblical way forward.

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Timothy Jackson (2015). Political Agape: Christian Love and Liberal Democracy. Eerdmans. This is part of a trilogy on agape theology; there is a great final essay on Martin Luther King Jr.

Dallas Willard. The Allure of Gentleness: defending the faith in the manner of Jesus. Harper One. Willard has encouraged many young Christian philosophers in his time, and is also well-known for his work on Christian spirituality.

Two Great Books on Globalization

Miraslov Volf (2015). Flourishing: why we need religion in the age of globalization. Yale

Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, The Dignity of Difference: how to avoid the clash of civilization. Continuum

Two Books on Science & Religion

Fraser Fleming (2016). The Truth about Science and Religion: From the Big Bang to Neuroscience. Wipf & Stock Fraser is a former PhD student in Chemistry at UBC and one of the early members of GCU and the GFCF Committee.

Tom McLeish (2014). Faith and Wisdom in Science. Oxford University Press. (upcoming speaking tour at UBC, SFU and TWU first week of November 2016)

James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit.  (a very popular speaker, writer and philosopher from Calvin College).

Christian Artist Makato Fujimura, Silence and Beauty.

Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation: the power of talk in a digital age.

Brian Fikkert & Russell Mask (2015). From Dependence to Dignity: how to alleviate poverty through church-centered microfinance. Zondervan

Books are food for the soul. They can be like a journey into another world. Some become our best friends. They can make a huge difference in our perspective. These authors can also be our mentors. Read outside your discipline to maximize your creativity. 

Good Reading  ~Gord

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Posted by: gcarkner | June 28, 2016

Virtue Liberates in the Long Run

Three Propositions from David Brooks, The Road to Character

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1. We don’t live for happiness, we live for holiness. Day to day we seek our pleasure, but deep down, human beings are endowed with moral imagination. All human beings seek to lead lives not just of pleasure, but of purpose, righteousness, and virtue. As John Stuart Mill put it, people have a responsibility to become more moral over time. The best life is oriented around the increasing excellence of the soul and is nourished by moral joy, the quiet sense of gratitude and tranquility that comes as a byproduct of successful moral struggle. The meaningful life is the same eternal thing, the combination of some sort of ideals and some man or woman’s struggle for those ideals. Life is essentially a moral drama, not a hedonistic one.

2. Proposition one defines the goal of life. The long road to character begins with an accurate understanding of our nature, and the core of that understanding is that we are flawed creatures. We have an innate tendency towards selfishness and overconfidence. We have a tendency to see ourselves as the centre of the universe, as if everything revolves around us.We resolve to do one thing but end up doing its opposite. We know what is deep and important in life, but we will pursue the things that are shallow and vain. Furthermore we overestimate our own strength and rationalize our own failures. We know less than we think we do. We give in to short-term desire even when we know we shouldn’t. We imagine that spiritual and moral needs can be solved through status and material things.

3. Although we are flawed creatures, we are also splendidly endowed. We are divided within ourselves, both fearfully and wonderfully made. We do sin, but we also have a capacity to recognize sin, and to overcome sin. We are both weak and strong, bound and free, blind and far-seeing.We thus have the capacity to struggle with ourselves. There is something heroic about a person in struggle with herself, strained on the rack of conscience, suffering torments, yet staying alive and growing stronger, sacrificing a worldly success for the sake of inner victory.

Compare Current Schools of Denial of Transcendence: Norms are nothing but the product of society and good is what we call good out of self-interest or certain social relations. All normative claims are problematic and therefore there are no criteria for judgment or discernment at a moral level. This comes as the next stage after the death of God (Deus Abscondicus) in western culture. It involves the admission (Nietzsche) that one cannot preserve Christian values once one has gotten rid of God. The Enlightenment tried to preserve ethical norms and absolutes based on reason (Kant) or emotions (Hume) or utility (Bentham). Often views in late modernity are part of a philosophy of absence. George Steiner in his important book Real Presences is quite helpful in his articulation of the loss of transcendence (presence) in late modern thought. The focus is on immanence (the here and now) and human practices. Virtues would then be reduced to the values of one’s tribe.

We are relentless. We depersonalize God to an idea to be discussed. We reduce people around us to resources to be used. We define ourselves as consumers to be satisfied. The more we do it, the more we incapacitate ourselves from growing up to a maturity capable of living adult lives of love, adoration, trust and sacrifice…. In our identity-confused society, too many of us have settled for a pastiche identity composed of social security number, medical records, academic degrees, job history, and whatever fragments of genealogy we can salvage. (E. Peterson 2010, 66, 79)

~Gordon Carkner

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Posted in Grad Student Strategies, Prayer & Spirituality, Seeker Corner, Stewardship

Posted by: gcarkner | May 9, 2016

Leverage your Virtue

Leverage the Virtuous Community

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What kind of people form a virtuous community? How do we locate ourselves with respect to the good? What do wisdom, courage and hope, benevolence and love have to do with scholarship? What do moderation, self-restraint and frugality, patience and gratitude have to do with academic excellence, business acumen or scientific brilliance? Can we truly flourish if we live, work and love virtuously? Is self-interest and the almighty sovereignty of individual choice perhaps a scam of our age? Can virtue inform our academic vision to help it flourish? Our vision shapes our goals and actions day to day. Many of us will know of philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre’s landmark book After Virtue which decried the cultural loss of this ancient language of virtue; in its place late modernity have substituted the Nietzschean/Weberian language of posited values–self-invented morality. Is this wise for full human flourishing?

A moral virtue is an excellence of character, developed by conscious choices over time and thus for which we can and should be praised; virtue disposes one to act in such a reasonable way to avoid extremes, to act in short as a sage would act. It is hard to develop solo; we need others to learn how to practice virtue. Virtues are heuristic; they teach us about new dimensions of life as we embrace them and embody them. Where do we find training in the virtues and character these days? Steven Bouma-Prediger (For the Beauty of the Earth, p. 140) a UBC GFCF visiting scholar shared his concern for environmental stewardship virtues. He articulate the language this way:

A virtue is a state of praiseworthy character—with the attendant desires, attitudes and emotions. Formed by choices over time, a virtue disposes us to act in certain excellent ways. Knowing which way is the truly excellent way involves avoiding the extremes of vice by looking to people of virtue as role models. As certain virtues shape our character they influence how we see the world. And the entire process of forming virtues is shaped by a particular narrative and community. The settled disposition to act well, which makes us who we are, is nurtured by the stories we imbibe and the communities of which we are a part.

There is an art, a finesse, a personal strength and creativity to virtue. It shows up in how we operate in the world and how we treat others. Virtues orient us toward both individual and group flourishing. It assumes trustworthy social relationships characteristic of a moral community; it takes into consideration an individual as well as a common good. There are academic and research virtues (Linda Zagzebski’s Virtues of the Mind) which help the university keep its integrity as a knowledge centre. Oxford’s Iris Murdoch, although not a believer in God, had a high view of the good, influencing premier Canadian philosopher of the self Charles Taylor (Sources of the Self). Basic honesty is under strain today as we are pushed to publish more and more and to superior academic performance (Matthew Crawford,  The World Outside Your Head).

Crawford suggest that our quest for radical individualism and autonomy is leading us into a unhealthy moral autism. We are losing our moral skill and agency. Matthew calls this the ‘cult of sincerity’, i.e., that you yourself can be the source of the norms by which you justify yourself–a radical responsibility for which we were not designed. It offers too much sovereignty. He says that we actually need others (friends, family, colleagues) to check our own self-understanding–through triangulation–to tell us we are doing OK, that we are good or excellent, or not so noble. One thing that sets us apart as humans is our desire to justify ourselves; we never act without moral implications. We need this web of people we respect (aka normativity). Charles Taylor agrees (Sources of the Self).

Here’s the rub: In times of cultural flux, where it is unclear what the rules are, how to value things or behaviour, it is difficult for us to understand ourselves socially. This leads to an existential crisis of alienation. So we become victims of the values of the marketplace–productivity, performance, usefulness, cash-out value. Matthew’s friend, psychologist Alain Ehrenburg (Weariness of the Self), notes that this is leading to epidemic levels of depression in our current culture of performance. Enough is never enough:

Depression presents itself as an illness of responsibility in which the dominant feeling is that of failure. The depressed individual is unable to measure up; he is tired of having to become himself. In a culture of performance, the person reads the value and status of her soul in her worldly accomplishments.

We are ever guilt-ridden and stressed. We are always faced with the raw issue of making things happen, our capacity, leading to this new pathology of weariness. The weariness of having to become one’s fullest self is leading to depression. On top of this, it is difficult to mitigate this depression in an age of performance, because weariness comes to equal weakness. So we turn to quick fixes, stimulants like Prozac or Adderall (an amphetamine) to keep us high-performing. This is an epidemic among students and also young faculty in high-performance universities. All the while we seek liberation through this autonomy, we are discovering a very serious brand of slavery. Modernity has turned on us: performance in capitalistic terms can crush us. We are not flourishing. We need a broader and richer set of moral parameters.
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Brad Gregory, author of The Unintended Reformation has a chapter called “Subjectivizing Morality” on important sea changes in morality in the West. He makes note of a time when the virtuous community was a common social and political consciousness, part of people’s identity. But this has been exchanged today for a language of rights. Gregory notes: “A transformation from a substantive morality of the good to a formal morality of rights constitutes the central change in Western ethics over the past half millennium, in terms of theory, practice, laws and institutions.”
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At one time, rights were articulated within values of the communal good (within the discourse of the virtuous community); now they have morphed into a consumeristic commodity to fulfill my subjective desires or opinions–my choice. This approach is threatening our freedom, dignity and rights. Today, our individual good seems to be in tension with the common good (within a discourse of individualism, self-interest and entitlements). We are struggling to find the social glue (the common purpose) to hold society together. Is the default position of personal preference and consumerism the answer? How do we recover again and leverage the power of virtue? This is no small concern; it is both a local and a global phenomenon.

Gordon E. Carkner, PhD Philosophical Theology

See also David Brooks, The Road to Character.

Jim Wallis, The (Un)Common Good.

Other blog posts on The Qualities of the Will.

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Posted in Aesthetics, Faith & Culture, Grad Student Strategies, Seeker Corner, Stewardship

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