Nancy Randolph Pearcey, proclaimed as "America's pre-eminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual", was born in 1952. Nancy met her now husband, Richard Pearcey, in Switzerland. Several years after meeting they married and now have two sons. She is a former agnostic and an American evangelical author on the Christian worldview. Pearcey earned a BA from Iowa State University and an MA in Biblical Studies from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. She also studied philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto, Canada and received an honorary doctoral degree from Philadelphia Biblical University. She has written three books: Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes, Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning, and Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity. This last work was the winner of the 2005 ECPA Gold Medallion Award for best book on Christianity and Society. Pearcey is also the coauthor of four other books: The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy, coauthored by Charles B. Thaxton, How Now Shall We Live? coauthored by Harold Fickett and Charles Colson, A Dance With Deception: Revealing the Truth Behind the Headlines, and A Dangerous Grace: Daily Readings, both coauthored by Charles Colson. Pearcey is currently the editor-at-large of The Pearcey Report, a fellow at the Discovery Institute, and a scholar-in-residence and professor at Houston Baptist University. She previously worked as the Francis A. Shaeffer Scholar at the World Journalism Institute and as professor of worldview …show more content…
studies at Philadelphia Biblical University. In 1991 she became the founding editor of the daily radio program "BreakPoint". Pearcey served for almost nine years as executive editor, leading a team of writers who produced broadcast-ready commentaries, being the author of more than 1,000 commentaries herself. She was also policy director and senior fellow of the Wilberforce Forum, and for five years she coauthored a monthly column in Christianity Today. 2.
Summary
In Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals and Meaning Nancy Pearcey clearly stated that the goal of this book is to equip the reader to detect, decipher, and defeat the rigid secularism that is spreading rapidly and imposing its values on everyone’s family and
hometown. She has divided the book into two major sections. In the first, The Threat of Global Secularism, Pearcey described the growth of international secularism as an imposing worldview that is a threat to all. In the first chapter she addressed how people are an easy mark. She emphasized how people must recognize the existing battle of worldviews that involves everything around, including things such as movies, books, news broadcast, cartoons, etc. She also emphasized that if people are not alert to this, they run the risk of becoming an easy target and their worldviews could be redirected to whatever ideological agenda to which they are exposed to. A big part of this problem is ignorance. Most people, including Christians, are ignorant of this ongoing battle and that is how they lose to it so easily. Pearcey stated that studying and being familiar with other worldviews are especially important for Christians; this is not solely for the sake of new knowledge, but also to understand what and whom they are dealing with. Being familiar with other worldviews is as important as knowing one's own. In chapter two Pearcey shared her belief that “the key to understanding modern secularism is its view of truth.” (23) She stated, “Before you decide what you believe, you must first decide what the credible options are.” (23) One will determine what those options are going to be by one's definition of truth, or epistemology. Pearcey wrote that the Bible does not only present individual truths but it also teaches on the pure nature of it. Once people understand the concept of truth, the ways for communicating, including communication of the gospel, become easier and more efficient. Pearcey wrote, “The split view (or division) of truth has also become the main obstacle to living a consistent biblical worldview.” (Page #?) Pearcey wrote that this concept “is not only a view of truth but also a strategy for gaining power –and ultimately for imposing political control.” (Page #?) Those who fail to recognize this will continue to lose ground both in a personal and cultural level. In chapter three Pearcey explained how the secular world is neither wholly rationalist nor postmodern but it is rather divided. Modernism rules the “lower story realm” (the body) whereas postmodernism rules the “upper story values realm” (the self); this is almost word-for-word with the article this frames the debate (Pearcey explains each area in detail???) in so many things like euthanasia, sexuality, genetic engineering, destruction of human embryos, abortion, suicide among many other issues that play out in social arenas. In other words, this apparent division is connected to controversial issues that threaten the dignity of human life itself. In the second half of the book, Two Paths to Secularism, Pearcey laid out the history of secularism, contrasting the Enlightenment (fact realm) and Romantic (value realm) worldviews (once again, one can see the obvious dualism here). In Saving Leonardo, Pearcey exposed how secularism in the modern world is a force that is both destructive and conclusive and she also provided the instruments with which to address the problems it raises. In chapter four she explained how to detect worldviews in the areas of art and culture. Artists use their art as a way of personal expression; however, their personal expression is tainted with the ideas of their day. They translate worldviews into stories and images. Learning to understand or translate that message is crucial. Pearcey performed a survey of history in regards to how specific artists reflected their contemporary worldviews and philosophy on their art, making it come alive. The Enlightenment-inspired styles reflect the data-driven lower story level. 3. Analysis In the book, Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals and Meaning, the author explained how by understanding the nature of the divide Christians can share their worldview, the Gospel, in a better and more efficient way. Pearcey showed several secular worldviews and explained how to understand them in order to be able to break them.
Mildred Day and Malitta Jensen had a problem. Often times amazing things can happen when people can find a solution to a problem. These homemakers were leaders of a Campfire Girls group. They needed the girls to make something that they could sell to raise funds for activities. The year was 1939 and these two busy ladies came up with Rice Krispie treats. They have truly become a world wide treat.
Linda Bove was born November 30 1945 in Garfield, New Jersey with to two parents who were also deaf. Growing up deaf herself, she used ASL her whole life. In the beginning, she went to St. Joseph School for the Deaf in Bronx, New York. Later, in 1963 she was fortunate to graduate from Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf in Trenton New Jersey where she was surrounded by her pears which helped place the foundation for her success. Upon completion of Marie Katzenbach School, Linda later attended Gallaudet University and received her Bachelor’s degree in library science. While attending Gallaudet she was in several plays including The Threepenny Opera and Spoon River Anthology. After graduation she attended a summer school program at the National
Moore investigates the attitudes, behavior, and perception of Americans regarding their respective individual sacred and secular lives. He is interested in the roles of popular culture and religion and in addition, how popular culture affected the shift in boundaries between sacredness and secularism, particularly how these practices shape American religion. We live in a complex society and social structure that is structured with norms and values that they themselves structure the way we interpret and interact with others.
Catherine McAuley (29 September 1778 – 11 November 1841) was an Irish nun who founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831. The Sisters of Mercy follow a tradition of educating Catholics in schools. This essay will give a brief overview of the life of Catherine McAuley, her achievements and how she responded to the needs of the faithful.
The main theme of A Prayer for Owen Meany is religious faith -- specifically, the relationship between faith and doubt in a world in which there is no obvious evidence for the existence of God. John writes on the first page of the book that Owen Meany is the reason that he is a Christian, and ensuing story is presented as an explanation of the reason why. Though the plot of the novel is quite complicated, the explanation for Owen's effect on Johnny's faith is extremely simple; Owen's life is a miracle -- he has supernatural visions and dreams, he believes that he acts as God's instrument, and he has divine foresight of his own death -- and offers miraculous and almost undeniable evidence of God's existence. The basic thematic shape of the novel is that of a tension being lifted, rather than a tension being resolved; Johnny struggles throughout the book to resolve his religious faith with his skepticism and doubt, but at the novel's end he is not required to make a choice between the two extremes: Owen's miraculous death obviates the need to make a choice, because it offers evidence that banishes doubt. Yet Johnny remains troubled, because Owen's sacrificial death (he dies to save the lives of a group of Vietnamese children) seems painfully unfair. Johnny is left with the problem of accepting God's will. In the end, he invests more faith in Owen himself than he invests in God -- he receives two visitations from Owen beyond the grave -- and he concludes the novel by making Owen something of a Prince of Peace, asking God to allow Owen's resurrection and return to Earth.
However, aside from the apparent lengthiness of such an analysis, the emphasis of this book is how to practically respond to the secular mindset in the marketplace.
The most empowering change of this era was the dominance of a secular attitude and the decline of church absolutism. This secular viewpoint altered man’s reason for existence from an otherworldly quest to an intimate, immediate appreciation for that which exists on earth. Humanism is a primary source of individualism. Pico della Mirandola’s “Oration on the Dignity of Man” captures the essence of the humanist movement. He writes that God gave man the ability to make of himself what he wills. Although man is capable of depraved acts, he also possesses the profundity to distinguish him as a holy being. Pico praises the goodness of mankind when he writes, “man is rightly called and judged a great miracle ...
The following three articles examine the different effects secularization has had on society. Firstly, Swezey & Ross (2012) discuss what potential implications secularization may have on faculties’ perception of religious institutions who appear to be abandoning its religious mission to bolster academic creditability. On a similar note, Stallones (2011) discusses the implications that secularization has on the development of progressive educators. The takeaway of this article is that progressive educators need to be reminded that education should be student-centered. Stallone states: “[T]his value arose from a conviction each child has dignity, which in turn has its roots in the theological concept [. . .] that people have intrinsic value because they bear the image of God. [. . .] that the school is a community derives from the ecclesiological idea that the Church is actually an expression of the Body of Christ” (p.
“I Want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people even those who I’ve never met, I want to go on living even after my death!” (from a Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank). This quote has a lot of meaning because she wanted to be remembered and I am now writing and telling about her eighty one years later. Anne Frank is a hero because she was a spirited young Jewish girl that had to go into hiding at the age of thirteen.
The beliefs and claims of secularism is “a form of opinion which concerns itself only with questions, the issues of which can be tested by the experience of this life. More explicitly, secularism is that which seeks the development of the physical, moral, and intellectual nature of man to the highest possible point, as the immediate duty of life – which selects as its methods of procedure the promotion o...
The Diary of Anne Frank is about Anne Frank’s life in the Secret Annex hiding from the Nazi’s. The diary shows how the members of the Secret Annex help each other keep hope in spite of dark times.
Conquering depression, alcoholism, and suicidal tendencies contributed to the making of a female writer who would not listen to society but take her own path in poetry. Anne Sexton was more than a housewife, but a woman with real knowledge and troubled mind that lead her to speak the unspeakable in poetry. She was the voice that struggled so dearly to be heard through her confessional style of poetry.
“One of the most marked characteristics of the new secular intellectuals was the relish with which they subjected religion and its protagonists to critical scrutiny. How far had they benefited or harmed humanity, these great systems of faith? To what extent had these popes and pastors lived up to their precepts, of purity and truthfulness, of charity and benevolence? The verdicts on both churches and clergy were harsh. Now, after two centuries during which the influence of religion has continued to decline, and secular intellectuals have played an ever-growing role in shaping our attitudes and institutions, it is time to examine their record, both public and personal. In particular, I want to focus on the moral and judgmental credentials of intellectuals to tell mankind how to conduct itself.”
In conclusion, I believe that each generation must examine the conflict (real or imagined) between the "desire for amusement" and religion, for the answers are neither simple nor abstract. Each "renaissance" period requires a reworking of our responses.
Increasingly, man was accepted as an autonomous individual and emphasized as his own measure, resulting in a loss of true meaning. The “Mona Lisa,” “Pieta,” and “Arnolfini Wedding,” are beautiful masterpieces which not only exemplify esteemed Renaissance art, but also boldly display the convictions of their artists. While Leonardo da Vinci and Jan van Eyck realized the tenants of the gospel and understood the flaws of humanism, Michelangelo adhered to the commonly accepted beliefs of relativism. Most of his contemporaries valued the human intellect, underemphasized their powerful God, and shared Michelangelo’s position. Unsurprisingly, the ideals of humanism that emerged in the Renaissance have not died off, but set the stage for the morals of humanism observed