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…
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
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.
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.
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 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.
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
“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.
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
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...
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.
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.
One of the strongest women scientist/astronomer was born in 1818 as Maria Mitchell whom led an unbelievable life and had an incredible discovery. Maria Mitchell was born when women were not given the opportunity to vote nor did women have the same equal rights as men did, but given her circumstances of her father being a principal, founding his own school and being a distant family member of Benjamin Franklin she was given the same rights as the men did. Given a few obstacles she led an extraordinary life and became the first woman in America to work as an astronomer professionally, which she than later received an award personally from King Frederick VII, for her work and discovery.
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.
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.