The Shining Network SOPHIA Chapter at Kamala Nehru College at the University of Delhi launched their inaugural chapter meeting on the topic of “The Nature of Good and Daily Life.“ They created a SOPHIA One-Sheet Document for their meeting that they have kindly shared with SOPHIA’s central office to offer for other chapters’ meetings and conversations. We are grateful to the Shining Network, to Professor Balaganapathi Devarakonda, head of the department of Philosophy at the University of Delhi and Dr. Geetesh Nirban. The One-Sheet Document is available by clicking here or on the thumbnail photo of the one-sheet on the right hand side.
Dr. Geetesh Nirban and two members of the Shining Network SOPHIA Chapter at Kamala Nehru College in August 2018.
SOPHIA’s abbreviated name comes from a loose shortening of “The Society of Philosophers in America.” The “in America” is historical and identifies the nation of origin of the national non-profit organization. It is not, however, meant to limit our members or our friends to the borders of the United States. SOPHIA may be a national nonprofit founded and run in the United States, but we encourage philosophical discourse everywhere and are grateful and excited about our work together with the Shining Network SOPHIA Chapter in New Delhi.
In this 62nd episode of the Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show and podcast, Eric Thomas Weber and Anthony Cashio interview philosopher and Pentecostal Christian Dr. J. Aaron Simmons on his question: “Is the Church Killing God?”
Listen for our “You Tell Me!” questions and for some jokes in one of our concluding segments, called “Philosophunnies.” Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBread and on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.
Kenosis, Meriam-Webster defines as: “the relinquishment of divine attributes by Jesus Christ in becoming human.” Dr. Simmons uses the word “kenotic,” at one point, referring to this meaning, as the character of such relinquishing.
Michael Tooley, “The Problem of Evil,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2002 / 2015.
“Pneumatology,” according to Bible.org, refers to “the study of the biblical doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Generally, this includes such topics as the personality of the Spirit, the deity of the Spirit, and the work of the Spirit throughout Scripture.” Dr. Simmons uses the phrase “Pneumatological imagination,” to refer to thinking that centers on the Holy Spirit.
“Turing machine,” refers to a machine that is made to try to pass as though it is a person, whom you cannot distinguish from a person, in terms of its responses to your interactions with it, assuming you cannot see the machine or imagined person responding. For more information, see David Barker, “Turing Machines,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1995 / 2012.
Dr. Simmons brings up a clever quote, whose source he suggests might have been Mark Twain. The line was: “The first casualty of war is the truth.” The Guardian published a piece which suggests that the earliest version of this line comes from Aeschylus, who wrote that: “In war, truth is the first casualty.” See “Who coined the phrase, ‘The first casualty of War is Truth’?” The Guardian.
Acts 2:45, according to Biblehub.org, reads “They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”
Here is our one-sheet document on “The Molemen and Plato’s Cave Today.” For short, you can just call it “Plato’s Cave Today.” The idea is to think about problems for conceiving of truth and knowledge, which lead to difficulties in trusting politicians, news sources, scientists, and more. Plato’s famous cave metaphor is explained in short for anyone who’s unfamiliar, and we invite chapters to pick a question that they’d most like to talk about together. After thinking about it and perhaps another for a time, flip over the page and consider the “Bread Breaking Questions,” questions about how and where the concepts discussed so far are sometimes applied and with challenges.
This one-sheet document is part of a series to come of one-sheets about episodes of Philosophy Bakes Bread. We’re calling them “Slices of Philosophically Baked Bread.” It would be great if local SOPHIA Chapter participants had the chance to listen to episodes of Philosophy Bakes Bread (such as this one, Episode 1 of the show), but we try to avoid requiring homework before people come to our events.
Instead, we want to ensure that everyone has a document that is one sheet of paper (front and back sometimes) that each person can read at the start of the event in a few minutes. Then, conversation can open up with everyone literally on the same page.
James William Lincoln has kindly taken on the job of creating our one-sheet documents for each episode of Philosophy Bakes Bread. We’ll be posting and cataloging one-sheets on other matters and topics, such as on pieces published in Civil American, plus we plan to post one-sheets that our members and chapter leaders gather or create.
If you have ideas for future one-sheet documents that could be great for SOPHIA to use in our chapter meetings, let us know! Email Executive Director Eric Thomas Weber with your idea.
This thirty-third episode of the Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show and podcast features an interview with Dr. John Corvino of Wayne State University, talking with co-hosts Eric Weber and Anthony Cashio about religious liberty and discrimination, the topics of his most recent book, as well as the HERO award he received for 25 years of advocacy on LGBTQ+ issues.
John was celebrated in 2017, receiving the “Community Hero Award” from the Board of Directors at Affirmations, Metro Detroit’s LGBTQ+ Community Center. The award recognizes “inspirational leadership, advancing acceptance, equality, and inclusion.” It was presented to recognize John’s 25 years of advocacy since the debut of his “What’s Morally Wrong with Homosexuality?” lecture in April of 1992.John’s most recent book is titled Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination. Before that, he authored of Debating Same-Sex Marriage, released in 2012, and What’s Wrong with Homosexuality? published in 2013. In addition to his public lectures that have been recorded and posted as videos online, John has produced a series of enormously fun videos analyzing arguments and dispelling myths about topics concerning marriage, religion, sex, homosexuality, the Bible, and the source of morality.
Listen for our “You Tell Me!” questions and for some jokes in one of our concluding segments, called “Philosophunnies.” Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBread and on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.
For our future “You Tell Me!” segments, Dr. Corvino proposed the following question in this episode, for which we invite your feedback: “How would you resolve the conflicts in the following three cases?
Masterpiece Cake Shop: A baker refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. This shop was judged guilty of sexual orientation discrimination.
A person wanted a cake made with a Bible verse on it that quoted Leviticus 18:22, which says that “homosexuality is a detestable sin.” The baker said “I’ll make the Bible-shaped cake, but I’m not going to write the words on it.” The customer charged that baker with religious discrimination. The local Civil Rights Commission said that it wasn’t discrimination.
A t-shirt shop refused to make a gay pride shirt.
How would you resolve these three cases in a way that is consistent, especially making your judgment consistent between the first two cases?”
