The Knowledge Crisis and Misinformation in Biblical Perspective (Bonnie Kristian)

Constant cries of "fake news" and misinformation point to a central issue in our culture: we have far too much information from far too many sources, and we do not know whom to trust. Whether captivated by online communities and YouTube personalities or glued to Twitter and news sites, we consume a lot of content but remain ignorant, apathetic, and anxious.

In this episode, Dru interviews Bonnie Kristian about her new book Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community. They discuss the dangers of our culture's approach to knowledge, the importance of emotion and tradition in developing our beliefs, and how our daily practices shape our knowledge-acquisition. As we critically evaluate our habits, we can learn to better cultivate our attention and equip ourselves to receive and consider information.

Bonnie Kristian is a journalist and author. Currently, she writes the column "The Lesser Kingdom" at Christianity Today. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, Politico, and The Daily Beast. Additionally, she holds a Master's degree in Christian Thought from Bethel Seminary.

Show notes:

• 0:00 The dangers of the knowledge crisis
• 4:30 Habituation from media
• 6:50 Emotion and reason in the evangelical world
• 8:57 The role of tradition
• 10:52 Good epistemic practices and information overload
• 14:28 Trustworthy guides and sources of information
• 20:18 Blind-spots in reporting
• 24:03 Bonnie's interest in epistemology
• 28:00 The influence of YouTube and TikTok
• 32:48 Can we escape our bad knowledge systems?
• 35:35 Practices to develop right thinking

Show notes by Micah Long