Metamodern Meaning

In this episode, I assume the modern historical-critical perspective with pastor and 'This Little Corner of the Internet' thinker Paul VanderKlay to explore the tension points it has with the traditional-devotional lens--and to consider if and how these impasses might be transcended. Does history matter to faith and to the faithful? If so, how, when, and why? Can we avoid equivocating discussions around the "reality" of Christianity? How crucial is the nonrational? Overall, we rehearse what challenges the traditional approach to Christianity faces as it develops into modern expressions and interpretations on the way towards a metamodern instantiation.0:00 Introduction0:55 The "God Pivot" and Metamodernism: The Missing Modern7:39 How Does Faith Relate to Modern & Postmodern Critical Approaches?24:30 The Reality of Religion in Different Psycho-Social Contexts36:18 Reality vs. History: Language as Metaphor or Fact52:38 Worldview, Rationality, and Projection1:04:28 "Spirit": False Substance Reification vs. Real Transjective Relationality1:07:22 Avoiding Equivocation and Taking Modern Science Seriously 1:20:59 Pragmatic and Developmental Hermeneutics1:44:16 Nonrationality and the Meaning Crisis1:59:15 Different Metamodern Spiritual Arcs: The Theological is Personal2:16:00 Conclusion To hear more, visit brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com

Exploring the evolving perspectives on conservative theology and metamodern Christianity. Contrasting Traditional-Devotional and Modern Historical-Critical perspectives of the Old and New Testaments. Delving into the concept of Satan, authorship of biblical texts, and diverse perspectives in metamodern Christianity.

Exploring the challenges of reconciling traditional Christian beliefs with a modern worldview, discussing faith beyond propositions, the influence of Christianity on behavior and identity, the dynamics of reality in Trans-Paradigmatic Christianity, and the importance of multiple perspectives in understanding reality.

Patrick Barry discusses the emergence of a metamodern wisdom school bridging science and religion, emphasizing awe, faith, and meaning in existence. They explore new structures for wisdom, digital technologies, and finding purpose in life, advocating for a more inclusive spirituality.

Stephen Hicks, a distinguished professor of philosophy and author of Explaining Postmodernism, delves into the evolution of philosophical thought. He traces the shifts from premodern to modern and then to postmodern perspectives, revealing key historical influences like the Enlightenment. The conversation navigates the integration of valuable postmodern ideas into a post-postmodern framework, discussing healthy skepticism versus radical doubt. Hicks also critiques the stagnation of postmodern thought and advocates for a revival of Enlightenment values in contemporary discourse.

Patrick Barry, former science journalist and current coder for the popular Waking Up meditation app, discusses building wisdom communities, secular spirituality, stoicism, the value of stoic communities, the wisdom of self-knowledge, the need for a different education system, exploring the shadow elements of stoicism, the challenges and potential of traditional religions, and personifying wisdom and feminine perspectives.

Bruce Alderman, an Integral thinker, discusses the relationship between metamodernism and Integral Theory. They explore controversies around Ken Wilber's influence, the future of integral theory, and differences between metamodernism and integral theory. They also touch on the pressure to distance from integral/spirodynamics and the underlying structure of the metamodern conversation.

Embodiment practitioner Ēlen Awalom discusses bringing embodied wisdom to online spaces, navigating triggering interactions with somatic intelligence, and the importance of increasing somatic intelligence in response to the meta-crisis and interpersonal relationships.

Whitehead scholar and process thinker Matt Segall joins me to deepen our conversation about responses to the meaning crisis as it relates to reconnecting cosmos, consciousness, and value. In this discussion, we dive into the topic of "prehension," an idea from Whitehead that posits an experiential component to all phenomena in the universe. 0:00 Introduction5:08 Prehension: Not Interior, but the Interior/Exterior Bridge12:06 Prehension and Panpsychism16:27 Identifying Basal Experience: Subjectivity and Time25:52 Experience and Complexity33:40 Attempting to Describe Fundamental Experience47:06 Is Time Subjective?54:36 Metaphysics and Novelty: Evolving Laws?1:00:16 The Spectrum of Consciousness1:04:22 Whitehead vs. Anthroposophy?1:10:28 Philosophy's Role in a Scientific Age1:21:43 Next Steps To hear more, visit brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com

Matt Segall joins me to debate the relative merits of "anthroposophical" aproaches to addressing the meaning crisis, such as those adopted in the works of Steiner, Stein and Gafni, and, to some degree, Whitehead.0:00 Introduction4:15 Revisiting the Image of Nature: Revitalizing Romanticism?12:00 Humans in a Cosmos or a Cosmos Known by Humans?21:17 Is Mechanism Just a Part of the Process? Emergence All the Way Down30:05 Advance or Regression? Thinking in Terms of Assimilation and Accomodation38:13 Defining a "Mechanistic" Approach: The Minimal Need for Causality41:17 Retrojecting Novelty into Primals? Positing "Prehension"57:01 Upshot: So...Is the Universe Expanding or Not?1:11:52 Against a Model--or ...Models?1:17:13 What Does an "Emodied" Knowledge Entail?1:25:25 Conclusion To hear more, visit brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com