A week in review: Teachers of the faith share in chapel on Christian worldview
Abigail Dickerson, Visual Arts Editor
Once yearly, North Greenville University hosts a week of chapels relating to a Christian worldview. These speakers bring different viewpoints and issues to share with students and faculty.
This year’s first speaker was Dr. George Yancey, a Professor of Social Sciences at Baylor University. Yancy spoke at chapel Monday morning as well as a bonus chapel that night. His sessions focused on race in today’s society from a Christian worldview.
I am a Christian and a scholar and I believe good science and good theology go together, said Yancey. He points out that as Christians while we believe that God loves us equally, we must acknowledge that we live in a racialized society.
He shared the opposing viewpoints of color blindness and antiracism from a Christian worldview. Color blindness says that race is never acknowledged in how someone is treated, while antiracism is what it sounds like. Neither is the solution said, Yancey.
So what does this mean for Christians? Yancey said that the issue of racism is a fault of human depravity. The solution for racial injustice is not found in one extreme or the other said Yancey. Rather, it is found in the middle. He said that the Bible clearly distinguishes race, but doesn’t discriminate under the love of Christ.
Yancey said that there are ways that humanity can improve on the issue of racial injustice, but we haven’t reached the point of perceived equality. The reality is that we don’t have these mechanisms we used to have, therefore we don’t have a playing field even he said.
Tuesday evening’s speaker was David Entwistle, a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at NGU. His topic was positive psychology and its effect on being made in the image of God.
Entwistle said that too often we focus on the side of human depravity in psychology rather than focusing on the glorious side. We are made in “Imago Dei” he said, which translates to the image of God.
Throughout its history psychology and particularly clinical psychology have focused a lot of attention on what is wrong with human behavior, he said. Alzheimer’s disease, interpersonal violence, prejudice, discrimination, misogyny, narcissism, anxiety, depression, and a host of other topics clearly affirm that the world is broken and these things have often been the bread and butter of psychology, and rightly so said Entwistle.
He said, is there goodness that we might be overlooking on the quest to deal with brokenness? This theme filled his lesson as he further discussed the beautiful ways that humanity is created in the image of God. Psychology helps us understand the good and the bad within human behavior and gain perspective on how God intended us to live said Entwistle.
Christian worldview week came to a close with a message from Gene Fant, the university president. Fant’s message discussed what it means to be made in the image of God.
Fant said that fields such as psychology and communications require deeper thinking and creativity, and animals cannot think in this way. We can communally share experiences because each of us is human and each of us is a creation of God with a unique relationship with God he said.
There are things that humans and only humans share said Fant. I knew that the scriptures themselves make it clear that we as humans are actually different he said. Being made in the image of God means that we as Christians are image bearers of him.
He read part of Psalm 8 which says “when I observe your Heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you set in place what is a human being that you remember him and a son of man that you look after him you made him a little less than God and crowned him with Glory and Honor you made him a ruler.”
“God help us to be a people who are committed to having shared relationships that bring healing and flourishing everywhere we go,” said Fant in his closing prayer.
