Critical Faith The Institute for Christian Studies

Junior Member Julia Henderson joins the Critical Faith team to start a new series on philosophy as a spiritual exercise. In this series she'll be talking with folks about how philosophy, faith, and our everyday lives intersect with one another in meaningful ways.
This first episode is a conversation with Junior Member, teacher, and coffee roaster Joe Watson about how he first got into philosophy, finding God amid suffering, and what coffee has to teach us about modal aspects.
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Critical Faith is sponsored by the Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics (CPRSE) at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. For more, visit www.icscanada.edu.
Music by Matt Bernico.

Back in the spring, we talked with Dr. Jeffrey Dudiak, ICS alum and Professor of Philosophy at The King's University in Edmonton, while he was enjoying a sabbatical. We walked, chapter by chapter, through some of the guiding questions of his short book Post-Truth? Facts and Faithfulness (Currents in Reformational Thought Series, Wipf and Stock, 2022) and got a bit of a glimpse into his forthcoming sabbatical project: an interactive forum on wisdom and polarization called Of Serpents and Doves: Explorations in Christian Wisdom.
In this episode, Jeff explores a more enriched understanding of truth, compares worldviews vs. ideologies, considers the role of relevance in one's approach to teaching, and exhorts us to learn how to “do wisdom Christianly.” Have a listen!
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Critical Faith is sponsored by the Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics (CPRSE) at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. For more, visit www.icscanada.edu.
Music by Matt Bernico.

In today's episode, Héctor Acero Ferrer recently spent some time in conversation with Executive Director of Shalem Mental Health Network, Jennifer Bowen. You'll hear them reflect on the shared history and institutional connections between the Institute for Christian Studies and Shalem, as well as on the topic of how to navigate difficult conversations.
On the occasion of Shalem celebrating their 60th anniversary as an organization this month, we are so glad we could talk with Jennifer, we congratulate Shalem on this milestone, and we wish them many more years of service in the community!
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Critical Faith is sponsored by the Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics (CPRSE) at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. For more, visit www.icscanada.edu.
Music by Matt Bernico.

In today's episode, we welcome new member of the Critical Faith team, Jimmy Ronald! Jimmy had a chance to chat with ICS Senior Member Bob Sweetman about some of his thoughts on tradition as authority or a "right place to start," story vs. argument, and some of the writing projects Bob has on the horizon.
Have a listen to this and other episodes with Bob from the Critical Faith archive!
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Critical Faith is sponsored by the Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics (CPRSE) at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. For more, visit www.icscanada.edu.
Music by Matt Bernico.

After an extended break, we're back! And we're planning to bring you some more regular content again in the new year.
In today's episode, ICS President Ronald A. Kuipers talks with our guest Eric Van Giessen about their respective histories in the Christian Reformed Church and their responses to the CRC's recent synod vote to affirm the 2016 Human Sexuality Report. Along the way, they explore alternative avenues of Biblical interpretation, Eric's autoethnographic research into Queer faith communities, and some tools for having more productive conversations on difficult topics. 
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You can find more about Eric's research and other projects on his website at www.ericvangiessen.com.
You can also check out the original Queerly Faithful Zine, which contains the poem Eric read among many other creative contributions, at www.queerlyfaithfulpress.ca/zine.
You can also find the article mentioned in this episode published this past June on Broadview magazine’s website at www.broadview.org.
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Critical Faith is sponsored by the Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics (CPRSE) at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. For more, visit www.icscanada.edu.
Music by Matt Bernico.

In this series finale, Andrew asks a handful of Critical Faith crew members, ICS Junior Members, alums, and colleagues to respond to the previous interviews in the series. So this episode features guest responses from Theoren Tolsma, Samir Gassanov, Abbi Hofstede, Kevin Huinink, Danielle Yett, Mark Standish, Hector Acero Ferrer, and Andrew himself.
Thanks for following along as we thought -- and continue to think -- through the lingering effects of 2020.
Also, Critical Faith will be taking a break for the next few months. During this time, feel free to revisit some of our past episodes or send us suggestions for topics you'd like to hear us discuss or folks you'd like us to chat with in the future!
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Critical Faith is sponsored by the Centre for Philosophy, Religion, and Social Ethics (CPRSE) at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. For more, visit www.icscanada.edu.
Music by Matt Bernico.