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On Becoming

Bruce Ellis Benson

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Every other week, Dr. Bruce Ellis Benson invites you to join him in a conversation on some of the most important questions in the world of contemporary christianity. What does it mean to ‘deconstruct’ your Christianity? What is religion, and what is its future? Who — or what — is God? Dr. Benson deploys years of training in philosophy and theology, as well as experience teaching in some of the world’s most highly-regarded universities, to answer these questions and many others.
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In this episode, we take a look at various ways of framing Jesus. I grew up thinking that Jesus was supposed to be Lord of my life. But, as time went on, I came to think that this wasn't a very helpful framing. Here we'll consider other ways of framing--Jesus as Cynic philosopher, apocalyptic teacher, charismatic healer, sage, and social prophet. I…
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In today’s episode, we’re be looking at Jesus. As with all historical figures, establishing exactly what happened is sometimes very difficult. In this episode, we’ll talk about the gospels and why they are problematic, both because they are propaganda and because they were written so long after Jesus lived. We’ll also talk about the distinction bet…
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Have you ever noticed that the God of the Bible, who is supposed to be the ultimate 'Good', is often petty, mean, and vengeful? In this episode, we'll consider, first, the argument that Feuerbach presents for how the concept of 'God' came into existence. Then we'll consider where the Hebrew concept of 'God' comes from (hint: it's not from God). Fin…
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Does being religious make you any happier? In this episode, we consider whether 'religion' might make for a happier you. The problem, as soon becomes apparent, is that there are many senses and ways of being 'religious', some of which are likely better than others at making us happier.بقلم Bruce Ellis Benson
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The idea that Christianity is about salvation seems as fundamental as any idea or concept in Christian theology. In this episode, I first ask the question 'where does this idea come from?' More specifically, how did followers of Jesus come to interpret his death as somehow providing salvation? I don't think there's a clear answer to this question, …
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How have priests or pastors served to make the slave revolt something permanent? It's that they heal the wound and inflict it at the same time. In this episode, we consider how the priest emerges in society to become the figure that channels the ressentiment of the slave and creates a new kind of being.…
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Both Christian and secular commentators have remarked on and questioned the close relationship between Trump and Evangelicals. Supposedly, there are such great differences between them that it's hard to see how they connect. But Trump and Evangelicals share a deep sense of ressentiment toward the world around them. In this episode, I argue that fai…
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All of our ideas and concepts come from somewhere. So where did the notion of 'sinner' come from? In this episode, we explore the distinction Nietzsche makes between master and slave morality. We'll begin by explicating the idea of master morality and then see how that morality compares to the morality of the slave or those on the bottom of the hie…
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This episode is the first in a new series titled 'Deconstructing Christianity', in which we will be examining fundamental Christian doctrines. We begin with the notion of sin, since that basic concept provides much of the scaffolding for Christianity as we know it. After explicating the Evangelical notion of sin, we then consider the extent it can …
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You may have heard that the governor of Louisiana has decreed that the Ten Commandments must be posted in all public classrooms. In this episode, we'll consider what the effect of such a move might be. But we'll also take a look at the actual commandments themselves, which turn out to be somewhat less 'moral' than one might expect.…
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It's Pride Month! We begin the month with a reflection on pride as a vice and a virtue. My own experience of teaching Evangelical students is that they often don't know what to do with compliments since they are trying to avoid being 'prideful'. But there is nothing in the Bible that indicates that having a healthy self-respect is bad. Indeed, thin…
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In this episode, I discuss some aspects of my thinking. Although I've never been a rebel, I have always asked questions, including questions that have gotten me into trouble. While I believe that most human knowing isn't certain or indubitable, that doesn't mean that there can be no sense of 'knowledge'. Finally, I discuss how improvisation is the …
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'Wokeness' has become a flashpoint in contemporary culture wars, and a major presence in media coverage of social policy, but do we really know what it means to 'be woke'? In this episode, Dr. Benson breaks down the history, context, and current state of the debates around 'wokeness.'بقلم Bruce Ellis Benson
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In this episode, Dr. Benson discusses the recent Alabama ruling that mixed theology with the law, disrupted fertility care across the state, declared frozen embryoes children, and brought out an issue that has become increasingly popular with Christian conservatives in the United States: fetal personhood. Can frozen embryoes really be considered ch…
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In this episode, Dr. Benson discusses bullying and incivility in the Academic world, and how it harms professors, students, and even administrators. For more of this content, please subscribe to our Patreon (found in our twitter pinned tweet, or at patreon.com/onbecomingpodcast) for special bonus segments that will be posted after each episode, as …
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What is academic freedom? Why does it matter? Recent debates about politics and speech on college campuses have brought this issue into the mainstream. In this episode of On Becoming, Dr. Benson draws on his decades of experience as a professor and researcher to shed new light on the importance of academic freedom for the academy, as well as its de…
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In this episode, Dr. Benson goes into more details about the variety of options provided to students at different types of schools, and how these impact their experiences. Utilizing his years of experience as a professor, Dr. Benson discusses the elements of a college education that are perhaps less tangible and less directly-connected to financial…
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Is college worth it? With tuition prices at stratospheric highs, and the burden of student loans constantly in the news, Dr Benson discusses the perceptions of college's value, as well as the financial considerations one must make. This is part one of a two-part series. In the next episode, Dr Benson will consider the value of higher education that…
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This episode is part of a new series from On Becoming. These shorter episodes — which we will call ‘Pensées, after the work of Blaise Pascal — will serve as ‘reflections’ on the general themes that will be addressed at greater length in our standard, full-length episodes each week. In this pensée, Dr. Benson discusses the idea of what the future of…
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If you've already signed up for the Gadamer course, you might be interested in hearing what we'll be discussing. For those of you who have been meaning to sign up (but just haven't gotten around to it yet), you might find it interesting too. If you're interested in signing up, don't forget that the deadline is October 1st. To sign up, you can conta…
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In this episode, I share a recent presentation on Kierkegaard. I was part of a workshop on contradictions in theology and my assignment was to present on Kierkegaard and the paradox. The context for the workshop was the problem of contradiction in two major doctrines in Christianity: the trinity (3 in 1) and the incarnation (fully human, fully divi…
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In this concluding episode, we consider how Derrida's thought was received. Unfortunately, many people came to think that Derrida was a relativist or skeptic or some other bad thing. Yet Derrida strongly rejected any such reading of his work. And then he went on to say that justice cannot be deconstructed since justice is an absolute ideal. We fini…
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It's not everyday that a technical term used by a philosopher becomes a common word that most everyone knows. But, as is often the case when things get disconnected from their original context, the meaning can change or even become something quite different than the philosopher intended. Such is the case with 'deconstruction'. In this episode, you'…
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In this episode, we conclude our exploration into Husserl’s idea of how communication is possible by considering the distinction between text and context, or meaning and significance. Husserl insists that all meaning is set within a horizon. However, if the text’s or person’s horizon is different from ours, then that significantly affects the possi…
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In this episode, I consider what makes communication possible by way of turning back to Edmund Husserl, the famed founder of phenomenology. Then we turn to questions posed by Derrida regarding whether Husserl is right about how communication works and the extent to which direct and complete communication is possible.…
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In this second half of our interview with Liz Edman, we turn explicitly to her book. To get a bit more context for this second half of the interview, you may want to listen to that part first. As you'll hear, Liz speaks very powerfully about what the church can learn from queer people. Liz contends that the Bible is deeply queer, though you'll disc…
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It's with great delight that I present our first anniversary episode! We've already had many interesting and, I hope, helpful episodes on big philosophical and theological questions. In this episode, I consider the various themes we've discussed and how they relate to the continuing development of the podcast. But I also have a surprise announcemen…
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This episode begins a two-part series with The Revd Liz Edman, author of Queer Virtue. Liz (she/her) is an Episcopal priest and political strategist who has been igniting people's understanding of Christianity and queer life for more than 25 years. She has served as an inner city hospital chaplain to people with HIV/AIDS from 1989 to 1995, helping …
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In this episode, I continue our discussion of the thought of Hans-Georg Gadamer. We explore how coming to think like Gadamer makes one open to new ideas. He speaks of being 'radically undogmatic' and, as I point out in this episode, that was the way he did philosophy. I also talk about how the students whom I've taught Gadamer found that they chang…
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When I first read Gadamer, it was as if my eyes were opened. Reading his work broadened my mind and helped me understand everything from theology and philosophy to what I do as a jazz musician. In this episode, I discuss some of the aspects that were so welcome to hear and put so many things into perspective.…
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In this episode, I conclude our discussion of forgiveness and, specifically, the idea of forgiveness oppression. Victims of abuse and violence are often pressured to forgive their perpetrators, despite a lack of remorse or a change of behaviour. I show how Jesus' teachings have been significantly distorted to create the norm of unconditional forgiv…
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