Philosopher and noted Family Guy interpreter Ray VanArragon joins us to discuss intellectual virtue and vice.
To my mind, Ray was one of the most important contributors to our Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education project. First, he called attention to a possible pitfall of what we’re doing, suggesting that a Pietist embrace of the virtues of love and open-mindedness could — if taken too far — lead to the vice of insufficient concern for the truth. In addition to elaborating on those themes, in our conversation Ray reflected on what it’s like to be a Reformed scholar in a Pietist setting. As much as anyone, he has helped complicate my view of the relationship between the two traditions.
Further reading:
- Raymond J. VanArragon, “Intellectual Virtue and the Adventurous Christ Follower,” in The Pietist Vision of Christian Higher Education: Forming Whole and Holy Persons, ed. Christopher Gehrz (IVP Academic, 2015)
- ________ and Kelly James Clark, eds., Evidence and Religious Belief (Oxford UP, 2011)
- ________, Key Terms in Philosophy of Religion (Bloomsbury Academic, 2010)
- ________, “Family Guy and God: Should Believers Take Offense?” in Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure for the Petarded, ed. J. Jeremy Wisnewski (Wiley, 2007)
[…] Episode 4 – Virtues and Vices […]
[…] to acknowledge how one episode in particular shaped my thinking on the subject of truth-seeking. Episode #4 with philosopher Ray Van Arragon introduced me to Aristotle’s model of virtue, suggested it applied to our truth-seeking efforts, […]