@David Kendall, PhD: I think it is informative and provacative that …

Comment on Dr. Geraty clarifies his “Challenge” to literal 6-day creationism by David Kendall, PhD.

@David Kendall, PhD:
I think it is informative and provacative that Dr. Kendall PhD LSU signs off with “Pax”, latin for peace, probably best known as “Pax Romana” (Roman peace). I am reminded that our Creator said, ” Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” Matthew 10:34 NKJ  

I am interested in what you consider my use of the Latin “Pax” is intended to inform or provoke (or evoke). I would dispute the assumption that the term is best known in its “Pax Romana” context, unless you are particularly a student of ancient history (as many theologians are, admittedly). The term is most often used in a religious setting in the context of the Latin liturgy, specifically in the Gloria from the Ordinary of the Tridentine Mass:

Et in terra pax
hominibus bonae voluntatis.

[and on earth peace
on whom His favor rests.]

This is what the angels sang to the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem at the birth of Christ. As my musicological area of specialty is in Latin liturgical musical practice, it makes some sense for me to use this word. To his credit, Shane Hilde asked me what I meant by the term when I first posted on this forum. So, if you desire to become informed (or provoked, for that matter), you should ask what something means or in what context it is used. If you do not wish to do so publicly, then you may email me at dkendall@lasierra.edu.

Pax,

David Kendall, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Music
La Sierra University

David Kendall, PhD Also Commented

Dr. Geraty clarifies his “Challenge” to literal 6-day creationism
@BobRyan

unbiased objective readers

objective unbiased reader

Bob,

I have made this query before, but as I have noticed your increased use of the above term (and related variants) both here and in other forums, and I ask again: Who is this unbiased objective reader? How does this reader remain objective and free from bias? I understand that you are using the phrase as a rhetorical device to impart value to your arguments and responses vis-a-vis opposing arguments; by appealing to a supposed authority (objectivity). The only truly objective authority to which we can appeal is God, and as none of us can claim that identity, I am unsure as to the reasoning behind your continued and consistent use of the term.

@Ron Stone, M.D.

Professor Kent, You’re right–there is no point in your “sharing” anything here, as you are pointedly shot down whenever you do! Good bye!

Dr. Stone,

This statement does not, to my mind, seem to be a very efficient process toward convincing others of the rightness of your position. It is this very type of discourse that proves to non-Adventists, non-Christians, and other interested observers that our faith and the commands of Christ to love one another are of a low priority in our everyday lives. I am asking my delegate to the GC session to call for a broad-based, civil, open and honest discussion on origins in the Adventist church, without polemics, threats, and un-Christian language. This is the very minimum we should expect of ourselves and of others who call themselves by Christ’s name.

Pax,

David Kendall, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Music
La Sierra University


Dr. Geraty clarifies his “Challenge” to literal 6-day creationism
@Former LSU Student

I am interested in when you attended LSU, because it sounds like you must have been there around the time I was a student (1998-2002). I remember the land sale, etc. that you mentioned, though I may have been serving as a student missionary in Taiwan (2002-2003) when the sale was final. I also do not know what floor of Sierra Towers you lived on (I was on 2nd floor from 1998-2001, then South Hall), but my experiences there, as well as everywhere else on campus, were very different from yours.

Also, not to be confrontational, but it would not be wise to suggest that Dr. Geraty served at LSU due to his inability to perform in the public, secular academic world (if that is what you were suggesting). A cursory glance at his CV will show that he would be a very big fish in any pond.

Pax,

David Kendall, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Music
La Sierra University


Dr. Geraty clarifies his “Challenge” to literal 6-day creationism

@: Notice he said those who were supportive of creationism. I think all the evolutionists at LSU would call themselves creationists. ?  

Shane,

Are you then suggesting that all of the professors hired during Dr. Geraty’s tenure are evolutionists, regardless of their fields of specialty? As Dr. Geraty succinctly stated, “There is no evidence for that.”

Pax,

David Kendall, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Music
La Sierra University


Recent Comments by David Kendall, PhD

Clifford Goldstein: Seventh-day Darwinians, Redux
@Hope Sekulic

Goldstein, not to long presented a talk at Weimar Institute. I watched him talk, He appeared perplexed his subject of presentation was all mixed up and confusing. It had not foundation and point. He was jumping from subject to subject, he was moving all over the platform, scratching his head, looking in to his I-phone or what ever it was in his hand, passing up and down with a disruptive spirit.
I was sad to see him so discordant and so disorganized in his talk.

Hope,

Are you suggesting that Goldstein’s difficulties in speaking at Weimar are a result of Satan sowing discord and confusion in the church generally, or an attack on him specifically? I was not sure.

Read and see Who are the Wolfs in the Sheep’s skin and where they like to graze.

I am familiar with the theories stating that Jesuit infiltrators are everywhere, seeking to destroy the church. An SDA pastor friend of mine had his church’s website “denounced” by the “Adventist Liberation Front.” I am familiar with Fr. Alberto Rivera’s testimony that the Jesuit order is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Interestingly, I get testimonies from a number of friends who have left the SDA church asserting that Adventism is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Which am I to believe, as both sides have equally heart-wrenching horror stories to tell? Maybe both of them, or maybe neither. I am friends with a number of Jesuit and other Catholic priests through my research in the Philippines (my wife is Jesuit-educated), as well as very many Adventists of different backgrounds (having been a life-long SDA in Arizona, Southern California, Taiwan and the Philippines). I have to say in all honesty that when I look for Christ-centered attitudes, kindness and service towards one’s fellow man, I have often noted these attributes to be significantly stronger among the Catholic priests. Some have told me that this is their deception, their apparition as Satan as an angel of light. However, I have only Christ’s statement, to know them by their fruits. This does not cause me to want to leave my church, but rather expect it to be better; to bear sweeter fruit.

Pax,

David Kendall, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Music
La Sierra University


Catholic School Fires Math Teacher for Expressing Atheistic Views
Geanna,

I encourage you to go get a PhD, if you can find a good, supportive department (and some funding, hard to come by these days, at least in California), either inside of or outside of the SDA system. I found all of my graduate work to be incredibly rewarding and I strongly recommend it to my own students, though they should always be prepared to open their minds and question their assumptions, despite what others have warned about the dangers of such a route (reading infidel authors, engaging in philosophical debates in the religious sphere, etc.).

One suggestion for working at an SDA institution is to prepare a syllabus and approach a department chair and offer to teach an introductory class, a lab or something else in an adjunct capacity. Working for the church is likewise very rewarding (but not usually in a monetary sense!), though a bit less so in the current environment. Having the privilege of helping to guide and mentor students in an Adventist Christian environment (just as I was in turn guided and mentored) is enough for me. Go for it!

Pax,

David Kendall, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Music
La Sierra University


Clifford Goldstein: Seventh-day Darwinians, Redux
@ Kevin Paulson

David Kendall seems to view the “teasing out” of various viewpoints in the present controversy as a harmless exercise–the necessary full airing of a particular concept in the name of fairness. This is fine if we are talking about human theories and philosophies or some debate in the secular realm (e.g. politics).

Pastor Paulson,

I did not mention that the “teasing out” of viewpoints is either a harmless exercise or that it is done in the name of fairness or for any other reason; I said simply that this is what scholars do as part of a venerable (or venerated) academic tradition.

In matters spiritual we are not dealing with the harmless interchange of ideas, where any number of varied conclusions might be embraced with innocence.

No mention was made of embracing varied conclusions, be they innocent or otherwise, but rather I advised that “we should keep in mind that philosophers and other scholars often discuss and theorize concepts at great length without necessarily espousing those concepts as truth.”

Do you consider certain lines of inquiry to be off-limits? What kinds of scholarship should be forbidden when our primary concern is the salvation of our souls? Is the very knowledge of “wrong ideas and wrong practices” that which can and will lead to eternal damnation? What do you propose we do about this?

Pax,

David Kendall, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Music
La Sierra University


Clifford Goldstein: Seventh-day Darwinians, Redux
Hello all,

While I might consider Goldstein’s article to a classic bait-and-switch (he evokes the Seventh-day Darwinist bogeyman without actually referring to it, unless he is referring to the Catholic and other non-Adventist Protestants writing in Physics and Cosmology, the book he is reviewing), I did do my best to interact with his argument and begin to read the book with which he takes some exception. I have not finished it, but there are one or two points I want for us to consider before we jump into the fray.

First, we should keep in mind that philosophers and other scholars often discuss and theorize concepts at great length without necessarily espousing those concepts as truth. It is a venerable academic and scholarly tradition to “tease out” different philosophical positions, often giving opposing theoretical viewpoints equal time and space to fully form and to dialogue. I feel that quite often in our religious writings, we have too quickly dismissed opposing philosophies as incompatible without allowing this dialogue to occur by allowing the the opposing viewpoint to fully speak for itself. If we only take the weakest arguments or arguments out of context as a straw man to knock down, we have not truly dialogued with an opposing philosophy. Goldstein does well here by at least quoting and dialoguing somewhat with the book. However, he does make the mistake of forgetting that the book, Physics and Cosmology, is an edited volume of essays by multiple authors and not the standalone work of a single scholar. The authors frequently disagree and debate each others’ work (at least in the chapter by Kirk Wegter-McNelly, that I am reading).

Secondly, Wegter-McNelly makes an interesting point on p. 253. Again, I am mentioning this point without necessarily espousing it as the final word on the matter; it is nevertheless an interesting perspective on much of our debate here:

“The radical incomprehensibility of God is the beginning point and end of all theology. What we can comprehend is not God. All of our concepts and all of our words come from our everyday experiences of things in this world. They cannot be used of God in any univocal way. We speak truly of God only in stumbling ways and only within the limits of analogies and metaphors from everyday existence.” (253)

There is much to comment on regarding this book, but I leave it to the rest of you to read it and come to your own conclusions, which may or may not be similar to Goldstein’s.

Pax,

David Kendall, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Music
La Sierra University


Report on LSU constituency meeting
@ Ron Stone M.D.

Well, Geanna, Dr. Chadwick’s words may seem “unkind, prejudicial, and completely uncalled for” to you. However, they are also completely TRUE, which trumps your predudicial analysis!

Dr. Stone,

If you are asserting, with Dr. Chadwick, that the board is being stacked with members who sympathize with erring professors, please present your (or Dr. Chadwick’s) evidence. If you assert that the evidence is both true and trumps the statement made by Geanna Dane, you will need to “play your cards” (to keep the poker analogy going).

David Kendall, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Music
La Sierra University