Understanding Critical Theory with Dr. Scott Coley (Podcast)

In this episode, Amber Bowen and John Anthony Dunne discuss Critical Theory with special guest Dr. Scott Coley, who is Lecturer in Philosophy and Director of the Global Encounters program at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Over the course of the conversation we address the history and origin of Critical Theory, including its chief aim to upend Modernity’s conviction that empirical science is the ultimate arbiter of truth, splitting apart all statements into facts and opinions, and thus relegating issues of morality to the latter category. As we provide some context for Critical Theory, we then transition to understand how Critical Race Theory (CRT) relates to Critical Theory, and address what CRT’s unique perspective is. There’s been a lot of noise on social media, esp. recently in the midst of the present racial reckoning in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, about whether CRT is incompatible with evangelical Christianity. We discuss some strengths and weaknesses to the theory as well as some problems with the way that evangelical responses to CRT typically take shape.

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