Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer/ Bing Search A Story of Moral Courage   I’m writing this post at the end of Good Friday 2023 and I’m reflecting on the story of a man who knowingly put his life at risk. On 8 April 1945 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was sentenced to death for his participation in the German resistance movement and the plot to overthrow the murderous Nazi regime. The next day, 9 April 1945, Bonhoeffer was hanged.   This year Easter Sunday is 9 April—the day Bonhoeffer was hanged. However, for years Dietrich Bonhoeffer had lived an authentic life as a living sacrifice. Sacrificial lives are gifts to humanity.     Most of us can hardly imagine the anguish of carrying out a protest that will likely result in severe punishment if not a painful death. Jesus of course took on the oppressive juggernaut of his religious leaders and the Roman rulers who were ready for trouble during Passover celebrations of ancestors who escaped the brutality of the Egyptian empire. ...

  Spring Flowers/ Kew Gardens, London/ Geoff Sutton 2016 It's Easter weekend in 2021. I haven’t gone to church in a year due to COVID-19 but I read and hear Christians preaching on Facebook and Twitter. I don’t see much about denial and cross-bearing.  Christ carrying the cross/ El Greco/ c1541-1614 I wonder what the text means-- deny yourself and take up your cross . Here’s the Authorised Version . 24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16). It’s a common text for Christians who have been in church for years. I don’t remember it being emphasized in churches I attended as a boy or in evangelical circles. I take it, it isn’t too p...

Cross & Heart 2023 Geoffrey Sutton and Bing AI Messing with Malevolent Metaphors Exploring the role of metaphors in Christian teaching about purity and sanctity. As a child I learned that sin made my heart black. I learned this lesson by means of small plastic hearts dangling from a chain. Hearts are red, white and black. You start with a black heart. All have sinned. Red hearts mean Jesus' blood cleanses, White hearts mean we're all cleaned up. For many Christians, white is good , pure, clean and holy. Cleanliness is next to godliness. Black is bad , evil, and linked to sin. We’ll never measure up—the good things we do are but filthy rags. Outer darkness is where you go if you die without Jesus. So what's the problem with such metaphors? Is it possible that metaphors, which glorify whiteness and link blackness to sin influence, racist attitudes? Do religious metaphors guide our thinking about people? Metaphors My task the week I wrote ...