Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

Amidst the many lessons that clergy will share between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, are timeless stories of human nature. The gospel narratives tell the story of Jesus' purpose driven death, but we also see the role of the crowds and societal leaders in killing Jesus, the author of the Christian faith. Whipping up the Crowd On Palm Sunday, a crowd in Jerusalem welcomed Jesus as their king. The crowds were enthusiastic. On Good Friday, a crowd welcomes a political revolutionary (Barabbas) and calls for the death of Jesus. According to Mark , the religious leaders “stirred up the crowd.” The governor, Pilate, recognized what was happening and bowed to the demands of the crowd’s request, “crucify him.” The crowd secured the death penalty and the political rulers whipped and mocked the “King of the Jews.” Whipping People Effective leaders know the power of crowds to effect change. Jesus was a clear and present danger to the way of life for the religious le...

Religious testimonies are like stories of good news. We enjoy celebrating good news when we know the family. A recent study might explain a decline in public testimonies.  Imagine visiting a group of Evangelical Christians who are about to study the Gospel of John. They sit on hard plastic chairs while chattering about the weather, problems at work, and some aggravating post on social media. At some point, a leader asks the group to share their news stories and prayer requests. They’ll pray before beginning their Bible study. One woman tells the details of a sister struggling with cancer—she’s not expected to live. There is a concerted sigh of sadness. A man mentions worries about finding work. Heads nod in sympathy. Someone makes a note. Then an excited woman has some good news. She has a large smile on her face as she announces, “We’re pregnant!” She’s gesturing to her husband whose grin widens as his face reddens in response to all the attention. Smiles spread around the gr...

Sheep by the WWI trenches at the Newfoundland memorial, France October 2018/ Geoff W. Sutton The characteristics of the Good Shepherd are known to readers of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament. Good Shepherds are men of honor—men who protect their flocks. Christians continue to tell their children the story of the shepherd boy David who became King of Israel and an ancestor of Jesus, that Noble Shepherd found in the gospel story (John Chapter 10 ). Two months ago, at 11:00 am on 11 November, 2018 I stood at the Cenotaph, a memorial in London honoring those who sacrificed their lives in the Great War, one hundred years ago. It is an annual event here and among the allies who fought together in 1914-1918 and again in World War II. Cenotaph Memorial, London, 2018/ Geoff W Sutton In times of war, governments call men and women into service. They are sent to carry out a task. We remember those who fought the good fight. Those that died while serving are esp...

“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” The story of the man born blind in John 9 is an evocative, metaphor-laden portrayal of a poor individual caught in a contentious religious crossfire about sinners and the identity politics of righteous minds. I’m writing this post as a way of putting some thoughts into words before leading a discussion on Sunday, 13 January. This story isn’t just for Christians. The characters in the story are mostly Jews. The sociohistorical context is the old city of Jerusalem ruled by the Romans. Muslims recognize Jesus as a prophet from the Quran. But atheists and agnostics may consider the group dynamics that are part of human nature for millennia as well as the ancient author’s manner of dealing with variations of the age-old question, “Who am I?” In addition, we glimpse problems common to all humanity of thinking logically about morality and evil, group identity, and groups in conflict. ***** At the beginning of...

Who is my neighbor? The focus of various compassion ministries and public charities this time of year is naturally on helping those less fortunate--people who are cold, hungry, and lacking life's basics. What some miss in the focus on being a "Good Samaritan" is the identification of the neighbor in the famous story. Who is my neighbor? The neighbor is the compassionate Samaritan--not the beaten victim in need of much love and compassion. The focus of the story is on the people of faith who need to develop the virtue of neighborly love. Advertisement Living Well- an integration of faith and love and nine more virtues  AMAZON Story from Luke 10:25-37 Related Post How to measure compassion:  https://statistics.suttong.com/2018/05/how-to-measure-compassion.html Connections My web page www.suttong.com My Books AMAZON GOOGLE PLAY STORE FACEBOOK Geoff W. Sutton Join me on TWITTER @Geoff.W.Sutton Publications (many FREE downloads)   ...

Originally published 10 July 2015 Today, July 10, marks the 75th anniversary of the  Battle of Britain . German Luftwaffe attempted to destroy the British Royal Air Force (RAF) before invading Britain in 1940.  Timeline . The failure was a turning point in the war. Many have analysed the event in terms of German air superiority-planes, pilots and experience. There are mentions of British radar as helpful. I take a look at psychological factors. COUNTING ERRORS People make mistakes. Germans underestimated the number of British planes. The British overestimated the number of German planes. It’s always better to underestimate an enemy. MOTIVATION Defending your family, friends, and homeland is much more motivating than risking your life to attack an enemy-especially one you expect to defeat later in the year. EMOTION trumped cognitive strategy By all accounts Hitler was angry over British  counterattacks on German towns . He began pummeling Lo...

On the Psychology of Politics “You want to know what this was really all about?” he asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect. “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” The forgoing quote is from John Ehrlichman in 1994. Dan Baum includes it in his April 2016  Harper's   article: "Legalize It All: How to win the war on drugs." I came across the piec...