Importance of critical thinking when discussing religion and realism.

1. Infusing Critical Thinking in
Religion and Realism
In the explosive interconnected communication
global information age
Conference on Religion
and Realism
Presented on November, 2014
Dr. Frederick A. Ricci
Professor of Organizational Leadership

2. OUR FOCUS:
Importance of
Infusing Critical
Thinking into
• Religion
• Realism
And YOU: Professors, Practitioners, and
Researchers in Religious Education

3. Critical Thinking
Google Results: About 8,470,000
results (0.35 seconds)
Ken Petreess, Harvard Professor,
wrote a paper on definitions of
critical thinking.
• CRITICAL THINKING: AN EXTENDED
DEFINITION
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3673/is_2004
04/ai_n9345203
Critical thinking is the intellectually
disciplined process of actively and
skillfully conceptualizing, applying,
analyzing, synthesizing, and/or
evaluating information gathered
from or generated by observation,
experience, reflection, reasoning, or
communication, as a guide to belief
and action.
• Someone with critical thinking skills is able
to achieve the following :
 understand the logical connections between
ideas
 identify, construct and evaluate arguments
 detect inconsistencies and common mistakes
in reasoning
 solve problems systematically
 identify the relevance and importance of
ideas
 reflect on the justification of one's own
beliefs and value
• http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/critical/ct.php

4. Some Characteristics of Thinkers
• RERR:
• Reasoning in a logical manner
• Evaluatingwhat is written
or spoken
• Reflectingon individual
thoughts and ideas
• Re-reasoningas
questions are posed to clarify
understanding.
Example of RERR:
Good Example: Marco Conti, The
Life and Works of Potamius of
Lisbon, (Instrumenta Patristica
XXXII) (ISBN 2-503-50688-7)
Brepols, Turnhout 1998.
Reviewed in:
Medieval Review (Review available on line)
Revue d’Histoire Ecclésiastique 95.2 (2000) p.701-
702
Journal of Theological Studies 51 (Part One) New
Series (2000) p. 336-338
Euphrosyne 28 (2000)
Classical Review 55 (2005), 161-163.

5. Critical Thinking and Religion
• Religious Life and
Critical Thought: Do
They Need Each Other?
• “To remain free of delusion,
religious experience must
incorporate critical thought
as a cleansing tool, while
critical thought needs
religion to understand its
higher usefulness.”
• Reinsmith suggests that there is a positive
aspect of critical thinking within the
religious area.
• Uses Buddhist mediation practice which he indicates that the areas of observation, mindfulness
and health doubt can “foster authentic religious development in a sincere practioner:
• http://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/BDLM/toModule.do?prefix=/search&page=/search_detail.jsp?se
q=346166
• Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines
• Volume 14, Issue 4, Summer 1995
• William Reinsmith
• Pages 66-73
• DOI: 10.5840/inquiryctnews199514421
• Religious Life and Critical Thought
Do They Need Each Other?

6. Academic Study of Religion
to Critical Thinking Pedagogy and Literature
• Study Results:
• “Religion enriches
critical thinking
pedagogy with regard
to problems associated
with worldviews on
reasoning. “
Good Example: Cleo Kearns:
“…….theology is useful as well as
necessary, and it is so because it is not
only naturally at home with literature
and religion but also challenges current
discourses, stances and assumptions.
• “….good theology is not only critically
sophisticated but historically non-
reductive, existentially engaged, and
often celebratory…”
Kearns, Cleo; Religion, Literature, and Theology: Potentials
and Problems, Author(s): Source: Religion & Literature,Vol. 41,
No. 2 (summer 2009), pp. 62-67
• https://www.academia.edu/5912957/Religion_Literatur
e_and_Theology_Potentials_and_Problems

7. Academics and Critical Thinking
Importance
“Just as education should be infused
with critical thinking, so too should
critical thinking be infused with the
philosophy of the academic study
of religion, and the fruits of its
inquiry. “
Ref: Reasoning and Religion: The Relevance of the
Academic Study of Religion to Critical Thinking Pedagogy
http://hdl.handle.net/10289/5325
Good Example; Active Academic Study
Davor Džalto is Associate Professor of Art History, Religious
Studies & Iconography at The American University of Rome, and
President of The Institute for the Study of Culture & Christianity.
The Institute for the Study of Christianity and
Culture (ISCC) examines the intersection of
religion, and particularly the Christian faith,
and its surrounding culture. Through annual
conferences, lectures, and other events, ISCC
strives to engage the academy and thinking
people of faith in dialogue in all areas of
cultural endeavor, including history, science,
music, literature, religion, and the arts.

8. Religion and Internet
• Maurizio Ferraris “The Internet is
an empire on which the sun never
sets.” p. 120, New Realism
Documentality and the Emergence of
Normativity.
• As internet use rises,
religious affiliations
decline.
Religion Discussion sites:
• http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2014/04/09/is-
the-internet-killing-religion/
• http://www.pewforum.org/2012/10/09/nones-
on-the-rise/
• http://www.city-data.com/forum/atheism-
agnosticism/2007558-why-religion-declining-
worldwide-2.html
What is needed: More religious Web
sites providing both information and
an area where this information can
be lived and communicated.
• http://archiv.ub.uni-

9. Looking for New Religion?
Atheism Growing?
• Is Atheism growing? NEW
• Atheism is commonly described just as an
absence of religious beliefs.
Stephen LeDrew: “Atheists in fact hold a set of
worldviews and beliefs of their own” Explores
these worldviews, that may play the same role
in the atheists’ lives, that religion traditionally
plays in society.
• Types of Atheism? Read Stehpen LeDrew
discusses new Atheism in his article: The
Evolution of Atheism Scientific and
Humanistic approaches.
• http://hhs.sagepub.com.ezproxylocal.librar
y.nova.edu/content/25/3/70.full.pdf+html
Americans who do not identify with any religion
…..growing at a rapid pace. 1/5 of the U.S.
population under 30…religiously unaffiliated.

10. Internet and Religion
Similar Conclusions:
Allen Downey’s , a computer scientist at
the Olin College of Engineering in
Massachusetts Concluded: Increase in
Internet use in the last two decades has
caused a significant drop in religious
affiliation
• .
• Ref.
• ]http://www.technologyreview.com/view/526111/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-
americas-religion/
• http://thefuturebuzz.com/2014/04/15/mit-shares-our-conclusion-about-religion-the-
internet/#sthash.HNG7GB42.dpuf
 the drop in religious upbringing,
 the increase in college-level education and
 the increase in internet use
• that together explain about 50 percent of the drop in religious affiliation
• http://www.technologyreview.com/view/526111/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-americas-
religion/
• .
• Positive Aspect: Internet allows new
information about people of other religious
affiliations

11. The Globalization of Religion
Need for Critical Thinking: New
Thought on Religion
• All religions can reach beyond national borders,
and allow new religious movements and
development. Projected a more turbulent rate of
change.
• “The point is that each religion contained
elements of truth that needed to be appreciated
and that formed the basis for a re-discovered
universal brotherhood.” Vatican Files, 93. Who
Are We to Judge? The Synod on the New Forms of
the Family, October 31st, 2014
• http://vaticanfiles.org/2014/10/93-who-are-we-
to-judge-the-synod-on-the-new-forms-of-the-
family/
•
Information Age
• Many religious
organizations now utilize
so-called "new media"
multimedia information
transmitted
instantaneously, in multiple
formats to multiple
destinations.

12. Globalized Religion
Is a process of realignment which involves:
• First, it implies the inevitable
transformation of individual religious
organizations;
• Second, it can be expected that new
characteristics will be produced in the
contents of doctrines, rituals, and
practices;
• Third, globalization will be accompanied by
changes in the human beings supporting
religions, particularly in their intellectual
perspectives.”
• The Information Age and the Globalization of
Religion, INOUE Nobutaka
http://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/global/06i
noue2.html
l

13. Critical Thinking: Internet as a valid
resource?
• Misinformation? Disinformation? Inaccurate
Information?
• Interesting:
• Results of Study: The major finding is that 37.1 per cent of the
students answered all questions from a web site containing
inaccurate information and as many as 77 per cent of the
students answered 6 questions or more (out of 10) from an
inaccurate web site (Table 6).
• Adult students who are overly accepting of the Internet
information and are therefore potential candidates in
making critical ‘life’ decisions based upon
untrustworthy, unreliable, non-sourced and
non-objective material. If this finding is
replicated, it points to a serious problem.
Educators need to remedy this problem
• Ref: Internet Education Journal vol 4, No. 1 2002, http:iej.cjb.net
• http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/iej/articles/v4n1/paris/paper.pdf

14. Why Infuse Critical Thinking?
 Develops an ability to consider evidence carefully.
 Formulates a thinking process.
 Prepares one to seek, question and embrace new
discussions:
Clear Example:
• Louis Ruprecht in “In Back to the Past, “
• “A final question comes into focus now: Who is it
that this howling conflict between Mark and John
has not been noticed before? If the fingerprints have
always been in the scriptural clay, then why haven’t
we seen them before? The answer is……….”
• The Tragic Gospel: How John Corrupted the Heard of
Christianity>
https://thebibleisnotholy.files.wordpress.com/2010/
06/this-tragic-gospel_how-john-corrupted-the-heart-
of-christianity-2008.pdf

15. Why all Religious Educators Should
Cultivate
Critical Thinking
Promote effective decision-making and encourages:
• engagement
• integrity-ethics
• empathy
• responsibility.
• Appreciate the value of reflective
judgment
• Understand the role of religious
educators in helping students to
develop thinking skills.
• Express improved confidence in their
own critical thinking and reflective
judgment
• Articulate strategies for
creating/adapting critical thinking
which promote reflective judgment
• Importance of critical
thinking within all
organizations:
• Embraces new thinking.
• Basis for self-empowerment.
• Strengthens leadership.

16. Preparation for future success
• NEED: Foresee the
continuing role toward
development of thinking as
new technologies continue
to emerge.
• Executives need to focus on
thinking creatively, critically, and
with curiosity using focused
questions to manage risk,
improve, productivity, and
coordinate employee talents in a
time of rapidly changing
organizational environments.
(Karr: 2009)

17. Critical Thinking for Assessing
Decisions
• Critical Thinking provides religious
education professors to teach
students knowledge and skills to
assess decisions:
WHY?
• Separates truth from opinion.
• Assists in analysis, evaluation, and
integration of strategic decisions.
• Directs one to make correct
administrative decisions that answer
the right questions, manage risk, and
improve productivity.
• Expands communications within the
accelerating global communications.

18. CT and the Brain.
• Neurotransmitters?
chemicals that transmit
signals from one neuron
to another target
neuron to produce
critical thinking.
• Critical Thinking – a
neurotransmitter Brain
Flow: Analyzing,
synthesizing,
developing strategies,
planning outcomes and
solving problems,
• Brain activity occurs as
people think and
experience emotions
(Alridge, 2015)

19. Religious Educators Encouraging
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking allows brain to accept, reject or
suspend judgments in order to reach a final
decision
Provides opportunities to encourage
thinking skills during discussions,
dialogue, and decision making.
.
Brian Nail:
• “Critical religion may be able to offer certain
intellectual resources for critiquing the
political and economic models which are
currently being outstripped.”
• “…..it is necessary to challenge the
intellectual and disciplinary boundaries,
which have historically served to distance
modern socio-economic theory from other
forms of intellectual inquiry. “
• https://www.academia.edu/7323996/Critical
_Religion_and_Economic_Discourse

20. Embracing Critical Thinking
5 Critical Steps

21. Step 1: Lead the way:
Become a Mentor
.
• Think thinking…
Practice critical thinking
• At conferences, team events, group meetings, planning projects, financial report, and
reviewing trends and projections for the university or organization.
Practice by
Identifying organizational and instructional practices,
• Asking appropriate questions,
• Analyzing and synthesizing information,
• Evaluating decision process and results.
Good Example: Graham Ward: Quote: “I think the prophetic vision of the Christian church is a
future-focused vision. It’s not a utopian vision but it has utopian aspects to it. As Christians,
what we’re announcing is the future to come and that’s what we should be living toward”
• http://theotherjournal.com/2012/06/05/imagining-a-different-future-an-interview-with-

22. Lead by Infuse new approaches
• Create a checklist
• Suggested Example:
Ask Yourself: ARE YOU
 Aware of situational contexts and
evaluating decision implications.
 Asking questions and listening to the
responses.
 Understanding the variety of values,
opinions, and decisions of others.
 Using open mindedness and flexibility in
decision making.
 Able to accept critiques from others and
accepting and internalizing them.
 Evaluating others’ assumptions before
challenging them.
 Understanding processes before trying to
change them.
 Knowing followers’ weaknesses and
strengths and using them accordingly in
their direction and empowerment.
 Having purpose and knowing
organizational values and mission when
decisions are made.
 Being involved with others by meeting
them in their present state rather than for
their potential.
 Encouraging critical followers.
 Taking informed action.
• (Jenkins & Cutchens, 2011)

23. 2. Stress Importance of Critical
Thinking
Critical Thinking…
• Translates abstract ideas into tangible results
• Evaluates all ideas in an objective manner
• Solves problems more effectively and efficiently
Results: Make dramatically better decisions
• “Continuously discussing the thought processes within and
among religions, cultures, government, business, education,
societal systems with others is the key to discovering new
methods to eliminate current problems and enhance future
society.”

24. Why Critical Thinking is Important
• Encourages a mental path
 To understand
 To examine evidence
 To consider implications
 To question assumptions
 To explore perspectives
Reference:
http://www.blurtit.com/q526651.html
• Good Example: Graham Ward: Polydoxy as a volume ends on the word “vision”,
and I do not want to deny the vision, and the desire for transformation that drives
the vision and informs the vision. But vision is not enough. Vision can spin fine words
and it needs to engender fine actions. So to whom is this polydoxical vision
addressed? What communities of lived Christian faith is it speaking to and
attempting to inspire? Or is all this liberal academic good intentionalism?
“Receiving the Gift” Graham Ward.
• http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/doi/10.1111/moth.121
22/full

25. Critical Thinking Prepares for Change
 Technology
 New discoveries
 New techniques
developed and
established
• “-- even though the
Bible is the same, the
world has changed, so
the way the world
relates to it changes;
• while denominations
and people may in
many ways remain the
same, there are also
substantial changes
that require
adaptation.”
Good Example: Dr. Ivica Zizic
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Liturgy
Pontifical Liturgical Institute, S. Anselmo - Rome
Excerpt: THE GROUND OF THE
IMAGE
Philosophy and Ritual from critical
reflection to renewed attention
• “The essential is hidden from
sight and passes by way of the
voices, by a touch of voice that
makes the intimate and the
unborn leap in their
invisibility.“

26. What associations indicate
• Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) survey
of business and non-profit leaders found that 93% believe "a demonstrated
capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is
more important than [a job candidate’s] undergraduate major." More than 75% of
those surveyed say they want more emphasis on critical thinking, complex
problem solving, written and oral communication, and applied knowledge in real-
world settings for all colleges and universities.
http://www.aacu.org/leap/documents/2013_EmployerSurvey.pdf

27. 3: Promote higher forms of thinking:
Bloom Taxonomy of Learning Domains
Psychologist Dr. Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy 1956, to promote higher
forms of thinking:
“The Learning Process is analyzing and evaluating concepts, processes,
procedures, and principles, and not just remembering facts (rote learning).”
: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html#sthash.jgVRjnqG.dpuf
Good Example:
- “Examining the relationship between religion and politics can point to two
important elements that both religion and politics, in their institutional
manifestations, share: 1) the “will to power,” and 2) the communitarian
dimension of human existence. “
- Davor Džalto, Religion, Politics, and Beyond: The Pussy Riot Case
- http://instifdt.bg.ac.rs/opus4/frontdoor/index/index/docId/434

28. Bloom’s Taxonomy sample questions
for Executives or Students
1: Knowledge Exhibits previously learned material by
recalling facts, terms, basic concepts and answers.
What is . . . ?
When did ____ happen?
How would you explain . . . ?
Why did . .. ?
How would you describe . .. ?
2: Comprehension Demonstrating understanding of
facts and ideas by organising, comparing, translating,
interpreting, giving descriptions and stating main ideas.
How would you compare . .. ? contrast.. ?
Explain in your own words . . . ?
What facts or ideas show . .. ?
What evidence is there that…?
3: Application Solving problems by applying acquired
knowledge, facts, techniques and rules in a different way.
What examples can you find to . . . ?
How would you show your understanding of. .. ?
What approach would you use to ... ?
What might have happened if. . . ?
4: Analysis Examining and breaking information
into parts by identifying motives or causes; making
inferences and finding evidence to support
generalisations.
What inference can you make from. . . ?
How would you classify . . . ?
How would you categorise . .. ?
Can you identify the difference parts... ?
5: Evaluation Presenting and defending opinions
by making judgments about information, validity of
ideas or quality of work based on a set of criteria.
How would you compare ……?
Which do you think is better….?
Evaluate contribution of ….. to …………….
What was the value or importance of …….. in
…………..?
What would you have recommended if you had been
……?
6: Creation / Synthesis: Compiling
information together in a different way by
combining elements in a new pattern or proposing
alternative solutions.
What might have happened if… ?
Can you propose an alternative interpretation to that
of ……. . ?http://www.ucdoer.ie/index.php/How_to_Ask_Questions_that_Prompt_
Critical_Thinking

29. Both provide higher orders of thinking

30. Merging Bloom and Internet

31. Promoting higher forms of thinking
Questions Arousing
excitement and curiosity
• What do we already know
• How does …affect..
• How does…tie in with….
• What was learned
• Why is the…important
• What is a counterargument
for……
• Have participants share and interact with these
questions and statements:
Good Examples:
Graham Ward: “The question raised here is where is this figure of
Christ as the ‘epistemological principle’ and the ‘pure act’ to be
found?
How do we have access to the principle or the pure act so that we
recognise them to be such? In these terms are we not dealing with
logical inferences, speculative inferences, that Barth himself has made
on the basis of his exegeses of the Scriptures?
Are we not dealing with a construction, a portrayal of Christ that is
Barth’s own?”
Ward, G. (2008). Christ and culture. John Wiley & Sons.
.
Dennis Costa: “Though standing in a real continuity
with those natural, causal agents, human psyche knows
itself as existing discontinuously from them and as
enacting, in and through the dimension of time, kinds of
knowledge and types of experience which display complex
potentialities that appear to be irreducible, or, at the least,
not fully measurable: in art, in science, and also in cultic
action.”
• Costa, D. (2012). A Pre-Modern Description of Emergence: Albertus Magnus on Human
Foetal Development. KronoScope, 12(2), 245-256.
http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/15685241-12341238

32. 4. Expose Cultural Conditioning
Does Cultural Conditioning block
individual’s ability to think
critically?
Answer: Sometimes.
Awareness of cultural
conditioning:
• Differences of opinion often
based on backgrounds or
“cultural conditioning”
• Thought process and decision-
making process often is
influenced by background or
heritage
• Question: Is cultural
conditioning influenced by or
influencing the information on
the internet?

33. Prepare for Change:
Religion, Globalization, and Culture
• Vision of globalization applied to
religion
..change from the conventional form of
religion linked intimately to the histories and
cultures of respective nations and ethnic
groups to the activities of individual religious
groups will take on the increasing
characteristic of free competition globally.
•
Results: Witnessing great transformations in
the traditional structure of the historical
religions.
Also the Establishment of Networks
• http://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/gl
obal/06inoue2.html
• Cultures hungry and ready for the information age
• Increasing numbers of people becoming consumers of
information
• Also transmitters of information in their own right.
• “ The practice of Critical Religion not only
offers certain intellectual benefits which
comes from exploring the boundaries
between various disciplines; but it also offers
an opportunity to respond to a pressing
social responsibility to critically question the
strategies by which religious and secular
communities have sought to secure for
themselves a tomorrow which is less than
certain for many.” Critical Religion and
Economic Discourse.
https://www.academia.edu/7323996/Critical
_Religion_and_Economic_Discourse
Critical Thinkingis What Every Person Needs To
Survive in a Rapidly Changing World.

34. Geographical and Social extend “reach’
• Religious groups are forced to adapt:
•
• Establishments of networks.
• we will see steady change from the conventional
form of religion linked intimately to the histories
and cultures of respective nations and ethnic groups.
• Activities of individual religious groups will take
on the increasing characteristic of free
competition on a global scale. Further, there is also
the possibility of witnessing great transformations in
the traditional structure of the historical religions
• Emergence of
Stateless Religious: existing without clear country
of origin or headquarters
The Information Age:
…..easier to gain access to information regarding the
teachings and activities of other religions
…..easier to form new religious movements without the
necessity of being bound to a single tradition in one's own
society, merely by adopting personally appealing
elements from a variety of sources.
Characterized by the presence of mutual organic relations
between the various national branches, and oriented
toward continual enlargement of the organization as a
whole.
http://www.religionfacts.com/big_religion
_chart.htm

35. Cultural Conditioning and Critical
Thinking Interaction.
• Good Example:
• Slawomir Sztajer: …”The
universality of religion is
cultural by nature—all cultures
know to science involve certain
religious ideas or practices.
…The cognitive scientists of
religion focus on the way in
which the human mind
operates in the first place, and
particularly on the cognitive
mechanisms underlying
religiosity. P. 20”
• Sztajer, S. (2014). The concept of homo religiosus and
its philosophical interpretations. Polskie Towarzystwo
Religioznawcze.

36. 5. Surge Critical Thinking within the
Virtual World
Why critical thinking
skills?
Essential to cipher the information
communications and distinguish fact from
opinion.
 To Recognize salient sifting through misleading,
incorrect, uninformed or irrelevant data.
 To Encourage to formulate logical thinking
process.
 To Understand cultural conditioning and thought
process.
The information age
easier to gain access to
information regarding the
teachings and activities of other
religions.

37. Critical Thinking develops new
thinking …
• Ready for new,
emerging and
future technologies
• Apply theory to
practice with all
new information
technology
• .
• When surfing the net in
obtaining information.
• When reading online tweets,
discussions, news, etc.
• INFLUENCE: NEW
WORLDWIDE EDUCATION
and thoughts tweets, emails,
webcasts, MOOCS, etc.
When necessary to professional
success.

38. Critical Thinking Knowledge within
religious global interconnected world
• Builds cohesive teams and
communities.
• Good Example: Leonardo De Chirico:
“The wisdom, the depth, the wideness of
the sapiential tradition of the church is
throughout apparent in its written forms.
Moreover, catholic magisterial documents
are usually articulated in a language so
meditated, pondered and polished that
often require subsequent readings in
order to be grasped. It has to be
recognised that the Vatican, among many
other things, produces also masterful
pieces of theological elaboration. “
http://vaticanfiles.org/1999/09/the-cross-and-the-eucharist-according-to-
the-catechism-of-the-catholic-church/
On-line communications….
• Seeking alternative explanations,
debating, and questioning options
prior to final group decisions.
• Becoming focused thinkers.
• Regrouping back to the intent of the
issues, questions, and discussions.
• Encouraging team members to be
willing to consider options and
other points of view.
• Preparing for teamwork necessary
toward reaching the best decisions.
• Critical Thinking: Analyze,
synthesize, evaluate, and draw
conclusions toward reaching a
rational judgment in each step
within the group dynamics process.

39. Results of Information Age: Reading Worldwide
• Globalization makes it
inevitable that the form of
missionary activities, human
relationships, and the content of
religious information
communicated will be
transformed.
• INOUE Nobutaka, General editor,Institute for Japanese Culture and
Classics, Kokugakuin University,1997Part II
• The Information Age and the Globalization of
http://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/global/06inoue2.html
As the information age
progresses, growing numbers of
people will view religion through
more critical lenses
EXAMPLE: Louis Ruprecht’s thought-
provoking books online:
 Tragic Posture and Tragic Vision: Against the
Modern Failure of Nerve, (Continuum, 1994)
 Afterwords: Hellenism, Modernism and the
Myth of Decadence (SUNY, 1996)
 Symposia: Plato, the Erotic and Moral Value,
(SUNY, 1999)
 Was Greek Thought Religious? On the Use and
Abuse of Hellenism, From Rome to
Romanticism, (Palgrave, 2002)
 God Gardened East: A Gardener's Meditation on
the Dynamics of Genesis, Cascade Books
(January 2008).
 This Tragic Gospel: How John Corrupted the
Heart of Christianity, (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-
Bass, 2008)
 Winckelmann and the Vatican's First Profane
Museum , (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)

40. The Network Society
• Today’s Information Age Requires:
• Mobility preparedness
• Adaptability to Innovation
• Flexibility toward Effective Leadership
• Agility in Moving quickly
• Change: Where you need to go.
• Critical Thinking: “the most
important skills needed both for
employers and employees now
and for the future. ..Ranked even
higher than innovation or IT
knowledge.”
• Chartrand, Ishikwa, and Flanigan

41. Faith coupled with Critical Thinking
Faith
 Will continue to identify and
articulate the moral, ethical,
and spiritual values
underpinning policy issues;
 Shape a progressive stance in
which these values are clear;
 Increase public awareness and
understanding of these values.
• Retrieved: Twitter @CAPfaith.

42. The Virtual World and academic
institutions
• Although search engines have
become the present day
gateway to information,
• “ education within academic
institutions will continue to be
the economic engine of a
society attracting those with
knowledge providing research
and innovation to our world
while contributing to our
global economy.” (Ricci, 2012,
p. 155).

43. CRITICAL THINKING
• Emerging Nations will
continue to request new
and better educated
leaders possessing
critical thinking skills
• It’s the KEY TO Religious
SURVIVAL

44. Summary:
YOU: The Professional Critical Thinker
• …change and rethink
organizational structures
• …. prepare for mobility,
innovation, flexibility,
agility, and change,
• ….encourage self-
empowerment, creative and
new design thinking
• …..lead toward growth and
innovation in a networked
global society.
•
.
Critical Thinking is one’s best asset
toward survival in a
Rapidly Changing World.

45. Critical Thinking: Your call
• Focus on Infusing Critical
Thinking in Religion and Realism
in the interconnected age.
•
Have the ability to inspire and
energize others to perform at
their highest level individually
and collectively
• “ Certainly all historical
experience confirms the truth --
that man would not have
attained the possible unless time
and again he had reached out for
the impossible.”
• (Christos N. Tsironis web page:
http://tsironis.weebly.com/
•
• There’s nothing more important than
growing people.

46. Conference on Religion and Realism
Grazie:
Frederick A. Ricci (Nova
Southeastern University)
Chair, Dr. Davor Džalto, Religious
Studies Program
American University of Rome
Participants
• Graham Ward (Oxford University)
• Maurizio Ferraris (University of Turin)
• Marco Conti, ( American University of Rome)
• Brian V. Nail (University of Luxemburg)
• Louis Arthur Ruprecht (Georgia State
University)
• Cleo Kearns (New York University)
• Leonardo De Chirico (The American
University of Rome)
• Sławomir Sztajer (Adam Mickiewicz
University Poznań)
• Stephen LeDrew (Uppsala University)
• Dennis Costa (Boston University
• Ivica Žižić (Pontifical University of S.
Anselmo)
• Christos N. Tsironis (Aristotle University
Thessaloniki)
• Frederick A. Ricci (Nova Southeastern
University)

47. YouTube on
Discussion
Religion and Realism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
fZpJ7yUPwdU&index=2&list=PLB933
6E570939389C

48. Useful references on critical thinking
• Brown, T. (2008, June). Design thinking. Harvard Business Review: The Magazine. Retrieved from http://hbr.org/2008/06/design-thinking/
• Budryk, Z. (2013). More than a major. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/10/survey-finds-business-executives-arent-
focused-majors-those-they-hire
• Burnette, C. (2005). What is design thinking? Retrieved from http://www.idesignthinking.com/01whyteach/01whyteach.html
• Burnette, C. (2009). A theory of design thinking. FAIA Prepared in response to the Torquay Conference on Design Thinking, Swinburne University of Technology,
Melbourne, Australia, Nov 1, 2009.
• Changing Minds. (2012). Socratic questions. Retrieved from http://changingminds.org/ techniques/questioning/socratic_questions.htm
• Chartrand, J., Ishikawa H., & Flanigan, S. (2009). Critical thinking means business: Learn to apply and develop the NEW #1 workplace skill. Pearson Education,
Retrieved from http://www.talentlens.com/en/ downloads/whitepapers/ Pearson_TalentLens_Critical_Thinking_Means_Business.pdf
• Dass, T. K. (1994, October). Educating tomorrow’s managers: The role of critical thinking. The International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 2, 333-360. Retrieved
from http://aux.zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/tkdas/publications/das_ijoa94_criticalthinking.pdf
• Fast Company Staff. (2014). Design thinking: What is that? Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/919258/design-thinking-what
• Foundation for Critical Thinking. (2007). To analyze critical thinking, we must analyze and question its elemental structures. Retrieved from
http://www.criticalthinking.org/ctmodel/logic-model1.htm
• Foundation for Critical Thinking. (2013). Critical thinking: Where to begin. Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/critical-thinking-where-to-begin/796
• Humphreys, Debra, (2013) . Employers More Interested in Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Than College Major,aacu.org.
• Jenkins, D. M., & Cutchens, A. B. (2011, Summer). Leading critically: A grounded theory of applied critical thinking in leadership studies, Journal of Leadership
Education, 10, Retrieved from https://www.academ75ia.edu/1214625/
• Jones, M. (2005). New paradigm for executive education. Executive White Paper. International Institute of Management 9IIM. Retrieved from http://www.iim-
edu.org/executiveeducationbestpracticeskasac/
• Karr, S. S. (2009, December). Critical thinking: A critical strategy for financial executives. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 26, 2.
• Lau, J., & Chan, J. (2014). Welcome to critical thinking web. Retrieved from http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/
• Marbles, the Brain Store. (2012). About the Brain, Critical Thinking. Retrieved from, http://www.marblesthebrainstore.com/about-critical-thinking/
• McGraw-Hill Companies. (2000). Reichenbach: An introduction to critical thinking. Retrieved from http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/philosophy/reichenbach/
m1_chap02studyguide.html
• Natale, S., & Ricci, F. (2006). Critical thinking in organizations. Team Performance Management, 12(7), 272-278.
• National Institutes of Health. (n.d.). The brain, lesson 1: What’s going on there? Retrieved from
http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih2/addiction/activities/lesson1_brainparts.htm)
• Purdue University Center for Student Achievement. (n.d.). Critical thinking. Retrieved from http://webs.purduecal.edu/csa/files/2012/05/Critical-Thinking.pdf
• Ratcliffe, J. (ed.). (2009, August 1). Steps in design thinking: Retrieved from https://dschool.stanford.edu/groups/k12/wiki/17cff/Design_Process_Steps.html
• Stanford Graduate School of Business. (2014). Design Thinking Boot Camp: From insights
to innovation. Retrieved from http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/exed/dtbc/
• Stotz, D. (2012). The future of executive education. Executive Education in the News. Retrieved from http://uniconexed.org/en/89-unicon-articles-category/in-the-
news/170-future-of-education.html
• The Almanac. (2012, September 24). New Stanford courses stress critical thinking. Retrieved from http://www.almanacnews.com/news/2012/09/24/new-stanford-
courses-stress-critical-thinking
• Welsh, M. A., & Dehler, G. E. (2013). Combining critical reflection and design thinking to develop integrative learners, Journal of Management Education, 37, 771-802

49. Additional Online Reference Websites:
• http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/how-to-promote-critical-thinkin-with-online-
discussion-forums/
• http://www.saylor.org/courses/phil102/
• http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/how-to-promote-critical-thinking-with-online-
discussion-forums/
• http://austhink.com/critical/
• http://www.editlib.org/p/36242/ ]
• http://www.editlib.org/noaccess/36242/
• Emerging Technology From the arXiv, April 4, 2014, How the internet is taking away America's religion
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/526111/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-americas-religion/
•
• For discussion purposes only