Chad Ragsdale

I have some skepticism when it comes to personality tests. They are often pseudo-scientific attempts to quantify the inherently unquantifiable. Imagine the absurdity of reducing an individual, in all of her wonderful complexity, to a number or a series of letters or a Hogwarts House. Personality tests are exemplifications of what Jacque Ellul called “technique” […]

“I felt so blissful and whole . . . full of the most love I had ever experienced. I thought to myself, ‘If this is dying, then it’s not as bad as everyone thinks it is.’ Then I saw a light from above me. It was pulling me away from the room. I figured it […]

By now I’m sure that most of you are aware of the Bud Light/Dylan Mulvaney debacle. Just in case you haven’t heard, let me bring you up to speed. In an effort to make the brand more inclusive and less “fratty,” executives partnered with actor-turned-transgender celebrity Dylan Mulvaney for a small ad campaign. Mulvaney, who […]

The world changed forever at the end of this past November. If you aren’t a very online person, you may not have any idea what I’m talking about. But if you do spend much time online, particularly on Twitter, you are aware of ChatGPT. ChatGPT is a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence. It is certainly not […]

If I hadn’t already sworn off using the word, I’d say that I was deconstructing my faith a bit lately. Don’t panic. I’m not experiencing anything like a crisis of faith. In some respects, it’s just the opposite. Lately I’ve been questioning some of the unconscious assumptions that inform my faith with the result that my […]

Where does consciousness come from? A persistent fear many have is that emerging technologies will develop consciousness. Many wonder if what we create will eventually, sooner rather than later, gain self-awareness and become more powerful than we can control. So, what exactly is consciousness, and where does it come from?  Any sudden leaps in technological […]

Within the Church (broadly speaking), there are two groups of people. Not everyone in the Church fits into one of these groups. In fact, many people in the Church are a little weirded out by these two groups. This is largely because the people in these two groups tend to be agitators. They stir things […]

What follows is the manuscript of a sermon delivered in Ozark Christian College’s chapel on 2/25/2021. I feel some conflict this morning. It is a strange thing to be asked to preach about a god you no longer believe in. I’m not sure I ever actually believed in this god. There was a time I […]