Sydney Smith 
Denysha Taylor 
The idea of Pragmatism was first proposed by the American psychologist William James. I had a hard time deciding which category I thought this idea fit under but I decided that it fit best under Redemption. The reason I think that is that Pragmatism was James’ reaction to the idea that people should try and find if an idea is valid in all cases. He saw this as a flawed system and in that way it is comparable to the fall. He believed that one way to fix this problem was the belief of pragmatism. Pragmatism which says that all ideas should be judged on their usefulness in the current situation counteracted the problem James saw. In this way Pragmatism actually has hope connected to it. According to him there is no way to know for sure if an idea is true but that doesn’t matter as long as it is useful it has value. In fact you can even the redemptive quality of this idea in the life of William James. When he was young he went through spells of depression most of it seeming to come from his issues with the ideas of fatalism and whether or not anyone truly had free will. However when the idea of pragmatism came into his life it helped because he realized that no matter how much he would dwell on it he couldn’t prove whether or not he truly had free will but it was a useful assumption to think that he did so he chose to live his life as if nothing was predetermined and that the choices he made truly did matter. That change in his outlook embodies to me the reason that I believe Pragmatism fits well into redemption.
Levi Ritchie
11:42 pm, 11.03.13
Your post, in some ways, draws a contrast between the different ways of looking at redemption. With regard to the spiritual view of sin, for example, the redemption brought to humanity by Jesus has no visible manifestation. We are “cleansed” by the blood of Christ, and our behavior might change noticeably, but there is often inadequate evidence of a “redemption” while we continue to sin.
When you look at it from the perspective of humanity as a whole, however, the practical application of Jesus’s teachings couldn’t be further from invisible. From the moment the early church got rolling in Rome, the unorthodox behavior of Christians made it apparent that the world was going to change. If we were to look at our worldview less in terms of metaphysical discussions and more in terms of practical, observable change in the way people treat one another, we might be able to understand the kingdom of God better than ever.
Jacey Ferrara
5:07 pm, 11.04.13
Matt, I like the way you wrote about Pragmatism. I can see how this is a difficult topic to place into a category, but I think you did a great job of discussing and defending the various categories. I also really liked how you connected William James’ personal life and his use of pragmatism to redemption. I think that puts a positive spin on pragmatism and it obviously gave William James hope and encouragement to continue working and living his life.
D.J. Acevedo
8:10 pm, 11.04.13
I came for the Princess Bride reference, stayed for the blog post.
Very excellent post! I think that if I were to put pragmatism in any category it would have to be redemption as well. It encourages that we get a good look at every possible avenue and I like that.
Taylor Chitty
10:40 pm, 11.04.13
I personally feel that pragmatism could go under redemption because it leads to a better feeling about life. If something works for a person there is no reason to try and change that belief if it leads to a change in how they act. Although i agree that pragmatism could fit under most of the categories for various reasons.
Denysha Taylor
11:58 pm, 11.04.13
Matt,
First of all, great photo : ). Second, I think you were right to place him the Redemption category. The emergence of Pragmatism is a great reflection of Redemption. Ironically enough, James’ life does make sense in a Fall-Redemption reflection as well. Great post!
Kami Earle
12:00 am, 11.05.13
Matt, Princess Bride for the win!
But in all seriousness, this is an awesome way to view pragmatism – as hope. I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever considered it that way before, and I’m glad you brought that idea to my attention!