Background
Turner, Dean Edson was born on May 24, 1927 in Tyrone, Oklahoma, United States. Son of Jesse Lee and Cora May (Luman) Turner.
(Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? These question...)
Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? These questions haunt us. In a lifelong quest for answers, we turn to religion, philosophy and psychology and we often end up more confused than comforted. On one side the merchants of despair tell us that life is meaningless, that doomed to extinction we are stripped of dignity, and that experience in the "now" is the only reality we can know. On the other side we are offered simplistic formulas, do-it-yourself salvation kits that are an affront to us as sentient beings. Is there a viable alternative to these explanations we find so offensive? "The Autonomous Man" advances a practical ethic of autonomy, whereby individuals may affirm their identity and integrity. Professor Turner offers a philosophy based on six definite and clear-cut principles that people can use to guide their daily lives in their relationships with themselves, others and God. No one of these principles is more important than any of the others; they a! re effective only when regarded as a whole. As a background for his ethic, the author attempts to expose the fallacies of modern nihilism, which isolates humans from their context with the infinite and the eternal. "We must," he says, "relocate the human spirit in a world of intrinsic values, in a cosmic order that is grounded in some permanent Reason and Love."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0827200099/?tag=2022091-20
(This is a book about the high price of life, the high pri...)
This is a book about the high price of life, the high price of love, the high price of happiness. It is about the complex, demanding, compassionate Christianity that Jesus lived, loved and died for. It is about the inevitability of joy and suffering, disappointment, loss and heartbreak. Central to its thesis is the high price that God pays, and that God's children must pay, for the privilege of loving and being loved. It details how philosophy, theology and psychology have been twisted and subverted to draw humankind away from, instead of closer to, God. It clearly reveals how people in myriad ways have attempted to escape from their Creator. It explores the reality of loneliness, frustration, the pang of need and incompletion. It addresses the sordid, their rational, the depraved, the terribly evil. But this is not a negative or depressing book. It is paean to joy, to love. It powerfully affirms the hope of the committed. Those willing to pay the price will know the sustaining, empowering love of God. Need, risk, freedom, challenge, responsibility--these are the inexorable requirements of the abundant life. The author of his fascinating, demanding, thought-provoking book dares readers to reexamine their comfortable, narrow understandings of this life and the one to come. Dean Turner, university professor, philosopher-theologian and ordained minister, expands our vision of life, death and the true price of spiritual wholeness. Again and again he relentlessly exposes the petty ruses we vainly use to avoid facing reality. He challenges us to break out of our shallow half-lives and dare to embrace intimacy, faith and full commitment. To do this, we must confront unsettling questions, squarely face the ultimacy of the duty to care. At the core of every life dwells a quest for rapture. But we must face one certain, unalterable fact. Rapture has its price. Escapism is the indisposition of people to look straight into the face of God for fear of seeing the formidable message of responsibility that His eyes clearly convey.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0932727433/?tag=2022091-20
(In this revolutionary book, Professor Dean Turner brings ...)
In this revolutionary book, Professor Dean Turner brings the most revolutionary concept of humankiind--that of a loving, caring God--into philosophy of religion, education and science. Commitment to Care is a sophisticated, innovative book designed to stretch the frontiers of thought. It is designed to build belief through fact, not blind faith. Commitment to Care is designed both for the individual who, sure in a personal faith is ready to reach for new expressions of God's wonder, as well as for the agnostic who has not found an intellectually sound reason to believe. In religion, this book solves such painful problems as: Why does God permit so much evil? Why do we have to pay so high a price for life? Does God really care? In science, Commitment to Care presents startling, challenging concepts professionally and factually. 330 footnotes credit the detailed work of scientists and philosophers who have striven to bring into their fields a new vision. In education, Professor Turner emphatically demonstrates the need to bring the concept of loving creation back into the classroom.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0815952163/?tag=2022091-20
(In one way or another all people need and seek happiness....)
In one way or another all people need and seek happiness. Throughout the ages philosophers have attempted to define happiness, to distinguish between wise and unwise ways of pursuing it and to determine what the conditions are that make it possible and enduring. Both empirically and creatively, Benevolent Living examines every major aspect of the problem of happiness—the economics, politics, sociology, psychology, esthetics and ethics of the sense of well-being and joy in being alive. This work not only talks of achieving a comprehensive philosophy of happiness and responsibility but actually develops one that can be represented as solid and of distinct value in the face of sophisticated criticism. The authors uniquely incorporate clever cartoons in their study of mirth, hedonism and morality. They address the most basic, relevant questions about the kind of life we should live in a world that seems bent upon self-destruction. Eric Hoffer declared, “We are warned not to waste our time, but we are brought up to waste our lives.” Seeing this as a challenge, the authors respond by establishing ethical principles and attitudes that can create the motivation for widespread benevolent behavior. The purpose of this book is to show how reason can unite people with one another through the sharing of life’s universal or intrinsic values. The work sets forth values and perspectives that cross over all ethnic, racial, cultural and religious boundary lines. The Christian views set forth reflect the background and commitment of the authors but do not imply the sort of doctrinal rigidity that would alienate others. Rather, their ecumenical hope is that all world religions, peoples and seekers might find new strength and unity in an intelligent, informed affirmation of God’s loving Care. From an eminent philosopher-theologian: In the literature of philosophy known to me, there is nothing much like this book. It is a remarkable work, hard-hitting, well documented and truly learned. It is an eloquent defense of belief in God, vigorously supported in a great variety of ways. It gives powerful expression to the proposition that secular humanism is a danger to the good life. The point is not that atheists cannot in some cases live by high ideals, but that not only are these ideals inherited from theistic religions but they also make more rational sense and have stronger survival power when given appropriate theistic formulation. Hazelett and Turner compliment me in my practice of looking for truth in every great philosopher, not just in my special favorites. I can return the compliment. They outdo me in this practice in many cases. They show magnificently what lesser-known thinkers can do to force insiders to live up to their pretensions as seekers of the truth as collectively pursued. This book is almost an encyclopedia of considerations relevant to ethics or religion. It presents the most careful and many-sided analysis of happiness that I can recall reading. Who, I wonder, can be so wise, or so foolish, as to feel no need to learn more on this subject? —Charles Hartshorne, The University of Texas at Austin
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0932727328/?tag=2022091-20
Turner, Dean Edson was born on May 24, 1927 in Tyrone, Oklahoma, United States. Son of Jesse Lee and Cora May (Luman) Turner.
Bachelor, Centro de Estudios Universitarios, Mexico City, 1953-1955; Master of Education, Adams State College, 1959; Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy and History of Education, University Texas, 1966.
English teacher, Instituto Taylor Comercial, Mexico City, 1953-1955; Spanish teacher, Anchorage High School, 1956-1958; Spanish teacher, Carmichael (California) High School, 1958; Spanish teacher, Farmingdale (Long Island) High School, 1961; Spanish teacher, Rye (New York) High School, 1963-1964; professor Spanish, Sullins Women's College, Bristol, Virginia, 1962-1963; professor sociology, Spanish, U. Maryland., 1959-1961; professor foundations of education, U. Northern Colorado, Greeley, since 1966.
(In this revolutionary book, Professor Dean Turner brings ...)
(This is a book about the high price of life, the high pri...)
(Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? These question...)
(In one way or another all people need and seek happiness....)
(Book by Burron, Arnold, Eidsmoe, John, Turner, Dean)
Served to sergeant United States Army, 1950-1952. Member Society Christian Philosophers, Society Christian Ethics, Christian Educators Association International.
Married Nancy Margaret Roche, August 12, 1964. Children: Taos Lee, Summer Marie.