And so was Dante. Those of you who have read one of the good modern translations of “The Inferno” will know that the Pilgrim didn’t wander away from the road. The road curved away from him and he continued to go straight. We Christians have continued to walk on straight in our religious language, our … [Read more…]
In an earlier entry, I advocated the view that relationships are primary and substance comes into existence as a result of one or more relationships. Now, I’ll try to produce a more balanced view by saying why we Christians, perhaps others as well, should consider substance (or `essence’ in the usual philosophical talk) to be … [Read more…]
In “To See a World in a Grain of Sand”, I danced around an analogy that I can now see a little more clearly though I’m beginning to fear it’s more than just an analogy. Matter, particular being, results from a broken symmetry of metaphysical truths. In this claim, I’m basically exploring an expansion of … [Read more…]
Recently, Pope Benedict XVI caused a bit of a stir in his address at the University of Regensburg (Sept. 12, 2006). I’ll address the true thrust of his speech and not those remarks which were taken out of context. Specifically, I intend to work in line with his stated intention: “The intention here is not … [Read more…]
As I noted in my book, “To See a World in a Grain of Sand”, the term ‘original sin’ points to a fundamental truth about the human condition, but it seems to miss the target a bit. Our knowledge of human nature and of the physical world has expanded greatly in recent years and has … [Read more…]
I know just enough about history and economics to be dangerous and what I know leads me to the dangerous thought that a sufficiently large political entity with a centralized government will tend strongly to evolve into an empire, no matter its pretences to being a republic. It may have initial periods of freedom, but … [Read more…]
Modern empirical knowledge, the social sciences as well as physics and biology, point towards a world of development and not one of stable entities. Nor do we have any reason to believe in short-cuts that bring a more primitive entity to an advanced state such as that in which a hairless ape is capable of … [Read more…]
I wish to make a simple point, seemingly obvious but perhaps only because I’ve spent the past 20 years of my life teaching myself how to read and write books of substance, books which are worth reading by objective standards. When a friend recently read two of my theological books (one unpublished) and three of … [Read more…]
This is a rather broad field but I should qualify my discussion at the very beginning. I’ll talk mostly about an error which has never been purged from Christian and Jewish thought: the tendency to tie God to the universe as we know it so that the Lord Almighty becomes a super-creature.
This article states the obvious truth about our moral confusion and makes the valid distinction between ends and means. Americans have always been confused about this distinction, often because of the domination of practical reasoning in the American mind. As I point out in my book “To See a World in a Grain of Sand: … [Read more…]