I’ll start with a digression to the question, “What is paganism, really?” In a simple comparison of paganism vs Christianity (in the sense of comparison and not of combat), I’ll be able to better define the “world” from the Christian viewpoint but for modern sensibilities. I’ll write of higher paganism. To a pagan, the world … [Read more…]
Despite the urban legend I had once accepted, the phrase Here be dragons was not often used on maps and sometimes the dragons or other monsters drawn on unknown regions were decoration rather than warnings. Yet, they clearly state what “should have been true” though it was only “sometimes” true: “Here be dragons” means dangerous … [Read more…]
The basic idea is simple. For decades, geneticists have been able to chemically separate and analyze genes. This made possible a fruitless search for the magic gene which `causes’ schizophrenia or depression or intelligence or other human qualities or disorders of human being. A lot was learned, perhaps most importantly—there are no such magic genes. … [Read more…]
At his most authoritative, the Pope of the day has been the one who speaks on behalf of the community of Catholics, at times even on behalf of the community of all sacramental Christians—in centuries long past, those now called Eastern Orthodox accepted the authority of popes of the caliber of St Leo the Great. … [Read more…]
Jose Ortega y Gasset “was a Spanish philosopher, and essayist. He worked during the first half of the 20th century, while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and republicanism infiltrated by communist agents, and dictatorship of a stabilizing and fascist-tinged sort. His philosophy has been characterized as a “philosophy of life” that “comprised a long-hidden beginning … [Read more…]
The Orthodox and Catholic Christian patriarchs of Syria have made a plea to Western countries and their citizens, especially to their fellow Christians in the West. This statement, follows on similar pleas over the years by Christians, including Orthodox and Catholic bishops, from various countries in Southwest Asia, a region which we Westerners, especially Americans, … [Read more…]
I’ve proposed that the Body of Christ, the real and not nominal or virtual, community into which the friends of God will be integrated is a civilization with the Christian Church as His central organ. In this proposed understanding, the Church isn’t the entirety of the Body; after all, I think that all that is … [Read more…]
Pope Francis has recently caused a stir by allegedly claiming there to be no Hell and even possibly once claiming there to be no Hell, Purgatory, or Heaven. See Francis, Spin Doctor To Himself. His Latest Exploits. I also have speculated there be no Hell and tend strongly to that view, but I’m a firm … [Read more…]
Short answer: conspiratorial worldviews and attitudes are necessary to preserve the fiction that the United States has no ruling class. Who were and are the members of this ruling class? They are the ones who went to the well-funded secondary academies of the Northeast, such as Phillips Exeter Academy and all the many with less … [Read more…]
I recently read Alvin Plantinga’s powerful book, Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism. I have little to say against what he deals with and bow to his well-organized, scholarly mind. He does a better job than any of a half-dozen or so books I’ve read which critique the metaphysical imperialism of some … [Read more…]