Category: Philosophy
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Is the Desire to Avoid Hell Egotistical? (Part I)
Read Part II here. Recently the topic of Hell has been in the news. In case you were entirely unaware, yes, Hell is in fact a real place (as Pope Benedict reminded us just last week). Hell, being an altogether unpleasant place, is not a destination where many desire to go, but is this desire…
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Kiss and Tell
Kissing is an interesting thing. When we are young we kiss our parents, our siblings, and sometimes (often under duress) our extended family. When elementary school children discuss kissing technical language is often brought into play. A word like “cooties” (which is defined by the OED as an imaginary germ with which a socially undesirable…
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Education and the Problem of Our Times
John Mark Reynolds, 2005. What is love? What is true education? One of the great masters of both, Socrates, gave us a lesson in the dialogue Symposium that is powerful. Socrates ends his discussion of Love on a high note. He says of Diotima’s speech, This . . . was what Diotima told me. I…
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Keeping Athens at Bay: Historical Case Study
John Mark Reynolds, 2005. How should a Christian relate to philosophy? Earlier, I tried to show that Christianity must account for philosophy, Athens. On the other hand, it cannot reduce divine revelation to human intellectual activity. There is nothing new in this idea. It was the path the church followed to discover some of the…
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We Must Act Part II
John Mark Reynolds, 2005. Read Part I here. Athens and Jerusalem Break Apart For centuries, these two cities, Athens and Jerusalem, provided the boundaries for intellectual and cultural growth. They formed one new kingdom. Tensions between the rationalism of Athens and the faith of Jerusalem always existed, but each recognized the contributions made by the…
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Other gods?
John Mark Reynolds, 2004. I am sometimes asked how I know my God is the true God. How do I know the Aztec god or the gods of Olympus are not real gods?Here is a short (blog length!) response. People curious about more information should read Scaling the Secular City. First, we must ask ourselves…
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I am not Fluffy
John Mark Reynolds, 2004. Jane wants a dog. That is a problem. Aristotle, the Wonder Dog, is already with us and he is enough to torment any family. At seven years old, Jane lacks the rhetorical and cleaning skills to make an effective argument to She Who Must Be Obeyed. Therefore, Jane has solved her…
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Two Frequent Secular Charges
John Mark Reynolds, 2004. Frequently when I chat with friends who do not believe in God they will insist on two things. I find both things odd. First, some secularists assert that religious people “cannot question,” but scientists must. Of course, there are some religious people who are dogmatic (in the bad sense). I have…
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Can a Christian love the dialectic?
John Mark Reynolds, 2004. I am a Christian and not just any kind of Christian, but the most robust kind: a Christian who believes the creeds are true and that the Bible is infallible. I don’t think much of modernity and tradition seems a better guide to behavior than the front page of the LA…
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On Opposing Tyrants
John Mark Reynolds, 2004. Athens, the world’s first experiment in democracy, was eventually overtaken by the tyranny of Philip and Alexander of Macedonia. One man, Demosthenes, argued for his entire political life for a concentrated assault on Philip. He was sometimes heard and sometimes ignored. In his otherwise excellent history The Ancient Greeks, Fine argues…
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On Dorothy Sayers’ “Mind of the Maker”
John Mark Reynolds, 2004. Still thinking about Dorothy Sayers Mind of the Maker. Why do so few people know about this brilliant book?An artist creates. This act, according to Sayers, reflects the triune nature of God: Idea, Energy/Action, and Power. The author writes her book based on an Idea. This idea, like the Father is…
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Revelation and Reason
John Mark Reynolds, 2004. Today’s class was on Dorothy Sayers. Ably led by Miss Silvers, we delved into the relationship between Revelation and reason. Some of my thoughts from this class. I think the world to be a reasonable place, but it may not all be open to our reason. Some problems are just too…