Documentary Theory of Biblical Authorship (JEPD): Dialogue

Last updated on: August 10, 2018 at 1:30 pm By Dave Armstrong

My dialogue opponent (on my blog) is a self-described “liberal” Catholic. His words will be in blue. * * * * *Then there is the whole sacrifice of Isaac scene. What is being portrayed in Genesis is not a God who issues eternal decrees conveying rational and consistent laws. Rather, we have a God who acts quite arbitrarily, and issues decrees that are temporal and specific to the individual. God cannot act arbitrarily. That is blasphemy. So you are either questioning God... Read more

Biblical Inspiration & Cultural Influences: Contradictory?

Last updated on: August 16, 2018 at 2:18 pm By Dave Armstrong

Elzbieta Kraszewski, who was raised Catholic, wrote in one of my comboxes (words in blue henceforth): The Bible is much more understandable (and actually more relevant) if we view it in light of the authors’ time and culture. Of course they didn’t denounce slavery because, like every known ancient civilization, slavery was a major part of their economy. Saying that God justified capturing, owning, and selling slaves was simply (and obviously) a man-made attempt to enshrine the right to own... Read more

Am I the Christian Equivalent of the “Angry Atheist”?

Last updated on: August 9, 2018 at 2:06 pm By Dave Armstrong

The following came from a critique from Grimlock: a frequent atheist contributor to my blog (I’ve engaged in several lengthy debates with him). He is objecting to my recent blog post, “Why I Blocked Anti-Theist Atheist Bob Seidensticker” (8-8-18), in its combox. It was similar to an earlier paper, called, “Seidensticker: Christians R Intellectually Dishonest Idiots (He Also Projects Onto Me These Bigoted Ideas, as if I Hold the Same About Atheists)” (5-12-18). Grimlock’s words will be in blue. My... Read more

Science: “only discipline that tells us new things about reality” [???]

Last updated on: August 9, 2018 at 12:57 pm By Dave Armstrong

Scientism or Near-Scientism as a Very Common Shortcoming of Atheist Epistemology This dialogue came about as a result of atheist “JustAnotherAtheist2” [“JAA2”] critiquing one sentence I wrote in response to another from well-known online atheist Bob Seidensticker: Bob: “Science is the only discipline that tells us new things about reality.” [link] Me: “Like many atheists, he takes the epistemologically naive and stunted view of scientism: that science is the only legitimate means of knowledge.” [link] For a helpful treatment of scientism, see the... Read more

Atheist Argument From Non-Belief (vs. Dr. Ted Drange)

Last updated on: August 8, 2018 at 12:15 pm By Dave Armstrong

Dr. Ted Drange is an atheist philosopher, renowned in atheist circles for his arguments against Christianity. Back around 2001, he started vigorously challenging me. At first I had no idea that he was a philosophy professor (which was a bit unfair, and should have been disclosed, but anyway . . .). This particular argument was much ballyhooed on Jeffrey Jay Lowder’s Secular Web. He wrote there about it, and several papers along these lines; also about Dr. Drange in particular:... Read more

Why I Blocked Anti-Theist Atheist Bob Seidensticker

Last updated on: August 8, 2018 at 12:59 pm By Dave Armstrong

His words will be in blue. I had already established beyond all doubt from his own words — three months ago — that Seidensticker (who runs the popular Cross Examined blog at Patheos) is one of the distressingly common condescending atheists, who thinks Christians are (on the whole or generalizing) dishonest, hateful, infantile, anti-evidential (“Christians might sidestep that whole evidence and argument thing”: 7-31-18), anti-scientific, anti-intellectual fools and simpletons, who worship a morally atrocious “god.” I discuss the phenomenon of... Read more

“Catholic Christian” Implies a Non-Catholic Ecclesiology?

Last updated on: August 7, 2018 at 1:02 pm By Dave Armstrong

Background: the claim was made in a previous discussion on the validity of the apostolate of Scott Hahn that the use of the descriptive phrase Catholic Christian is improper. I vigorously denied this, arguing that it is a matter of the English language and category distinctions, and a way to linguistically counter the common anti-Catholic assumption that Catholics call themselves Catholics rather than (if one word must be chosen) Christians because they are not Christians in the first place, and wish to deliberately dissociate themselves from that... Read more

Objections to the Reactionary Epithet “Neo-Catholic”

Last updated on: August 7, 2018 at 12:29 pm By Dave Armstrong

The following thoughts were stimulated by a discussion on fellow Catholic Michael Liccione’s excellent blog, Sacramentum Vitae. He wrote: So far, I’ve adopted the term ‘neo-Cath’ to describe myself and like-minded Catholics. Thus: Before I get to the substance of the matter at issue, allow me to explain the term ‘neoCath’. Och is also unlike Catholic bloggers in that he has adopted the vocabulary I use to broadly categorize the divisions in contemporary Catholicism: those between progressives or “progs,” traditionalists or “trads,”... Read more

Dialogue w a Baptist on Required Clerical Celibacy

Last updated on: August 6, 2018 at 7:07 pm By Dave Armstrong

Ken Temple’s words will be in blue. When he cites my words, they will be in green. * * * * * Paul is trying to guard against “making a rule” that one has to be single and celibate by “command force”, but rather is up to the free will and choice of the individual and that they should understand that they have the gift (charismata of celibacy – 7:7) “in order to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord”. ( 7:35) Which,... Read more

Not Burning Heretics was a Far More “Controversial” Change

Last updated on: August 6, 2018 at 12:36 pm By Dave Armstrong

Pondering the Analogy of Not Burning “Murderers of Souls” to Recent Popes’ Opposition to All Capital Punishment The following came about as a result of a critique from a Catholic of my recent article, “Why Have Popes At All if We Reject Papal Guidance?” It was described as “facile” and lacking “nuance.” Someone else in the same Facebook thread also made the “rhetorically inevitable” charge that I am an “ultramontane” (which I predicted in the aforementioned paper would be the... Read more