I was chatting with a social media acquaintance, someone I hope becomes a friend, who claimed to know this was not the best world that could be. He believed that I, a Christian, must believe that it is the best possible world. That is true: it is. Yet the cosmos as we know it is not the best of all conceivable worlds. Of course it is not. We have chosen poorly often. Freely humankind decided we have the right to do... Read more
Dido isn’t the only character in Vergil’s Aeneid who resorts to necromancy when she hits the end of her rope. Aeneas himself has recourse to that bastion of Roman state religion, the Sibyl of Cumae, when he loses his way. Having disgraced himself by abandoning Dido and his famous “arms,” Aeneas seeks to regain his honor by an act of filial piety in seeking advice from his father. The only problem is that old daddy is quite dead. In order... Read more
Hope (the Fairest Flower in Christendom) had to find the room in which I was discussing culture and ideas with a most excellent group of graduate students. The university where I was speaking had picked a building where on my particular hallway each room looked exactly like the other. At the start of the session, the lamp blew out in the overhead projector and so we had to move next door. The university moved the sign and all the stuff... Read more
Sometimes we should read before opining: Unwritten Neither do I think it would at all promote the slave’s interest to liberate him in his present degraded state. -letter from Mary Jones to Charles Colcock Jones 24 November 1829 Much as I should miss the mother, I am Persuaded that we might come To some understanding about a change Of investment. I do not wish To influence you in the least degree Beyond your own convictions, nor To have you subjected... Read more
227 The wise is one thing, to be acquainted with true judgement, how all things are steered through all.* So said Heraclitus: the wisest man to live in Ephesus until Saint John moved there. Saint Basil recommends we begin our studies learning from the noble pagans, particularly in terms of virtue. Says the Saint: “Since the life to come is to be attained through virtue, chief attention must be paid to those passages in which virtue is praised. . . .”... Read more
The Hellenistic kingdoms bound the Mediterranean world together more closely than at any time since the Bronze Age. Rome eventually absorbed these kingdoms into its own empire and added new areas such as Gaul and Briton. As travel and communication became easier than ever before, a new koine emerged: not merely a common Greek language, but a set of common practices and beliefs as well. Magic and witches were not immune from this mass Mediterranean syncretization. The Greeks of the... Read more
My father is profoundly good and most of us cannot just go do as he has done. I cannot. We can, however, imitate him in some simple ways. My Dad baptized me. He started well, true to his godly heritage, and is finishing well. He is a good pastor, the same at home as in the pulpit, courageous enough to endure, the hardest task of all. Here is a simple thing Dad did that was good for my brother and for... Read more
248 Insolence is more to be extinguished than a conflagration.* So said Heraclitus: the wisest man to live in Ephesus until Saint John moved there. Saint Basil recommends we begin our studies learning from the noble pagans, particularly in terms of virtue. Says the Saint: “Since the life to come is to be attained through virtue, chief attention must be paid to those passages in which virtue is praised. . . .” Insolence, the Greek is “hubris” is a violent disregard... Read more
243 For if it were not to Dionysus that they made the procession and sung the hymn to the shameful parts, the deed would be most shameless; but Hades and Dionysus, for whom they rave and celebrate Lenaean rites, are the same.* So said Heraclitus: the wisest man to live in Ephesus until Saint John moved there. Saint Basil recommends we begin our studies learning from the noble pagans, particularly in terms of virtue. Says the Saint: “Since the life to... Read more
Some arguments are so bad, nobody should make them. In fact, making them slaps a clown nose on us and nobody this side of Robin Williams ever did anything good in a clown nose. Theistic philosophers deeply impacted my view of the world and the careful work of thinkers like Edward Weirenga, always reminds me to do better than I have done. My errors are my own. They tried to teach me well! I have also had Jewish mentors and mentors that... Read more
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