In the mid-1980s, the Catholic philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe drew up a syllabus of errors, which she delivered—rather appropriately—in Rome, to a group of moral theologians. Her syllabus consisted of twenty theses, commonly held by her fellow analytic philosophers, that she deemed . . . . Continue Reading »
In June 2021, Dr. Ed Litton was narrowly elected the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention. His critics soon drew attention to doctrinal statements on his church’s website, including the following: God is One, the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in . . . . Continue Reading »
How can the mathematical realm be so apparently godlike? The traditional answer, originating in Neoplatonic philosophy and Augustinian theology, is that our knowledge of the mathematical realm is precisely knowledge, albeit inchoate, of the divine mind. Mathematical truths exhibit infinity, . . . . Continue Reading »
To preach God without acknowledging His wrath is to preach cheap grace and a manufactured Christ. Continue Reading »
One of the central tropes of Islamic responses to Christianity is that the Qur’an is not the Muslim equivalent of the Christian scriptures, but of Christ. Thus Mahmoud A. Ayoub says:The Qur’an is, for Muslims, the literal and timeless divine Word which entered our time. It became a book . . . . Continue Reading »
In James Davison Hunter’s To Change the World, Stanley Hauerwas is quoted as follows:It is alleged that by definition a pacifist must withdraw from political involvement. ...I refuse to accept such a characterization because it implies that all politics is finally but a cover for violence. . . . . Continue Reading »
Is it the teaching of Christianity that man has dignity? I outlined my problem with this claim from a philosophical perspective here. Then I was rereading Philippians 2:Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with . . . . Continue Reading »
I was planning to followup my critique of Kant with a parallel commentary on utilitarianism, but was waylaid by picking up some unread material sitting in my bookcase: an anthology of Aquinas’ thought On Law, Morality, and Politics, Hackett Press, Second Edition. (I’ll quote from . . . . Continue Reading »
It all depends what the meaning of “is,” is.Is Jesus the Messiah now? Bloody unlikely. Whether your political rogue du jour is Obama or Palin, politicians lie, the elderly and sick die (panels or no panels), wars arise and end with predictable pace; how long does this ellipsis have . . . . Continue Reading »
The analogy of being and the living GodIn my criticisms of the Christian appropriation of the visual arts, at least one commenter invoked “the analogy of being.” The reference sent me scurrying back to Thomas Aquinas. Although no centralized text states Aquinas’ doctrine directly . . . . Continue Reading »
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