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Epistemology

A Cheer for the Mystics

Mystical theologians are often unguarded, extreme, un-nuanced, pressing to the edges of heresy, sometimes beyond. Still, the mystics are worthy of study. Why? Many reasons. Unlike some late medieval and post-Reformation dogmaticians, mystical theologians are often instinctively and richly Trinitarian. Historical-critical approaches to Scripture left mystical theologians virtually untouched; mystics…

by Peter LeithartSeptember 2, 2013
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Literature

Shadow and Substance in Shakespeare's Venice

Portia of Belmont is a “lady richly left,” as Bassanio says of her in the first Act of The Merchant of Venice . Plus, she’s beautiful and wise. Suitors clamber to Belmont in hope. Her father knew it would be so, and in his will set up a fairy-tale test…

by Peter LeithartAugust 28, 2013
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Liturgy

Liturgy Traps

[fve]http://vimeo.com/72195198[/fve]

by James B. JordanAugust 26, 2013
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Deuteronomy

Victory Food

In the nature of the case, “the” Christian meditation on Deuteronomy 14:1-21 cannot be written. Meditation offers too many possibilities, opens too many doors. There is not one and only one correct set of associations for a Christian to consider when thinking of Deuteronomy 14:1-21. We could, for example, consider…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 21, 2013
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Romans

David's Sin and Israel's Salvation, Part I

Having retold the story of the cumulative sin of Israel leading to the great atonement on the cross, Paul then reemphasizes that, just as both Jew and Gentiles were locked into sin and judgment, now they are both justified by faith: Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded.…

by Mark HorneAugust 20, 2013
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Deuteronomy

You are what you eat

Deuteronomy 14 is full of allusions to events of Israel’s history and other portions of Scripture. What would an Israelite learn by mediation on these allusions? The answer, I believe, is at least fourfold. Faith, Worship, War For the ancient Israelite first hearing Moses’ sermon, or perhaps hearing it read…

by Ralph Allan SmithAugust 15, 2013

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Politics

War’s balance sheet

Citing a still-unknown Greek writer, Kant shrewdly said, “War . . . creates more evil men than it takes away.”

September 5, 2007
Politics

War’s balance sheet

Citing a still-unknown Greek writer, Kant shrewdly said, “War . . . creates more evil men than it takes away.”

September 5, 2007
Philosophy

Honor and cruelty

In a reduction worthy of Nietzsche (or Augustine), Kant explores the motives behind honor: “the perpetual war between the Arathapescaw Indians and the Dog Rib Indians has no other aim than mere slaughter. In the savages’ opinion, bravery in war is the highest virtue. In the civilized state too, bravery…

September 5, 2007
Uncategorized

Radical Evil

Kant’s theory of radical evil, which he develops in the first part of Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone , rests on a number of basic assumptions. 1) Man is free, and his moral actions are undetermined by anything outside himself or even by anything within himself other than…

September 5, 2007
Philosophy

Solomon on Kant

Robert Solomon offers a helpful fairly traditional summary of Kant’s philosophy in his little book on Continental Philosophy. Kant’s overall agenda, Solomon says, was (in Kant’s own words) to “deny knowledge, in order to make room for faith.” Much as he admired the advances of post-Newtonian science, he worried that…

September 4, 2007
Philosophy

Caputo on Kant’s Theology

One of Kant’s central contributions to philosophy was the invention of the notion of “critical philosophy,” which means epistemology, which means philosophy as a critique of knowledge. Philosophy is the queen of the sciences that polices the borders between sciences and keeps everyone safely in his or her own department.…

September 4, 2007

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