a work in progress
You can't get very far in a Philosophy degree without butting heads with Nietzsche: the unfortunate playboy for all things anti-Christian, anti-conformist, or anti-anything. You don't believe in anything? Must be Nietzsche's fault. Pissed off at your parents? You can probably quote Nietzsche. Mad at God? Well, you get the idea. The problem with studying […]
Later known as Peter Waldo, Pierre de Vaudes (or Valdes) began a movement that some, including myself, consider the practice run for the Protestant Reformation - three and a half centuries earlier. Tradition has it that de Vaudes made his monetary fortune through usury; historically, we know that he was wealthy merchant of some type. […]
So why did I pick the number 26 to start my list of the most influential thinkers in my life? Why not 25? Well, because I considered this 26th person as sort of a bonus, mainly because this man has had so much influence in the development as a critical thinker despite the fact that […]
Several years ago I watched a special on, I believe, A & E, documenting who they believed to be the 100 most influential people of the millennium. Lists like those are always controversial - are Spielberg (#91) and Jane Austen (#63) really worthy to be one of the top 100? - and their methods are […]
1. An infallible, inerrant, inspired Holy Book contains no fallacies or errors.
2. The aforementioned Book states that 'penguins do not exist'.
3. Penguins exist.
4. (3) conflicts with (2).
5. If (3) is true, (1) is false.
6. If (1) is true, (3) is a trick of the devil.
P.S. This post has nothing to do with my […]
I have been in recent contact with an old friend of mine from my Bible college days, which has spurred the start of what could be a great discussion (he is currently out the the country and so we are limited to email). While responding to some questions he had, I found myself referring to […]
Hmmm.
Continued from part i
One trajectory from the time of Mark has captured much attention in the 20th century, especially since the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts: the Gnostic Christians. The comparatively radical Gnostic Christians competed alongside what would become orthodox Christianity as well as different forms of Jewish Christianity, and was eventually forced underground […]
The Gospel attributed to Mark has, especially in recent scholarship, spurred much controversy concerning what has recently become known as the “Messianic secret.” The priority of Mark for scholars of the synoptic gospels leads to certain explanations that may enlighten readers to understanding the reasoning behind the idea of the Messianic secret, yet even with […]