The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Chapter III: Three Doctors of the Church
There are four Doctors of the Western Church: St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Augustine and Pope Gregory the Great. The first three were contemporaries while Pope Gregory belonged to a later date.
Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome flourished during the brief interval between the Catholic domination of the Roman Empire and the barbarian invasion of the West. These three men shaped the mold into which the Church was built for the Middle Ages more than anybody. "Speaking broadly, Saint
Ambrose determined the ecclesiastical conception of the relation of Church and State; Saint
Jerome gave the Western Church its Latin Bible and a great part of the impetus to monasticism;
while Saint Augustine fixed the theology of the Church until the Reformation, and, later, a great
part of the doctrines of Luther and Calvin" (Russell, 335).
Ambrose rose to power inside the Church by becoming somewhat of a surprise victor in the election to bishop at Milan, then the capital of the West. He acted as equal, sometimes superior to the Emperor, setting a precedent.
Ambrose wrote a letter to the young Emperor Valentinian II in A.D. 384 denouncing the idea of returning a pagan statue to the Roman Senate building. In the letter he showed that the religious considerations supersede the temporal ones.
Again Ambrose battled with the State this time refusing to give one of the churches of Milan to the Arians for use. Backed by the people, Ambrose emerged victorious. "Ambrose had demonstrated that there were matters in which the State must yield to the Church, and had thereby established a new principle which retains its importance to the present day" (Russell, 339).
Ambrose famously battled with Theodosius and won out. Again showing the power of the Emperor to be subservient to the power of the Church.
Jerome is most famous for producing the Latin Vulgate which though eventually accepted as authoritative had to initially fight against reluctance because of the work of Rabbis on the text.
Jerome was born in Stridon, near Aquileia and lived in Rome, lived as a hermit in the Syrian wilderness, traveled to Constantinople and returned to Rome where he began to work on his translation of the Bible.
Jerome found himself in quarrels often and left Rome in 386 to live in Bethlehem until his death in 420. Despite his exile away from Rome, he mourned the dying of the Roman world at the hands of the barbarians.
Augustine was born in 354 to a Christian mother and pagan father in Africa.
We know more about Augustine's early life than most others because of his Confessions. The book has had famous imitators, especially Rousseau and Tolstoy.
"Saint Augustine is in some ways similar to Tolstoy, to whom, however, he is superior in intellect. He was a passionate man, in youth very far from a pattern of virtue, but driven by an inner impulse to search for truth and righteousness. Like Tolstoy, he was obsessed, in his later years, by a sense of sin, which made his life stern and his philosophy inhuman. He combated heresies vigorously, but some of his own views, when repeated by Jansenius in the seventeenth century, were pronounced heretical. Until the Protestants took up his opinions, however, the Catholic Church had never impugned their
orthodoxy" (Russell, 345).
Augustine's obsession with sin seems morbid in modern readings, but was in line with what was seen as holiness in his age. Besides that he held that righteousness, the greatest of goods, was achieved through tribulation now that sin was in the world.
"It thus came about that Christian theology had two parts, one concerned with the Church, and one with the individual soul. In later times, the first of these was most emphasized by Catholics, and the second by Protestants, but in Saint Augustine both exist equally, without his having any sense of
disharmony. Those who are saved are those whom God has predestined to salvation; this is a
direct relation of the soul to God. But no one will be saved unless he has been baptized, and
thereby become a member of the Church; this makes the Church an intermediary between the soul
and God" (Russell, 346).
Augustine became a teacher of Rhetoric in Carthage then moved to Rome. With his move he became less convinced of the Manichean faith he had been originally attracted to. He became somewhat infatuated with the Skepticism of the Academy before meeting Ambrose in his move to Milan. It was at Milan with the confluence of his mother, a devout Catholic, Ambrose, the discovery of St. Paul and seeing the not-quite-there totality in Platonism that Augustine finally converts.
Showing posts with label Luther. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luther. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Friday, February 29, 2008
Notes on Tolstoy, What is Art? Ch. 6
Originally Written Feb. 29, 2008 in the Journal
What is Art?
Chapter 6
The estimation of the value of art depends on the man's perception of the meaning of life. It depends on what they find good and what they find evil. What is good and evil is determined by religion.
There have been men that understood the meaning of life more lucidly and more generally than others. Their expression of the meaning of life, together with superstitions, traditions and ceremonies that surround the memory of these men is what is called religion.
"Religions are the highest exponents of the highest comprehension of life" (Maude, 127). It is for this reason that religions have and always will serve as the basis for the valuation of all human sentiments.
If art coincides with the laws, feelings and tradition of the prevailing religion then it is good art. If not, then it is bad art.
In the beginning of Christianity followers of Christ followed a true version. Subsequently a Church-Christianity arose which paganized and perverted the true religion. The art that arose from Church-Christianity, veneration of saints, paintings of the blessed Virgin and the like were perversions of Christ's teachings but high art nonetheless as it corresponded to the prevailing religion.
When the upper classes saw the contradiction between Church-Christianity and the teachings of Christ they stopped believing the dogma of the Church, but encouraged the lower classes to still follow it blindly as suited their needs. But having wealth and leisure they produced art that was inconsistent with Church-Christianity.
Men like Hus, Luther, Calvin and Wycliffe stripped Christianity of non-Christ teachings.
Those that doubted in the Middle Ages had to seek out an entirely new religion because there was no way to revamp the old mythology. They needed to rid themselves of the perversions of Church-Christianity and follow true Christianity.
But, the upper classes could not or would not do this because it would mean universal brotherhood, and they could not stand for this. These men had no religion. They believed in nothing. But, as they were in possession of the wealth and power, the controlled leisure and thus, art. Under their rule art was borne, not of men's religious feeling, but of the beauty or in other words, the pleasure they received of it.
These men had detected the falsehood of the Church but were unwilling to accept the true Christianity. They returned to the pleasure seeking, to paganism. Then the Renaissance happened: a denial of every religion and the denial of the necessity of religion.
"As soon as doubt arose with the regard to the infallibility of the Pope (and this doubt was then in the minds of all educated people), doubt inevitably followed as to the truth of tradition. But doubt as to the truth of tradition is fatal not only to popery and Catholicism but also to the whole Church creed with all its dogmas; the divinity of Christ, the resurrection, and the Trinity; and it destroys the authority of the Scriptures, since they were considered to be inspired only because the tradition of the Church so decided" (Maude, 134).
These people had no religion and no means of which to decide what was good or bad art except by their own pleasure receptors. Thus, the failing of their aesthetic theories.
What is Art?
Chapter 6
The estimation of the value of art depends on the man's perception of the meaning of life. It depends on what they find good and what they find evil. What is good and evil is determined by religion.
There have been men that understood the meaning of life more lucidly and more generally than others. Their expression of the meaning of life, together with superstitions, traditions and ceremonies that surround the memory of these men is what is called religion.
"Religions are the highest exponents of the highest comprehension of life" (Maude, 127). It is for this reason that religions have and always will serve as the basis for the valuation of all human sentiments.
If art coincides with the laws, feelings and tradition of the prevailing religion then it is good art. If not, then it is bad art.
In the beginning of Christianity followers of Christ followed a true version. Subsequently a Church-Christianity arose which paganized and perverted the true religion. The art that arose from Church-Christianity, veneration of saints, paintings of the blessed Virgin and the like were perversions of Christ's teachings but high art nonetheless as it corresponded to the prevailing religion.
When the upper classes saw the contradiction between Church-Christianity and the teachings of Christ they stopped believing the dogma of the Church, but encouraged the lower classes to still follow it blindly as suited their needs. But having wealth and leisure they produced art that was inconsistent with Church-Christianity.
Men like Hus, Luther, Calvin and Wycliffe stripped Christianity of non-Christ teachings.
Those that doubted in the Middle Ages had to seek out an entirely new religion because there was no way to revamp the old mythology. They needed to rid themselves of the perversions of Church-Christianity and follow true Christianity.
But, the upper classes could not or would not do this because it would mean universal brotherhood, and they could not stand for this. These men had no religion. They believed in nothing. But, as they were in possession of the wealth and power, the controlled leisure and thus, art. Under their rule art was borne, not of men's religious feeling, but of the beauty or in other words, the pleasure they received of it.
These men had detected the falsehood of the Church but were unwilling to accept the true Christianity. They returned to the pleasure seeking, to paganism. Then the Renaissance happened: a denial of every religion and the denial of the necessity of religion.
"As soon as doubt arose with the regard to the infallibility of the Pope (and this doubt was then in the minds of all educated people), doubt inevitably followed as to the truth of tradition. But doubt as to the truth of tradition is fatal not only to popery and Catholicism but also to the whole Church creed with all its dogmas; the divinity of Christ, the resurrection, and the Trinity; and it destroys the authority of the Scriptures, since they were considered to be inspired only because the tradition of the Church so decided" (Maude, 134).
These people had no religion and no means of which to decide what was good or bad art except by their own pleasure receptors. Thus, the failing of their aesthetic theories.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Beyond Good & Evil 240-247
(Originally written August 22, 2007 in Notebook 18)
Beyond Good & Evil
Friedrich Nietzsche
Part 8: People and Fatherlands
240
Richard Wagner's overture to the Meistersinger best expresses Nietzsche's thoughts on Germans: "They belong to the day before yesterday and the day after tomorrow as yet they have no today" (Nietzsche, 364).
241
One day the stronger will become master over the strong and with the spiritual flattening of one people there will be compensation in the spiritual deepening of another people.
242
Europeans are becoming more and more similar to one another in a physiological effect of the democratic movement.
They are becoming detached to their climate and class, which is the origin of race.
The new man of Europe is characteristically nomadic and possesses the power of adaptation.
The modern ideas will have disastrous consequences: it will lead to the leveling of man and hence, the mediocritization of man.
The democratization of Europe is preparing a people that are only fit for slavery.
243
The sun is moving towards the constellation Hercules, we men should follow the sun!
244
The German soul is a hodgepodge of diverse origins.
The German people elude definition.
One is rarely completely wrong about the Germans.
The German soul is disorderly with an air of mystery.
The German is contradictory in essence: He is good-natured and vicious.
The German is a man of disguises.
The Germans are the "deceiver people".
245
Mozart was the end of the "good old time". Beethoven was a period of transition. Whatever came after him was romanticism.
Romanticism is superficial; the transition form Rousseau to Napoleon.
With Romanticism came the danger for the Germans (and German music) to cease to be the voice for the soul of Europe and to slink down to mere fatherland-ishness.
246
Books to Germans are like words said to the deaf, they are wasted on them!
247
Until recent clumsy attempts the only rhetorical eloquence in Germany came from the pulpit.
Only the preacher knew how to deliver words that had the correct sound and meaning.
Only the German Bible, Luther's Bible, grows in the hearts of Germans because no one else knew how to use the words.
Beyond Good & Evil
Friedrich Nietzsche
Part 8: People and Fatherlands
240
Richard Wagner's overture to the Meistersinger best expresses Nietzsche's thoughts on Germans: "They belong to the day before yesterday and the day after tomorrow as yet they have no today" (Nietzsche, 364).
241
One day the stronger will become master over the strong and with the spiritual flattening of one people there will be compensation in the spiritual deepening of another people.
242
Europeans are becoming more and more similar to one another in a physiological effect of the democratic movement.
They are becoming detached to their climate and class, which is the origin of race.
The new man of Europe is characteristically nomadic and possesses the power of adaptation.
The modern ideas will have disastrous consequences: it will lead to the leveling of man and hence, the mediocritization of man.
The democratization of Europe is preparing a people that are only fit for slavery.
243
The sun is moving towards the constellation Hercules, we men should follow the sun!
244
The German soul is a hodgepodge of diverse origins.
The German people elude definition.
One is rarely completely wrong about the Germans.
The German soul is disorderly with an air of mystery.
The German is contradictory in essence: He is good-natured and vicious.
The German is a man of disguises.
The Germans are the "deceiver people".
245
Mozart was the end of the "good old time". Beethoven was a period of transition. Whatever came after him was romanticism.
Romanticism is superficial; the transition form Rousseau to Napoleon.
With Romanticism came the danger for the Germans (and German music) to cease to be the voice for the soul of Europe and to slink down to mere fatherland-ishness.
246
Books to Germans are like words said to the deaf, they are wasted on them!
247
Until recent clumsy attempts the only rhetorical eloquence in Germany came from the pulpit.
Only the preacher knew how to deliver words that had the correct sound and meaning.
Only the German Bible, Luther's Bible, grows in the hearts of Germans because no one else knew how to use the words.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Beyond Good & Evil 20 - 185
(Originally written August 8, 2007 in Book 16)
Beyond Good & Evil
Friedrich Nietzsche
20
All philosophical concepts are intertwined. No one discovers anything new any more, they only come back to an idea long forgotten. It is a remembering of sorts.
21
The "cause sui" is the greatest conceived self-contradiction.
"The desire for 'freedom of the will' in the superlative metaphysical sense... [is] the desire to bear the entire and ultimate responsibility, and to absolute God, the world, ancestors, chance and society" (Nietzsche, 218).
We ought to use cute and effect only as pure concepts (fictional conveniences) for the purpose of communication. We ought not to use them for explanatory purposes.
By using cause and effect in explanations we impose our way of thinking to the thing itself and speak only mythologically.
Free will, un-free will, cause and effect, are simply mythology. "in real life it is only a matter of strong and weak wills" (Nietzsche, 219).
22
The conformity of nature to laws is merely interpretation.
One can use this interpretation in any way he wishes, but it remains nonetheless an interpretation.
23
We must sail over morality and immorality to life itself.
The path to this is true psychology.
Psychology is the path to fundamental problems.
Part Two: The Free Spirit
24
The will to knowledge is on the foundation of the will to ignorance. We stay ignorant because we desire the freedom it gives.
25
Beware of defending the "truth" or your theories because no philosopher has been proven right.
Rather than striving for truth, strive for masks and subtlety so "that you may be mistaken for what you are not, or feared a little" (Nietzsche, 226).
When you defend your theories you simply become a vengeance seeker.
26
"Cynicism is the only form in which base souls approach honesty; and the higher man must listen closely to every coarse or subtle cynicism, and congratulate himself when a clown without shame or a scientific satay speaks out precisely in front of him" (Nietzsche, 228).
Indignant people are people not worth listening to because no one lies more than the indignant.
27
Do things in a way that is difficult to understand. That way those friends who laugh and misunderstand can be gotten rid of with a laugh.
28
A writers tempo of style is dictated by his language and culture and translating it to other languages can make the good intentioned translation a caricature of the original.
What Nietzsche admired most about Plato and what drew him to read Plato was Plato's secrecy and sphinx nature.
29
"Independence is for the very few, it is a privilege of the strong" (Nietzsche, 231). Those who seek it are also daring to the point of recklessness.
30
Man's highest insights must (and should) sound like follies or crimes.
That which serves the higher soul is poison to the lower.
"The virtues of the common man might perhaps signify vices and weaknesses in a philosopher" (Nietzsche, 232).
Books for the whole world are foul and small people cling to them. "One should not go to church if one wants to breathe pure air" (Nietzsche, 233).
31
The youthful soul is reckless and pursues without art. Then they add art to their arguments. Then they, after feeling disappointments turn against themselves. Ten years later we realize that this was all still youthful.
32
During prehistoric times the value of an action was judged on its consequences. This is the pre-moral period of history.
The first step into the moral history of the world is knowing thyself.
Now actions are valued or devalued on their origin or the actor's intention.
We ought to have a shift in value judgments to the extra-moral.
The intent of an action is merely a sign or a symptom and requires interpretation.
Traditional morality is merely a prejudice, something that must be overcome.
33
The whole morality of self-sacrifice must be questioned because it is a seduction.
It seduces by making one feel good. Those who are self-sacrificial reap the benefits, therefore we must be cautious.
34
The faith in immediate certainties is a moral naïveté that reflects honor or philosophers.
Apart from morality this faith is stupidity.
It is nothing more than a prejudice that makes us believe that the truth is moe valuable than mere appearance.
Why must true and false be opposites? Why can't we just admit that they are just lighter and darker shadows and shades of appearance.
36
Thinking is merely a relation of our drives to one another.
37
?
38
Often times people interpret things with their own indignation on enthusiasm so much that the actual text is buried beneath the interpretation.
39
Happiness and virtue are not valid arguments to support doctrines. But unhappy and evil are not counter arguments.
The truth may be dangerous and harmful. "The strength of spirit should be measured according to how much of the 'truth' one could still barely endure" (Nietzsche, 239).
40
Shame is an invention of man.
Masks are necessary to any profound man. The most profound man has a mask that is constantly growing.
41
We should be independent, but we must test ourselves to make sure we are ready.
We should not be too attached to any person because every person is a prison.
He should not be too attached to our fatherland.
We should detach ourselves from pity.
We should not be so attached to a science.
We should not become attached to our detachment.
We should not become attached to any virtue, lest it become a vice.
"One must know how to conserve oneself: the hardest test of independence" (Nietzsche, 242).
42
The new philosophers will want to be riddles.
43
The new philosophers will be friends of truth, but they will not be dogmatists.
"It must offend their pride, also their taste, if their truth is supposed to be a truth for everyman" (Nietzsche, 243).
44
The new philosophers will be free spirits.
Free spirits are not those democratic spirits who are calling for an equality of all men. They merely want to make life easier for the herd and abolish all suffering whatsoever, as if suffering served no purpose.
The democratic spirit, heralded as a "free spirit" is actually a spirit in bondage. It is a spirit that visits to chain all spirits together and therefore chain them all, even the exceptional owes to the ground.
TO be a truly strong and free spirit it must grow under extreme pressure.
The free spirit believes that the evil, devilry, hardness, stoicism, forcefulness, slavery and beast-like qualities in man serve to enhance him as much as the opposites do.
Free spirits are not the most communicative ones. Free spirits are not the same as free thinkers.
The free spirit has faced himself from all prisons or nooks, from prejudice, youth, origin and accident from all lures like honor, money, offices and enthusiasm of the senses because they contain hidden dependencies.
With of these restraint the free spirit is uninhabited and can stomach the unstomachable, digest the undigestible, view the unviewable, and penetrate the impenetrable.
Free-spirits are friends of solitude.
Part Three: What is religious
45
In order to know anything, one must do a lot of work to know, and then it usually amounts to a few things.
"But a curiosity of my type remains after all the most agreeable of all vices - sorry, I meant to say: the love of truth has its reward in heaven and even on earth" (Nietzsche, 250).
46
"The Christian faith is a sacrifice: all freedom, all pride, all self-confident of the spirit; at the same time, enslavement and self-mockery, self-mutiliation" (Nietzsche, 250).
Slaves are people who love as they hate: without nuance, to pain even! It is under these conditions that Christianity has appealed to so many. But, the complete lack of suffering in the masters (i.e. stoicism and skepticism) enraged the suffering Christian slaves and they overthrew their masters.
47
Wherever religion has popped up three things have followed:
1) Solitude
2) Fasting
3) Sexual abstinence
48
In Catholicism unbelief is seen as a rebellion against the spirit whereas Northern Protestantism sees unbelief as a return to spirit.
49
The Greek religion was noble because it affirms life despite the terrors of it. But when fear became an integral part of religion it paved the way for Christianity.
50
There are various types of passion for God:
- Peasant: sincere and obtrusive (ala Luther)
- Oriental- a slave who has been pardoned and elevated (a la Augustine)
51
The most powerful men bow before a saint because as they honor a saint they honor something in themselves.
They bow because a sight of a saint arouses superstition in them.
It was the "will to power" of the saint that struck fear in their hearts.
52
The Jewish Old Testament contains things so grand that Greek and Indian literature has nothing to compare with it.
The Old Testament is the book of divine justice, the New Testament is the book of grace.
The New Testament is a book for small souls and dogmatists. The pairing of the grand Old Testament and the small soul New Testament is the greatest sin against the spirit of literary Europe.
53
The European religious instinct is growing more and more powerful, but the faith in theism grows dimmer and dimmer.
54
"Modern philosophy, being an epistemological skepticism is, covertly an overtly anti-Christian - although, to say this for the benefit of more refined ears, by no means anti-religious" (Nietzsche, 256).
55
"There is a great ladder of religious cruelty with many rungs, but three of these are the most important" (Nietzsche, 257)
1. The sacrifice of human beings (especially one's loved ones) to a god
2. The sacrifice of one's nature (asceticism)
3. The sacrifice of God for nothing
56
Whoever thinks through pessimism thoroughly will come out at the end beyond morals, beyond good and evil.
He will come out the most-spirited, alive and affirming human ever.
57
One day the concepts of "God" and "sin" (the most trouble causing concepts of all time) will be viewed as a child's toy.
58
The genuinely religious life requires a life of leisure, or an aristocratic air to it.
The religious life is most fond of self-examination.
The modern world, with its busyness and stupid pride educate man for unbelief.
Every age has its naïveté, ours is the naïveté of the scholars' belief in his own superiority.
59
Those who wish to see life transcendentalized are those who have had inter lives spoiled the most.
It has been an incurable pessimism that has forced men to cling to a religious interpretation of existence. It has been fear that has drove man to religion.
Piety is the most subtle offspring of the fear of truth.
60
TO love men for God's sake is the most noble feeling attained by men.
61
The philosopher should use religion (as well as politics and economics) to cultivate and educate.
The philosopher can use religion to train people differently. Religion is used differently for those who rule and those who are ruled.
"To ordinary human beings, finally - the vast majority who exist for service and general advantage, and who may exist only for that -" (Nietzsche, 263). (Wow.)
Religion is a tool to subject the people for rules.
For those who are ruled, religion is a refreshment, a sanctification and justification of their suffering.
62
One always pays dearly when religions do not want to be used as a tool for education in philosopher's hands.
When religions insist on being sovereign in their own right, when they see themselves as ends and not means, people suffer terribly.
Religions preserve the weak and aid the suffering so that the natural selection process is destroyed. Religions weaken the human race.
Christianity is an arrogance. It is a hubris, a denial of rank in men. It is the pronouncement of the weak that they are strong. It is a complete flipping of truth.
Christianity has transformed man into a herd animal.
Part Four: Epigrams and Interludes
63: A teacher only takes things seriously in relation to his students, including himself.
64
Knowledge for its own sake is the last snare of morality
65
"The attraction of knowledge would be small if one did not have to overcome so much shame on the way" (Nietzsche, 269).
65a
One is most dishonest to one's god.
66
To let himself be taken advantage of could be the modesty of a god among men.
67
The love one is barbarism because it is done so at the expense of others. Likewise, love of God is barbarism.
68
The memory yields to one's pride (Freudian theory of repression)
69
One is mistaken if one doesn't believe that some killing is done considerately.
70
Life is repetitive. If one has character, one has experience.
71
"As long as you still experience the stars as something as 'above you' you lack the eye of knowledge" (Nietzsche, 270).
72
It is the duration, not the intensity of high feelings that make high men.
73
Whoever reaches his ideal transcends it.
73a
People can hide their glory from others and call that their pride.
74
A man with spirit is unbearable without gratitude and cleanliness.
75
"The degree and kind of a man's sexuality reach up into the ultimate pinnacle of his spirit" (Nietzsche, 271).
76
A warlike man sets upon himself in peace.
77
One wishes to bully, justify, scold, honor or hide one's habits with his principles.
78
"Whoever despises himself still respects himself as one who despises" (Nietzsche, 271).
79
A soul which is loved but does not love betrays itself.
80
A matter that becomes clear no longer interprets us. What happens when we pursue and complete the Socratic maxim of "know thyself?"
81
"It is terrible to die of thirst in the ocean. Do you have to salt your truth so heavily that it does not ever quench thirst anymore? (Nietzsche, 271).
82
Pity for all means tyranny for you.
83: ?
84
Women learn to hate to the extent to which her charms diminish.
85
"The same affects in man and woman are yet different in tempo, therefore man and woman do not cease to misunderstand each other" (Nietzsche, 272).
86
Women hate the "woman" (concept, universal)
87
If one imprison's one's heart one can free one's spirit.
88
We mistrust clever people when they become embarrassed.
89
Terrible experiences pose the question if the experiencer is not terrible.
90
Heavy-spirited people are made light by love and hate (whereas others become weighted with these)
91
Those who are so cold they burn cause some to believe they glow.
92
"Who has not, for the sake of his good reputation - sacrificed himself once?" (Nietzsche, 273).
93: ?
94 Maturity consists of finding the seriousness one had as a child at play.
95
To be ashamed one's immorality is to be on the path to be ashamed of one's morality.
96
One should part from life as Odysseus left Nausica: blessing it rather than loving it.
97
A great man is merely an actor of his own ideal.
98
Our conscience, if trained right, kisses us while hurting us.
99
The voice of disappointment is listening for an echo but only hearing praise.
100
We see ourselves as simpler than we are to take a rest from others
101
The knowledgeable man may feel like "God become animal"
102
Discover that one loves you back should disgust you because the person is stupid enough to love you back
103 ?
104
The importance of Christians' love for man is what has ceased their boring people at the stake. If they were truly concerned with men they would burn heretics and false prophets still.
105
The salvation via deception is implantable for the free spirit.
106
"In music the passions enjoy themselves" (Nietzsche, 274).
107
The sign of strong character is making up your mind and standing by it without regard to the best counter argument, therefore it is occasionally a will to stupidity.
108
There is no such thing as moral phenomena, only moral interpretation of phenomena.
109
A criminal is often unequal to his crime
110
The lawyers of criminals are often not artful enough to turn his beautiful terribleness into an advantage.
111
The vanity is most impenetrable right after the pride has been wounded
112
Those who feel predestined to see and not believe will fend off all believers
113: ?
114
The enormous expectation in sexual love and sense of shame in this expectation spoils all perspective for women
115
When neither love nor hate is involved, a women's game is mediocre
116
The great epochs of life occur when we have guts enough to rechristen our evil as what is best in us
117
The will to overcome an affect is merely the will of some other affect
118
Admiration is an innocence that people don't realize that they too may some day be admired
119
The disgust with dirt may cause us to not clean ourselves or "justify" ourselves
120
"Sensuality often hastens the growth of love so much that there roots remain weak and are easily torn up" (Nietzsche, 276).
121
It was subtle of God to learn Greek and not to learn it well
122
Enjoying praise can be a courtesy of the heart (the opposite of vanity)
123
"Even concubinage has been corrupted - by marriage" (Nietzsche, 276).
124
Whoever rejoices on the stake triumphs over the absence of pain that he expected, not over pain itself.
125
When we are forced to change our minds about a person we hold the inconvenience against him.
126
A people is a detour to get to six or seven great men (and then around them).
127
Science offends the modesty of real women. It makes them curious about their bodies
128
The more abstract the truth, the more seduction is needed to teach it.
129
The devil deeps away from God the farthest, therefore the devil is the most ancient friend of wisdom
130
A man betrays himself when his talent decreases. Talent is finery; finery is a hiding place.
131
Men and women deceive themselves about one another. At bottom they love only themselves (or their own ideal).
132
"One is best punished for one's virtues" (Nietzsche, 278).
133
Those who cannot live their ideal live more frivolously than those without an ideal.
134
All credibility and evidence of truth is derived from the senses
135 - ?
136
One seeks a midwife for his thoughts to begin a good conversation
137
A remarkable scholar is often a mediocre man. A mediocre artist is often a remarkable man.
138
We do what we do in dreams and awake: we invent who we are are and then forget him
139
"In revenge and love women is more barbarous than man" (Nietzsche, 278).
140 ?
141
The abdomen is why man doesn't easily mistake himself for a god.
142
"'In true love it is the soul that envelopes the body's' are the chastest words ever spoken"
143 Our vanity wishes that what we do best is what is hardest for us; therefore, the origin of morality
144
When a woman has scholarly inclinations there is probably something wrong with her sexuality.
145
Woman would not have the genius for finery if she didn't' instinctively have a secondary role.
146
Whoever fights monsters must not himself become a monster. The abyss stares at you when you stare at it.
147?
148
Woman are unequaled in seducing their neighbor into believing something and then believing piously in this opinion.
149
What a time experiences as evil is what an anti time experienced as good.
150
What happens around a hero is tragedy. What happens around a demigod is a satyr play. What happens around God? The World?
151
Having talent is not enough. One must have permission for the talent
152
Where the tree of knowledge is, there is so paradise. At least that is what the serpents say.
153
Whatever is done from love is done from beyond good and evil.
154
The delight in mockery is healthy, everyone else is pathology.
155
The sense of tragic gains or falls in level of sensuality.
156
Madness is rare in individuals, often in groups.
157
The thought of suicide is comforting on troubling nights
158
Reason and conscience bow to the tyrant in us.
159
One must repay good and ill, but not necessarily to that person
160
One no longer loves his insight once he communicates it.
161
Poets exploit their experiences.
162
Every nation believes our neighbor is his, not ours
163
Love brings out what is rare and exceptional, it easily deceives his normalcy
164
Jesus said the law was for servants of God. Be sons of God! What are morals to us sons of God?
165 -?
166
"Even when the mouth lies, the way it looks tells the truth" (Nietzsche, 282).
167 In hard men, intimacy involves shame
168 Christianity turned Eros into a vice
169
Talking a lot about one's self may be a way to conceal one's self
170 "Praise is more obtrusive than a reproach" (Nietzsche, 282).
171
TO a man of knowledge, pity seems ridiculous
172
From love of man one embraces another randomly, but we must not tell them that
173 One doesn't hate as long as one despises, but then only those they esteem
174 Utilitarians only love things useful as a vehicle for personal inclinations
175 - One loves one's desires and not the desired
176 Others' vanity only offends us if it offends our vanity
177 Nobody has been truthful enough about truthfulness
178 One doesn't credit clever people with their follies
179 The consequences of our actions take hold of us, indifferent to how much we have improved because of them
180 There is an innocence in lying based on a dedication to a course
181 - It is inhuman to bless when cursed
182 ?
183 "Not that you lied to me, but that I no longer believe you, has shaken me" (Nietzsche, 287).
184 The spirits of kindness may be seen to be malice
185 I don't like him because I am not equal to him. Has any one said this?
Fin
02/08/07-08/13/07 Book 16
Beyond Good & Evil
Friedrich Nietzsche
20
All philosophical concepts are intertwined. No one discovers anything new any more, they only come back to an idea long forgotten. It is a remembering of sorts.
21
The "cause sui" is the greatest conceived self-contradiction.
"The desire for 'freedom of the will' in the superlative metaphysical sense... [is] the desire to bear the entire and ultimate responsibility, and to absolute God, the world, ancestors, chance and society" (Nietzsche, 218).
We ought to use cute and effect only as pure concepts (fictional conveniences) for the purpose of communication. We ought not to use them for explanatory purposes.
By using cause and effect in explanations we impose our way of thinking to the thing itself and speak only mythologically.
Free will, un-free will, cause and effect, are simply mythology. "in real life it is only a matter of strong and weak wills" (Nietzsche, 219).
22
The conformity of nature to laws is merely interpretation.
One can use this interpretation in any way he wishes, but it remains nonetheless an interpretation.
23
We must sail over morality and immorality to life itself.
The path to this is true psychology.
Psychology is the path to fundamental problems.
Part Two: The Free Spirit
24
The will to knowledge is on the foundation of the will to ignorance. We stay ignorant because we desire the freedom it gives.
25
Beware of defending the "truth" or your theories because no philosopher has been proven right.
Rather than striving for truth, strive for masks and subtlety so "that you may be mistaken for what you are not, or feared a little" (Nietzsche, 226).
When you defend your theories you simply become a vengeance seeker.
26
"Cynicism is the only form in which base souls approach honesty; and the higher man must listen closely to every coarse or subtle cynicism, and congratulate himself when a clown without shame or a scientific satay speaks out precisely in front of him" (Nietzsche, 228).
Indignant people are people not worth listening to because no one lies more than the indignant.
27
Do things in a way that is difficult to understand. That way those friends who laugh and misunderstand can be gotten rid of with a laugh.
28
A writers tempo of style is dictated by his language and culture and translating it to other languages can make the good intentioned translation a caricature of the original.
What Nietzsche admired most about Plato and what drew him to read Plato was Plato's secrecy and sphinx nature.
29
"Independence is for the very few, it is a privilege of the strong" (Nietzsche, 231). Those who seek it are also daring to the point of recklessness.
30
Man's highest insights must (and should) sound like follies or crimes.
That which serves the higher soul is poison to the lower.
"The virtues of the common man might perhaps signify vices and weaknesses in a philosopher" (Nietzsche, 232).
Books for the whole world are foul and small people cling to them. "One should not go to church if one wants to breathe pure air" (Nietzsche, 233).
31
The youthful soul is reckless and pursues without art. Then they add art to their arguments. Then they, after feeling disappointments turn against themselves. Ten years later we realize that this was all still youthful.
32
During prehistoric times the value of an action was judged on its consequences. This is the pre-moral period of history.
The first step into the moral history of the world is knowing thyself.
Now actions are valued or devalued on their origin or the actor's intention.
We ought to have a shift in value judgments to the extra-moral.
The intent of an action is merely a sign or a symptom and requires interpretation.
Traditional morality is merely a prejudice, something that must be overcome.
33
The whole morality of self-sacrifice must be questioned because it is a seduction.
It seduces by making one feel good. Those who are self-sacrificial reap the benefits, therefore we must be cautious.
34
The faith in immediate certainties is a moral naïveté that reflects honor or philosophers.
Apart from morality this faith is stupidity.
It is nothing more than a prejudice that makes us believe that the truth is moe valuable than mere appearance.
Why must true and false be opposites? Why can't we just admit that they are just lighter and darker shadows and shades of appearance.
36
Thinking is merely a relation of our drives to one another.
37
?
38
Often times people interpret things with their own indignation on enthusiasm so much that the actual text is buried beneath the interpretation.
39
Happiness and virtue are not valid arguments to support doctrines. But unhappy and evil are not counter arguments.
The truth may be dangerous and harmful. "The strength of spirit should be measured according to how much of the 'truth' one could still barely endure" (Nietzsche, 239).
40
Shame is an invention of man.
Masks are necessary to any profound man. The most profound man has a mask that is constantly growing.
41
We should be independent, but we must test ourselves to make sure we are ready.
We should not be too attached to any person because every person is a prison.
He should not be too attached to our fatherland.
We should detach ourselves from pity.
We should not be so attached to a science.
We should not become attached to our detachment.
We should not become attached to any virtue, lest it become a vice.
"One must know how to conserve oneself: the hardest test of independence" (Nietzsche, 242).
42
The new philosophers will want to be riddles.
43
The new philosophers will be friends of truth, but they will not be dogmatists.
"It must offend their pride, also their taste, if their truth is supposed to be a truth for everyman" (Nietzsche, 243).
44
The new philosophers will be free spirits.
Free spirits are not those democratic spirits who are calling for an equality of all men. They merely want to make life easier for the herd and abolish all suffering whatsoever, as if suffering served no purpose.
The democratic spirit, heralded as a "free spirit" is actually a spirit in bondage. It is a spirit that visits to chain all spirits together and therefore chain them all, even the exceptional owes to the ground.
TO be a truly strong and free spirit it must grow under extreme pressure.
The free spirit believes that the evil, devilry, hardness, stoicism, forcefulness, slavery and beast-like qualities in man serve to enhance him as much as the opposites do.
Free spirits are not the most communicative ones. Free spirits are not the same as free thinkers.
The free spirit has faced himself from all prisons or nooks, from prejudice, youth, origin and accident from all lures like honor, money, offices and enthusiasm of the senses because they contain hidden dependencies.
With of these restraint the free spirit is uninhabited and can stomach the unstomachable, digest the undigestible, view the unviewable, and penetrate the impenetrable.
Free-spirits are friends of solitude.
Part Three: What is religious
45
In order to know anything, one must do a lot of work to know, and then it usually amounts to a few things.
"But a curiosity of my type remains after all the most agreeable of all vices - sorry, I meant to say: the love of truth has its reward in heaven and even on earth" (Nietzsche, 250).
46
"The Christian faith is a sacrifice: all freedom, all pride, all self-confident of the spirit; at the same time, enslavement and self-mockery, self-mutiliation" (Nietzsche, 250).
Slaves are people who love as they hate: without nuance, to pain even! It is under these conditions that Christianity has appealed to so many. But, the complete lack of suffering in the masters (i.e. stoicism and skepticism) enraged the suffering Christian slaves and they overthrew their masters.
47
Wherever religion has popped up three things have followed:
1) Solitude
2) Fasting
3) Sexual abstinence
48
In Catholicism unbelief is seen as a rebellion against the spirit whereas Northern Protestantism sees unbelief as a return to spirit.
49
The Greek religion was noble because it affirms life despite the terrors of it. But when fear became an integral part of religion it paved the way for Christianity.
50
There are various types of passion for God:
- Peasant: sincere and obtrusive (ala Luther)
- Oriental- a slave who has been pardoned and elevated (a la Augustine)
51
The most powerful men bow before a saint because as they honor a saint they honor something in themselves.
They bow because a sight of a saint arouses superstition in them.
It was the "will to power" of the saint that struck fear in their hearts.
52
The Jewish Old Testament contains things so grand that Greek and Indian literature has nothing to compare with it.
The Old Testament is the book of divine justice, the New Testament is the book of grace.
The New Testament is a book for small souls and dogmatists. The pairing of the grand Old Testament and the small soul New Testament is the greatest sin against the spirit of literary Europe.
53
The European religious instinct is growing more and more powerful, but the faith in theism grows dimmer and dimmer.
54
"Modern philosophy, being an epistemological skepticism is, covertly an overtly anti-Christian - although, to say this for the benefit of more refined ears, by no means anti-religious" (Nietzsche, 256).
55
"There is a great ladder of religious cruelty with many rungs, but three of these are the most important" (Nietzsche, 257)
1. The sacrifice of human beings (especially one's loved ones) to a god
2. The sacrifice of one's nature (asceticism)
3. The sacrifice of God for nothing
56
Whoever thinks through pessimism thoroughly will come out at the end beyond morals, beyond good and evil.
He will come out the most-spirited, alive and affirming human ever.
57
One day the concepts of "God" and "sin" (the most trouble causing concepts of all time) will be viewed as a child's toy.
58
The genuinely religious life requires a life of leisure, or an aristocratic air to it.
The religious life is most fond of self-examination.
The modern world, with its busyness and stupid pride educate man for unbelief.
Every age has its naïveté, ours is the naïveté of the scholars' belief in his own superiority.
59
Those who wish to see life transcendentalized are those who have had inter lives spoiled the most.
It has been an incurable pessimism that has forced men to cling to a religious interpretation of existence. It has been fear that has drove man to religion.
Piety is the most subtle offspring of the fear of truth.
60
TO love men for God's sake is the most noble feeling attained by men.
61
The philosopher should use religion (as well as politics and economics) to cultivate and educate.
The philosopher can use religion to train people differently. Religion is used differently for those who rule and those who are ruled.
"To ordinary human beings, finally - the vast majority who exist for service and general advantage, and who may exist only for that -" (Nietzsche, 263). (Wow.)
Religion is a tool to subject the people for rules.
For those who are ruled, religion is a refreshment, a sanctification and justification of their suffering.
62
One always pays dearly when religions do not want to be used as a tool for education in philosopher's hands.
When religions insist on being sovereign in their own right, when they see themselves as ends and not means, people suffer terribly.
Religions preserve the weak and aid the suffering so that the natural selection process is destroyed. Religions weaken the human race.
Christianity is an arrogance. It is a hubris, a denial of rank in men. It is the pronouncement of the weak that they are strong. It is a complete flipping of truth.
Christianity has transformed man into a herd animal.
Part Four: Epigrams and Interludes
63: A teacher only takes things seriously in relation to his students, including himself.
64
Knowledge for its own sake is the last snare of morality
65
"The attraction of knowledge would be small if one did not have to overcome so much shame on the way" (Nietzsche, 269).
65a
One is most dishonest to one's god.
66
To let himself be taken advantage of could be the modesty of a god among men.
67
The love one is barbarism because it is done so at the expense of others. Likewise, love of God is barbarism.
68
The memory yields to one's pride (Freudian theory of repression)
69
One is mistaken if one doesn't believe that some killing is done considerately.
70
Life is repetitive. If one has character, one has experience.
71
"As long as you still experience the stars as something as 'above you' you lack the eye of knowledge" (Nietzsche, 270).
72
It is the duration, not the intensity of high feelings that make high men.
73
Whoever reaches his ideal transcends it.
73a
People can hide their glory from others and call that their pride.
74
A man with spirit is unbearable without gratitude and cleanliness.
75
"The degree and kind of a man's sexuality reach up into the ultimate pinnacle of his spirit" (Nietzsche, 271).
76
A warlike man sets upon himself in peace.
77
One wishes to bully, justify, scold, honor or hide one's habits with his principles.
78
"Whoever despises himself still respects himself as one who despises" (Nietzsche, 271).
79
A soul which is loved but does not love betrays itself.
80
A matter that becomes clear no longer interprets us. What happens when we pursue and complete the Socratic maxim of "know thyself?"
81
"It is terrible to die of thirst in the ocean. Do you have to salt your truth so heavily that it does not ever quench thirst anymore? (Nietzsche, 271).
82
Pity for all means tyranny for you.
83: ?
84
Women learn to hate to the extent to which her charms diminish.
85
"The same affects in man and woman are yet different in tempo, therefore man and woman do not cease to misunderstand each other" (Nietzsche, 272).
86
Women hate the "woman" (concept, universal)
87
If one imprison's one's heart one can free one's spirit.
88
We mistrust clever people when they become embarrassed.
89
Terrible experiences pose the question if the experiencer is not terrible.
90
Heavy-spirited people are made light by love and hate (whereas others become weighted with these)
91
Those who are so cold they burn cause some to believe they glow.
92
"Who has not, for the sake of his good reputation - sacrificed himself once?" (Nietzsche, 273).
93: ?
94 Maturity consists of finding the seriousness one had as a child at play.
95
To be ashamed one's immorality is to be on the path to be ashamed of one's morality.
96
One should part from life as Odysseus left Nausica: blessing it rather than loving it.
97
A great man is merely an actor of his own ideal.
98
Our conscience, if trained right, kisses us while hurting us.
99
The voice of disappointment is listening for an echo but only hearing praise.
100
We see ourselves as simpler than we are to take a rest from others
101
The knowledgeable man may feel like "God become animal"
102
Discover that one loves you back should disgust you because the person is stupid enough to love you back
103 ?
104
The importance of Christians' love for man is what has ceased their boring people at the stake. If they were truly concerned with men they would burn heretics and false prophets still.
105
The salvation via deception is implantable for the free spirit.
106
"In music the passions enjoy themselves" (Nietzsche, 274).
107
The sign of strong character is making up your mind and standing by it without regard to the best counter argument, therefore it is occasionally a will to stupidity.
108
There is no such thing as moral phenomena, only moral interpretation of phenomena.
109
A criminal is often unequal to his crime
110
The lawyers of criminals are often not artful enough to turn his beautiful terribleness into an advantage.
111
The vanity is most impenetrable right after the pride has been wounded
112
Those who feel predestined to see and not believe will fend off all believers
113: ?
114
The enormous expectation in sexual love and sense of shame in this expectation spoils all perspective for women
115
When neither love nor hate is involved, a women's game is mediocre
116
The great epochs of life occur when we have guts enough to rechristen our evil as what is best in us
117
The will to overcome an affect is merely the will of some other affect
118
Admiration is an innocence that people don't realize that they too may some day be admired
119
The disgust with dirt may cause us to not clean ourselves or "justify" ourselves
120
"Sensuality often hastens the growth of love so much that there roots remain weak and are easily torn up" (Nietzsche, 276).
121
It was subtle of God to learn Greek and not to learn it well
122
Enjoying praise can be a courtesy of the heart (the opposite of vanity)
123
"Even concubinage has been corrupted - by marriage" (Nietzsche, 276).
124
Whoever rejoices on the stake triumphs over the absence of pain that he expected, not over pain itself.
125
When we are forced to change our minds about a person we hold the inconvenience against him.
126
A people is a detour to get to six or seven great men (and then around them).
127
Science offends the modesty of real women. It makes them curious about their bodies
128
The more abstract the truth, the more seduction is needed to teach it.
129
The devil deeps away from God the farthest, therefore the devil is the most ancient friend of wisdom
130
A man betrays himself when his talent decreases. Talent is finery; finery is a hiding place.
131
Men and women deceive themselves about one another. At bottom they love only themselves (or their own ideal).
132
"One is best punished for one's virtues" (Nietzsche, 278).
133
Those who cannot live their ideal live more frivolously than those without an ideal.
134
All credibility and evidence of truth is derived from the senses
135 - ?
136
One seeks a midwife for his thoughts to begin a good conversation
137
A remarkable scholar is often a mediocre man. A mediocre artist is often a remarkable man.
138
We do what we do in dreams and awake: we invent who we are are and then forget him
139
"In revenge and love women is more barbarous than man" (Nietzsche, 278).
140 ?
141
The abdomen is why man doesn't easily mistake himself for a god.
142
"'In true love it is the soul that envelopes the body's' are the chastest words ever spoken"
143 Our vanity wishes that what we do best is what is hardest for us; therefore, the origin of morality
144
When a woman has scholarly inclinations there is probably something wrong with her sexuality.
145
Woman would not have the genius for finery if she didn't' instinctively have a secondary role.
146
Whoever fights monsters must not himself become a monster. The abyss stares at you when you stare at it.
147?
148
Woman are unequaled in seducing their neighbor into believing something and then believing piously in this opinion.
149
What a time experiences as evil is what an anti time experienced as good.
150
What happens around a hero is tragedy. What happens around a demigod is a satyr play. What happens around God? The World?
151
Having talent is not enough. One must have permission for the talent
152
Where the tree of knowledge is, there is so paradise. At least that is what the serpents say.
153
Whatever is done from love is done from beyond good and evil.
154
The delight in mockery is healthy, everyone else is pathology.
155
The sense of tragic gains or falls in level of sensuality.
156
Madness is rare in individuals, often in groups.
157
The thought of suicide is comforting on troubling nights
158
Reason and conscience bow to the tyrant in us.
159
One must repay good and ill, but not necessarily to that person
160
One no longer loves his insight once he communicates it.
161
Poets exploit their experiences.
162
Every nation believes our neighbor is his, not ours
163
Love brings out what is rare and exceptional, it easily deceives his normalcy
164
Jesus said the law was for servants of God. Be sons of God! What are morals to us sons of God?
165 -?
166
"Even when the mouth lies, the way it looks tells the truth" (Nietzsche, 282).
167 In hard men, intimacy involves shame
168 Christianity turned Eros into a vice
169
Talking a lot about one's self may be a way to conceal one's self
170 "Praise is more obtrusive than a reproach" (Nietzsche, 282).
171
TO a man of knowledge, pity seems ridiculous
172
From love of man one embraces another randomly, but we must not tell them that
173 One doesn't hate as long as one despises, but then only those they esteem
174 Utilitarians only love things useful as a vehicle for personal inclinations
175 - One loves one's desires and not the desired
176 Others' vanity only offends us if it offends our vanity
177 Nobody has been truthful enough about truthfulness
178 One doesn't credit clever people with their follies
179 The consequences of our actions take hold of us, indifferent to how much we have improved because of them
180 There is an innocence in lying based on a dedication to a course
181 - It is inhuman to bless when cursed
182 ?
183 "Not that you lied to me, but that I no longer believe you, has shaken me" (Nietzsche, 287).
184 The spirits of kindness may be seen to be malice
185 I don't like him because I am not equal to him. Has any one said this?
Fin
02/08/07-08/13/07 Book 16
Monday, July 16, 2007
The Gay Science (A)
(Originally written July 16, 2007 in Book 25)
The Gay Science (1882)
51: Sense of truth
Skepticism in which one can reply, 'let's try it' is good; but, questions that do not permit experiments stretch beyond the sense of truth and are therefore, forfeit.
108: New Struggles
God is dead, but there may be caves in which his shadow will be shown for thousands of years. We must vanquish his shadow as well.
121: Life no argument
We exist in a world we have fixed up to exist in: a world of bodies, lines, planes, causes and effects, motion and rest, form and content. But these are all assumptions, articles of faith which we could not endure without. But these assumptions are unproved. "Life is no argument, the conditions of life could include error"(171).
129: The conditions of God
Luther said, "God cannot exist without a wise man" and was right. But God can exist even less without unwise men; that Luther did not say.
130: A dangerous resolve
"The Christian resolve to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad" (172).
142: Incense
Buddha said not to flatter your benefactor. If this were said in Church it would clear the air of anything Christian.
163: After a great victory
The best part of victory is that it rids the victor of the fear of defeat.
173: Being deep and appearing deep
Those who are deep strive for clarity; those who wish to appear deep strive for obscurity
200: Laughter
Laughter means: being schadenfreude (a mischievous delight in the discomfort of another) but with a good conscience.
205: Need
"A need is considered the cause of the origin: in truth, it is often merely an effect of what did originate" (172).
228: Against Mediators
Mediators between two resolute thinkers are mediocre. They see things as similar because of weak eyes.
231: Thorough
"Those slow in knowledge suppose that slowness belongs to knowledge" (173).
232: Dreams
Dreams are either interesting or nonexistent. We should be awake the same way: interesting or not at all.
258: Those who deny chance
No victor believes in chance
273: Whom do you call bad?
Those who always want to put to shame.
274: What do you consider most humane?
To spare someone shame
275: What is the seal of attained freedom?
No longer being ashamed in front of oneself.
The Gay Science (1882)
51: Sense of truth
Skepticism in which one can reply, 'let's try it' is good; but, questions that do not permit experiments stretch beyond the sense of truth and are therefore, forfeit.
108: New Struggles
God is dead, but there may be caves in which his shadow will be shown for thousands of years. We must vanquish his shadow as well.
121: Life no argument
We exist in a world we have fixed up to exist in: a world of bodies, lines, planes, causes and effects, motion and rest, form and content. But these are all assumptions, articles of faith which we could not endure without. But these assumptions are unproved. "Life is no argument, the conditions of life could include error"(171).
129: The conditions of God
Luther said, "God cannot exist without a wise man" and was right. But God can exist even less without unwise men; that Luther did not say.
130: A dangerous resolve
"The Christian resolve to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad" (172).
142: Incense
Buddha said not to flatter your benefactor. If this were said in Church it would clear the air of anything Christian.
163: After a great victory
The best part of victory is that it rids the victor of the fear of defeat.
173: Being deep and appearing deep
Those who are deep strive for clarity; those who wish to appear deep strive for obscurity
200: Laughter
Laughter means: being schadenfreude (a mischievous delight in the discomfort of another) but with a good conscience.
205: Need
"A need is considered the cause of the origin: in truth, it is often merely an effect of what did originate" (172).
228: Against Mediators
Mediators between two resolute thinkers are mediocre. They see things as similar because of weak eyes.
231: Thorough
"Those slow in knowledge suppose that slowness belongs to knowledge" (173).
232: Dreams
Dreams are either interesting or nonexistent. We should be awake the same way: interesting or not at all.
258: Those who deny chance
No victor believes in chance
273: Whom do you call bad?
Those who always want to put to shame.
274: What do you consider most humane?
To spare someone shame
275: What is the seal of attained freedom?
No longer being ashamed in front of oneself.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Three Doctors of the Church
(Originally Written July 16, 2006 in Book 5)
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Chapter III - Three Doctors of the Church
By the way I am watching "Take Home Defensive Driving". Rest of all it cost $40 bucks. Ridiculous. Secondly, it is four hours long. Absurd. Thirdly, it is immensely boring. Irritating.
There are four men regarded as Doctors of the Western Church. (I believe there are a number who have been added since Russell wrote this).
1) St. Ambrose
2) St. Jerome
3) St. Augustine
4) Pope Gregory the Great
"Ambrose, Jerome and Augustine all flourished during the brief period between the victory of the Catholic Church in the Roman Empire and the barbarian invasion" (Russell, 334).
The Barbarian invasions stunted intellectual growth and men of this caliber were not produced for another thousand years.
They, more than any other men molded the Church in how it would be shaped.
Ambrose determined the Church as being dominant to the State. Jerome produced the Latin Vulgate and made great strides in monasticism. Augustine laid the foundation of theology until the reformation and was widely used by both Luther and Calvin.
Ambrose's establishment as the Church being independent of the State was not challenged (philosophically) until Hobbes. It was revolutionary. The capital of the Western Empire at the end of the fourth century was Milan. Ambrose was the bishop of Milan.
His duties brought him into contact with the emperors frequently. He always treated them at least as equals, sometimes as subordinates.
At his time the State was "feeble, incompetent, governed by unprincipled self-seekers, and totally without any policy beyond that of momentary expedients. Contrarily, the Church was vigorous, able, guided by men prepared to sacrifice everything personal in its interests, and with a policy so far-sighted that it brought victory for the next thousand years" (Russell, 335).
Ambrose had every opportunity to become a powerful political figure.
Ambrose was born at Augusta Treverorum to a prefect of the Guals. At thirteen he went to Rome, was educated and learned a strong grounding in Greek. The young adult Ambrose took to law and was successful.
At 30 he became the governor of Liguria and Æmilia. At 34 he turned away from the secular government and became bishop of Milan. He gave all his wealth to the poor and served the Church the rest of his life, sometimes in the face of peril.
All three Doctors of this period, Jerome, Augustine and Ambrose wrote innumerable letters, many of which have survived. For this reason we know them better than any pagan philosopher or ecclesiastics of the Middle Ages.
Jerome wrote mostly to women, instructing them on how to maintain their virginity. Augustine wrote letters to everyone, mostly on doctrine or Church discipline. Ambrose wrote most interesting letters to emperors, chastising them when they failed in their duties and praising them when they fulfilled them.
The first public matter Ambrose dealt with was the altar and stature to Victory in Rome. It was a pagan icon removed by Constantinius (son of Constantine) reinstated by Julian the Apostate and then removed again by Emperor Gratian. Paganism lasted longer in the Senate than elsewhere in Rome. After Gratian's death a senator named Symmachus (a pagan) fought to bring it back. In 384 he became the prefect of Rome. When Symmachus sought to have the new Emperor Valentian II put it back, Ambrose wrote the boy king. He wrote "Let no one take advantage of your youth" and put for the thesis that "as all Romans owed military service to their sovereign, so he (the Emperor) owed service to the Almighty God" (Russell, 337). In addition to flattery, Ambrose threatened the young emperor with not being able to see a priest in Church or receiving a hostile greeting from a priest. Ambrose won the argument. But a usurper of Valentian II, Eugenics (a pagan) restored the idol. In 394 Emperor Theodosius defeated Eugenics and removed the altar.
Initially Ambrose had favor in the imperial court. But when the mother of Valentian II, Empress Justina (an Arian) asked for an Arian church in Milan, the Catholic Ambrose refused. The Empress sent troops to a church in Milan demanding it as it belonged to the Emperor. Ambrose assured the Empress that she may take anything that belonged to the emperor but since the wealth of the church belonged to the poor and the church to God, he had nothing to give her. The soldiers refused to take the church by force because the citizens backed Ambrose. The empress gave in. This established the precedent of the Church having authority over the State in some matters.
Ambrose's next conflict came with the Emperor Theodosius. A synagogue was burned at a bishop's instigation. Theodosius demanded that those responsible be punished and the synagogue be rebuilt at the bishop's expense. Ambrose was furious. He demanded that no such action be taken because it would cause only trouble. If the punishment is carried out the bishop will be martyred for standing up for his faith in Christ or acquiesce and become apostate. Also, money of the Church should not be used to support unbelief (as occurs in a synagogue). Theodosius backed down.
The next conflict between these two occurred when a mob in Thessolonica murdered a Roman captain. Theodosius orchestrated the slaughter of 7,000 Thessalonians in revenge. Ambrose withheld the sacraments from Theodosius until the emperor rented. Theodosius repented, without his purple kingly robes and paid public penance.
Ambrose was a remarkable statesman, but inferior to Augustine in philosophy and inferior to Jerome as a scholar.
Jerome is most notable for producing the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible. The Vulgate was translated from original Hebrew texts, not the more erroneous Septuagint. Because Jerome illicit help from Jews in the translation it was initially met with harsh responses. Augustine's endorsement helped it to become the accepted version of the Catholic Church.
Jerome was born in 345 AD near Aquileia to a well-to-do, but not rich family. He studied rhetoric in Rome but he sinned there. He traveled through Gaul, retiring to Aquileia and became ascetic. He became a hermit in the Syrian desert and performed penance for his sinfulness in Rome. He then went back to Rome and befriended Pope Damasus, who encouraged him to create the Vulgate.
Jerome was quarrelsome to say the least. He fought with Augustine over the behavior of St. Peter. He fought with his friend Rufinius over Origen. He opposed Pelagius so avidly that his monastery was attacked by a Pelagian mob. He also fought with the Pope after the death of Damasus.
He left Rome for Bethlehem in 386 and lived there until his death in 420.
He converted and convinced many noble women to become nuns, pissing off people all over.
A young girl he convinced to become a nun was Eustochium. He wrote letters to her on how to maintain her virginity, exact meanings of Old Testament euphemisms, erotic mystical praise of covenantal life, stated that a nun is the Bride of Christ and the the Song of Solomon praises this type of relationship.
Linehan - I believe that this is a very bad misrepresentation of this book.
In a vision Jerome heard Christ tell him that he was a follower of Cicero, not Christ. Upon waking from this vision he denounced his love of Greek and Roman learning.
In his letters he embodies the Christian otherworldly hope of redemption outside of the collapsing world of the temporal Roman Empire.
It is strange (Russell contends) that Jerome, Augustine, and Ambrose all devoted themselves to Church issues, but no practical measures to save their collapsing state.
Linehan - The emphasis on virginity by the early church to me seems harmful. It is true that some men and women may be called to a life of abstinence, but I do not think that this is a very likely occurrence. I know from a personal standpoint that living an abstinent life makes it hard to focus on anything other than virginity or how to lose it. I remained a virgin because of fear (partially) and because of failure (mostly). This was a source of enormous tension, self-turmoil, disappointment, frustration, agony, desperation, depression, guilt and countless hours of wasted time and effort. Virginity or abstinence as an end is not a virtue. What makes it virtuous is the reasoning behind it. If one declares perpetual virginity in accordance to God's plan then it is virtuous, but if it (or anything) is done as a way to impress God it is boastful and not a virtue at all. Also I find the practice of father's giving their daughters over to virginity reprehensible. It's a shame that things like this happened within Christianity because it gives ammo to those who are seeking to attack Christianity.
Augustine was born in 354 in Africa to a Christian mother and Pagan father. He spent time as a Manichaean, then became a Christian. He then became the bishop of Hippo, near Carthage, where he remained until he died in 430.
We know much of Augustine's life because of his autobiographical work Confessions.
Augustine was a passionate youth, unconcerned with virtue and impulsive. He searched for truth and righteousness relentlessly.
His youthful sins caused him to have a strong sense of sin later in life, "which made his life stern and his philosophy inhuman" (Russell, 345).
Linehan - I'm sure Russell meant this as a stab, but Augustine may very well have modestly accepted it as a compliment. I must admit that there are a few philosophers, theologians, or men that matter, with whom I identify with or respect more than Augustine.
Augustine opens Confessions with the story of stealing a pear for mischief's sake alone. He condemns himself for loving the act of sinning so much. Russell mocks this and calls it morbid to the modern mind. While this may be true it is a blight on the modern mind, not on Augustine.
Christian theology had two parts:
1) that concerned with the Church
2) that concerned with the individual.
The Catholics emphasized the first. The Protestants emphasized the second. Augustine created a harmonious synthesis that focused on both without any inconsistencies.
Augustine believed individual soul wee predestined to salvation, but had to be baptized and become a member of the Church. Predestination marks a direct connection between God and man, the Church was an intermediate between.
Sin was essential to the direct relation for two reasons:
1) Shows how God can cause man to suffer
2) Shows how souls are the most important member of the created order.
Russell calls Augustine's sense of sin 'abnormal'. Russell's indifference to sin however, is much more abnormal than any developed sense of it.
Augustine grabbed Latin easily, but hated Greek.
Lust overcame him at the age of sixteen.
Augustine's father did not pay any attention to his sins but kept him focused on school. His mother, in vain, tried to keep him chaste. He went to Carthage at 16 and fell in love with love. He also took a mistress because he was not ready for a wife, but was faithful to her and had a son he loved by her.
His mother then encouraged him to marry a girl worthy of his social status (which his mistress was not). In breaking up with his mistress to be married he broke his heart. He then took another mistress while waiting for his bride-to-be to come of age. At this time he prayed, "give me chastity and continence, only not yet" (Russell, 348).
By the time his marriage was to occur he had devoted himself to religion and chastity.
Augustine was excellent in rhetoric and introduced to philosophy by Cicero. He then became a Manichaean and taught rhetoric. He was fond of astrology at this time, but later despised it.
He read as much philosophy as was translated into Latin and mentions Aristotle's 'Ten Categories'. He grasped these works without a teacher, but decried his understanding because it profited him none.
Initially he began to reject Manichaeism because of scientific reasons, citing astronomy and Mani's (the founder of Manichaeism) blatant errors on astronomical matters. After doubting Manichaeism he went to teach in Rome.
He began to feel at odds with the Manichaeans more and more in Rome and began to slide in to skepticism, but still believed that something in men, some nature caused them to sin.
He believed evil to be a substance.
From Rome he went to Milan to teach rhetoric. He began to love Ambrose and admire the Catholic faith, but his newfound skepticism held him back.
His mother joined him in Milan and hastened his conversion.
In Milan he became acquainted with Platonism and fused the Platonic metaphysical doctrine of Logos with Christianity.
He then completely rejected Manichaeism and the notion of Evil as a substance, instead believing evil to come from the perverseness of the will.
Augustine found comfort in the writings of St. Paul (one reason I identify with him so well).
He gave up his new mistress and his wife-to-be and devoted himself to the Church. He moved back to Africa in 388 and spent the remainder of his life fighting heresies like the Donates, Manichaeism and Pelagianism.
The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Chapter III - Three Doctors of the Church
By the way I am watching "Take Home Defensive Driving". Rest of all it cost $40 bucks. Ridiculous. Secondly, it is four hours long. Absurd. Thirdly, it is immensely boring. Irritating.
There are four men regarded as Doctors of the Western Church. (I believe there are a number who have been added since Russell wrote this).
1) St. Ambrose
2) St. Jerome
3) St. Augustine
4) Pope Gregory the Great
"Ambrose, Jerome and Augustine all flourished during the brief period between the victory of the Catholic Church in the Roman Empire and the barbarian invasion" (Russell, 334).
The Barbarian invasions stunted intellectual growth and men of this caliber were not produced for another thousand years.
They, more than any other men molded the Church in how it would be shaped.
Ambrose determined the Church as being dominant to the State. Jerome produced the Latin Vulgate and made great strides in monasticism. Augustine laid the foundation of theology until the reformation and was widely used by both Luther and Calvin.
Ambrose's establishment as the Church being independent of the State was not challenged (philosophically) until Hobbes. It was revolutionary. The capital of the Western Empire at the end of the fourth century was Milan. Ambrose was the bishop of Milan.
His duties brought him into contact with the emperors frequently. He always treated them at least as equals, sometimes as subordinates.
At his time the State was "feeble, incompetent, governed by unprincipled self-seekers, and totally without any policy beyond that of momentary expedients. Contrarily, the Church was vigorous, able, guided by men prepared to sacrifice everything personal in its interests, and with a policy so far-sighted that it brought victory for the next thousand years" (Russell, 335).
Ambrose had every opportunity to become a powerful political figure.
Ambrose was born at Augusta Treverorum to a prefect of the Guals. At thirteen he went to Rome, was educated and learned a strong grounding in Greek. The young adult Ambrose took to law and was successful.
At 30 he became the governor of Liguria and Æmilia. At 34 he turned away from the secular government and became bishop of Milan. He gave all his wealth to the poor and served the Church the rest of his life, sometimes in the face of peril.
All three Doctors of this period, Jerome, Augustine and Ambrose wrote innumerable letters, many of which have survived. For this reason we know them better than any pagan philosopher or ecclesiastics of the Middle Ages.
Jerome wrote mostly to women, instructing them on how to maintain their virginity. Augustine wrote letters to everyone, mostly on doctrine or Church discipline. Ambrose wrote most interesting letters to emperors, chastising them when they failed in their duties and praising them when they fulfilled them.
The first public matter Ambrose dealt with was the altar and stature to Victory in Rome. It was a pagan icon removed by Constantinius (son of Constantine) reinstated by Julian the Apostate and then removed again by Emperor Gratian. Paganism lasted longer in the Senate than elsewhere in Rome. After Gratian's death a senator named Symmachus (a pagan) fought to bring it back. In 384 he became the prefect of Rome. When Symmachus sought to have the new Emperor Valentian II put it back, Ambrose wrote the boy king. He wrote "Let no one take advantage of your youth" and put for the thesis that "as all Romans owed military service to their sovereign, so he (the Emperor) owed service to the Almighty God" (Russell, 337). In addition to flattery, Ambrose threatened the young emperor with not being able to see a priest in Church or receiving a hostile greeting from a priest. Ambrose won the argument. But a usurper of Valentian II, Eugenics (a pagan) restored the idol. In 394 Emperor Theodosius defeated Eugenics and removed the altar.
Initially Ambrose had favor in the imperial court. But when the mother of Valentian II, Empress Justina (an Arian) asked for an Arian church in Milan, the Catholic Ambrose refused. The Empress sent troops to a church in Milan demanding it as it belonged to the Emperor. Ambrose assured the Empress that she may take anything that belonged to the emperor but since the wealth of the church belonged to the poor and the church to God, he had nothing to give her. The soldiers refused to take the church by force because the citizens backed Ambrose. The empress gave in. This established the precedent of the Church having authority over the State in some matters.
Ambrose's next conflict came with the Emperor Theodosius. A synagogue was burned at a bishop's instigation. Theodosius demanded that those responsible be punished and the synagogue be rebuilt at the bishop's expense. Ambrose was furious. He demanded that no such action be taken because it would cause only trouble. If the punishment is carried out the bishop will be martyred for standing up for his faith in Christ or acquiesce and become apostate. Also, money of the Church should not be used to support unbelief (as occurs in a synagogue). Theodosius backed down.
The next conflict between these two occurred when a mob in Thessolonica murdered a Roman captain. Theodosius orchestrated the slaughter of 7,000 Thessalonians in revenge. Ambrose withheld the sacraments from Theodosius until the emperor rented. Theodosius repented, without his purple kingly robes and paid public penance.
Ambrose was a remarkable statesman, but inferior to Augustine in philosophy and inferior to Jerome as a scholar.
Jerome is most notable for producing the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible. The Vulgate was translated from original Hebrew texts, not the more erroneous Septuagint. Because Jerome illicit help from Jews in the translation it was initially met with harsh responses. Augustine's endorsement helped it to become the accepted version of the Catholic Church.
Jerome was born in 345 AD near Aquileia to a well-to-do, but not rich family. He studied rhetoric in Rome but he sinned there. He traveled through Gaul, retiring to Aquileia and became ascetic. He became a hermit in the Syrian desert and performed penance for his sinfulness in Rome. He then went back to Rome and befriended Pope Damasus, who encouraged him to create the Vulgate.
Jerome was quarrelsome to say the least. He fought with Augustine over the behavior of St. Peter. He fought with his friend Rufinius over Origen. He opposed Pelagius so avidly that his monastery was attacked by a Pelagian mob. He also fought with the Pope after the death of Damasus.
He left Rome for Bethlehem in 386 and lived there until his death in 420.
He converted and convinced many noble women to become nuns, pissing off people all over.
A young girl he convinced to become a nun was Eustochium. He wrote letters to her on how to maintain her virginity, exact meanings of Old Testament euphemisms, erotic mystical praise of covenantal life, stated that a nun is the Bride of Christ and the the Song of Solomon praises this type of relationship.
Linehan - I believe that this is a very bad misrepresentation of this book.
In a vision Jerome heard Christ tell him that he was a follower of Cicero, not Christ. Upon waking from this vision he denounced his love of Greek and Roman learning.
In his letters he embodies the Christian otherworldly hope of redemption outside of the collapsing world of the temporal Roman Empire.
It is strange (Russell contends) that Jerome, Augustine, and Ambrose all devoted themselves to Church issues, but no practical measures to save their collapsing state.
Linehan - The emphasis on virginity by the early church to me seems harmful. It is true that some men and women may be called to a life of abstinence, but I do not think that this is a very likely occurrence. I know from a personal standpoint that living an abstinent life makes it hard to focus on anything other than virginity or how to lose it. I remained a virgin because of fear (partially) and because of failure (mostly). This was a source of enormous tension, self-turmoil, disappointment, frustration, agony, desperation, depression, guilt and countless hours of wasted time and effort. Virginity or abstinence as an end is not a virtue. What makes it virtuous is the reasoning behind it. If one declares perpetual virginity in accordance to God's plan then it is virtuous, but if it (or anything) is done as a way to impress God it is boastful and not a virtue at all. Also I find the practice of father's giving their daughters over to virginity reprehensible. It's a shame that things like this happened within Christianity because it gives ammo to those who are seeking to attack Christianity.
Augustine was born in 354 in Africa to a Christian mother and Pagan father. He spent time as a Manichaean, then became a Christian. He then became the bishop of Hippo, near Carthage, where he remained until he died in 430.
We know much of Augustine's life because of his autobiographical work Confessions.
Augustine was a passionate youth, unconcerned with virtue and impulsive. He searched for truth and righteousness relentlessly.
His youthful sins caused him to have a strong sense of sin later in life, "which made his life stern and his philosophy inhuman" (Russell, 345).
Linehan - I'm sure Russell meant this as a stab, but Augustine may very well have modestly accepted it as a compliment. I must admit that there are a few philosophers, theologians, or men that matter, with whom I identify with or respect more than Augustine.
Augustine opens Confessions with the story of stealing a pear for mischief's sake alone. He condemns himself for loving the act of sinning so much. Russell mocks this and calls it morbid to the modern mind. While this may be true it is a blight on the modern mind, not on Augustine.
Christian theology had two parts:
1) that concerned with the Church
2) that concerned with the individual.
The Catholics emphasized the first. The Protestants emphasized the second. Augustine created a harmonious synthesis that focused on both without any inconsistencies.
Augustine believed individual soul wee predestined to salvation, but had to be baptized and become a member of the Church. Predestination marks a direct connection between God and man, the Church was an intermediate between.
Sin was essential to the direct relation for two reasons:
1) Shows how God can cause man to suffer
2) Shows how souls are the most important member of the created order.
Russell calls Augustine's sense of sin 'abnormal'. Russell's indifference to sin however, is much more abnormal than any developed sense of it.
Augustine grabbed Latin easily, but hated Greek.
Lust overcame him at the age of sixteen.
Augustine's father did not pay any attention to his sins but kept him focused on school. His mother, in vain, tried to keep him chaste. He went to Carthage at 16 and fell in love with love. He also took a mistress because he was not ready for a wife, but was faithful to her and had a son he loved by her.
His mother then encouraged him to marry a girl worthy of his social status (which his mistress was not). In breaking up with his mistress to be married he broke his heart. He then took another mistress while waiting for his bride-to-be to come of age. At this time he prayed, "give me chastity and continence, only not yet" (Russell, 348).
By the time his marriage was to occur he had devoted himself to religion and chastity.
Augustine was excellent in rhetoric and introduced to philosophy by Cicero. He then became a Manichaean and taught rhetoric. He was fond of astrology at this time, but later despised it.
He read as much philosophy as was translated into Latin and mentions Aristotle's 'Ten Categories'. He grasped these works without a teacher, but decried his understanding because it profited him none.
Initially he began to reject Manichaeism because of scientific reasons, citing astronomy and Mani's (the founder of Manichaeism) blatant errors on astronomical matters. After doubting Manichaeism he went to teach in Rome.
He began to feel at odds with the Manichaeans more and more in Rome and began to slide in to skepticism, but still believed that something in men, some nature caused them to sin.
He believed evil to be a substance.
From Rome he went to Milan to teach rhetoric. He began to love Ambrose and admire the Catholic faith, but his newfound skepticism held him back.
His mother joined him in Milan and hastened his conversion.
In Milan he became acquainted with Platonism and fused the Platonic metaphysical doctrine of Logos with Christianity.
He then completely rejected Manichaeism and the notion of Evil as a substance, instead believing evil to come from the perverseness of the will.
Augustine found comfort in the writings of St. Paul (one reason I identify with him so well).
He gave up his new mistress and his wife-to-be and devoted himself to the Church. He moved back to Africa in 388 and spent the remainder of his life fighting heresies like the Donates, Manichaeism and Pelagianism.
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
Class notes on War & Pacifism
(Originally Written May 2, 2006 in 3 Subject Book)
Contemporary Issues in Philosophy
Pacifists are cordially invited
1. War & Scripture: is there a "Biblical" view in a singular sense?
A. OT - Ancient Israel
B. NT - John the Baptist, Jesus, Luke, Peter, Paul
C. Church History - Pacifism & Just War Theory
D. Luther - two kingdoms
2. Application of Just War Theory
A. Conscription
B. Issues related to Terrorism
1. The State of nature (Pre-law morality)
2. Innocence: how much involvement?
3. International Law
4. God, Israel, Osama bin Laden, Jerry Fallwell
5. Human rights and the laws of war, or law enforcement vs. war
-derogation
-absolute non-derogable rights
Contemporary Issues in Philosophy
Pacifists are cordially invited
1. War & Scripture: is there a "Biblical" view in a singular sense?
A. OT - Ancient Israel
B. NT - John the Baptist, Jesus, Luke, Peter, Paul
C. Church History - Pacifism & Just War Theory
D. Luther - two kingdoms
2. Application of Just War Theory
A. Conscription
B. Issues related to Terrorism
1. The State of nature (Pre-law morality)
2. Innocence: how much involvement?
3. International Law
4. God, Israel, Osama bin Laden, Jerry Fallwell
5. Human rights and the laws of war, or law enforcement vs. war
-derogation
-absolute non-derogable rights
Monday, April 24, 2006
Luther timeline
(Originally written April 24, 2006 in 3 Subject)
European Religious History
Luther is teaching at Wittenburg University. He begins to tackle the theological implications of the New Testament. At the time of Luther scholasticism and humanism are opposite points in the intellectual and religious world. Catholic disagreements among theologians were commonplace at the time he posted the 95 Theses. Luther expects that each of his thesis will be debated against by Papal legates, not be ignored or lead to his expulsion. Pope Leo X sees Luther's 95 theses as the ramblings of a drunken German. The Church has a stronghold on all heresies, making them nearly non-existent.
95 Theses
-Luther fears that indulgences are replacing the repentant lifestyles that Jesus requires. Luther does not reject the sacrament of penance entirely, he is upset because it is being misunderstood by the laity.
-Luther states that Pope cannot pardon all sins. The Pope can only forgive the sins committed against the sin. Only God can forgive sins committed against God.
-Luther challenges the concept of purgatory.
-Indulgences cause people to believe their sins are forgiven so they won't be contrite and thus, be lost.
-Wrote to inform the Pope how the theology in his name is being corrupted.
The Archbishop of Mainz, who bought the office asks the theologians of the University of Mainz what they thought about the 95 theses. Pope Leo X doesn't see the 95 theses as being any particularly big deal. He orders the Augustinians to get ahold of and control Luther, an Augustinian himself. Frederick the Wise (the elector and ruler over the territory Luther is living in) protects Luther because he is enjoying the attention that his region is getting on account of Luther. Luther is declared a heretic by a Dominican in 1518 and ordered to be extradited to Rome. The Pope states he has this power because the Papacy has jurisdiction over all clerics. Frederick the Wise disagrees and claims authority over Luther because of his professorship in his district, thus giving Frederick jurisdiction. He orders that the trial of Luther must be done in Germany and he can appeal to the Holy Roman Emperor.
Luther then asks for a trial among German theologians. Frederick approves of this. The Pope is forced to back down because the Holy Roman Emperor will die soon and wishes to influence Frederick and the other German electors to elect an emperor favorable to Pope Leo X. The Pope sends Papal legates to the trial but orders them not to engage in the debate and only say "submit to the Pope". The Papal legate however condemns Luther without him even speaking, but he is not formally excommunicated. After this Luther realizes that he is getting Frederick into a dangerous situation and offers to leave the territory. Frederick decides however to protect Luther until the matter is settled.
The Holy Roman Emperor dies in 1519. The Leipzig Disputation (Leipzig University was a very staunchly Catholic place) refuses to debate the theses and only continues to demand that Luther submit to the Pope. Luther then challenges the Papal authority. He declares that the Papacy does not have the authority it claims to have. Luther declares himself more orthodox than the Leipzig University and the Catholics there. Leipzig then declares Luther to be a Hussite (Jan Hus).
Luther however knew neither Hus nor Wycliffe but agreed with some of their points. Luther placed the Bible over the traditions of the Church and above the Church fathers. He taught that justification came solely by grace through faith.
Luther begins to realize that he may have to denounce the Pope's authority outright. Meanwhile Charles V, the king of Spain, is elected the Holy Roman Emperor (being the grandson of the former Holy Roman Emperor). This gives Charles dominion over Spain, Burgundy, Germany and the Netherlands. The lands of Charles completely surround France, leaving King Francis I to feel threatened by Charles V. In 1520 Luther releases documents writing to the German princes (electors) to take responsibility in Church reform, further angering the Pope.
European Religious History
Luther is teaching at Wittenburg University. He begins to tackle the theological implications of the New Testament. At the time of Luther scholasticism and humanism are opposite points in the intellectual and religious world. Catholic disagreements among theologians were commonplace at the time he posted the 95 Theses. Luther expects that each of his thesis will be debated against by Papal legates, not be ignored or lead to his expulsion. Pope Leo X sees Luther's 95 theses as the ramblings of a drunken German. The Church has a stronghold on all heresies, making them nearly non-existent.
95 Theses
-Luther fears that indulgences are replacing the repentant lifestyles that Jesus requires. Luther does not reject the sacrament of penance entirely, he is upset because it is being misunderstood by the laity.
-Luther states that Pope cannot pardon all sins. The Pope can only forgive the sins committed against the sin. Only God can forgive sins committed against God.
-Luther challenges the concept of purgatory.
-Indulgences cause people to believe their sins are forgiven so they won't be contrite and thus, be lost.
-Wrote to inform the Pope how the theology in his name is being corrupted.
The Archbishop of Mainz, who bought the office asks the theologians of the University of Mainz what they thought about the 95 theses. Pope Leo X doesn't see the 95 theses as being any particularly big deal. He orders the Augustinians to get ahold of and control Luther, an Augustinian himself. Frederick the Wise (the elector and ruler over the territory Luther is living in) protects Luther because he is enjoying the attention that his region is getting on account of Luther. Luther is declared a heretic by a Dominican in 1518 and ordered to be extradited to Rome. The Pope states he has this power because the Papacy has jurisdiction over all clerics. Frederick the Wise disagrees and claims authority over Luther because of his professorship in his district, thus giving Frederick jurisdiction. He orders that the trial of Luther must be done in Germany and he can appeal to the Holy Roman Emperor.
Luther then asks for a trial among German theologians. Frederick approves of this. The Pope is forced to back down because the Holy Roman Emperor will die soon and wishes to influence Frederick and the other German electors to elect an emperor favorable to Pope Leo X. The Pope sends Papal legates to the trial but orders them not to engage in the debate and only say "submit to the Pope". The Papal legate however condemns Luther without him even speaking, but he is not formally excommunicated. After this Luther realizes that he is getting Frederick into a dangerous situation and offers to leave the territory. Frederick decides however to protect Luther until the matter is settled.
The Holy Roman Emperor dies in 1519. The Leipzig Disputation (Leipzig University was a very staunchly Catholic place) refuses to debate the theses and only continues to demand that Luther submit to the Pope. Luther then challenges the Papal authority. He declares that the Papacy does not have the authority it claims to have. Luther declares himself more orthodox than the Leipzig University and the Catholics there. Leipzig then declares Luther to be a Hussite (Jan Hus).
Luther however knew neither Hus nor Wycliffe but agreed with some of their points. Luther placed the Bible over the traditions of the Church and above the Church fathers. He taught that justification came solely by grace through faith.
Luther begins to realize that he may have to denounce the Pope's authority outright. Meanwhile Charles V, the king of Spain, is elected the Holy Roman Emperor (being the grandson of the former Holy Roman Emperor). This gives Charles dominion over Spain, Burgundy, Germany and the Netherlands. The lands of Charles completely surround France, leaving King Francis I to feel threatened by Charles V. In 1520 Luther releases documents writing to the German princes (electors) to take responsibility in Church reform, further angering the Pope.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Renaissance Popes & Martin Luther
(Originally Written April 19, 2006 in 3 Subject)
European Religious History
Problems in the Renaissance Church:
1. Simony
2. Clerical Marriage
-Priests with wives or concubines
-upper Church officials with concubines and children
-Popes known to have illegitimate children
3. Nepotism
-Nepotism leads to the building of Clerical Dynasties
4. Pluralism (having two positions simultaneously)
-An unfortunate, but sometime necessary evil in some cases on account of the black death
-Non-residency of bishops in their bishoprics
Renaissance Popes
-Council of Constance (1411-1414)
-Reformation
-Most Renaissance Popes are looked cross-eyed at by the people for various religious issues
Systux IV - Nepotism, but begins the building of the Sistine Chapel and commissions Michaelangelo
Innocent VIII - (worst example of the Renaissance Popes) - 16 illegitimate children, which is widely known. Continues the Papal trend of centralizing Papal authority by creating 52 new administration jobs
Alexander VI (1492-1503)
-Buys the Papacy
-Borgia, son of Alexander VI, is sent in military action to divide the Papal States into his own familial lands
Julius II (1503-1513) - Leads the Papal army against his own enemies, dubbed "The Warrior Pope"
-Erasmus of Roderdam wrote "Julius Exclusivis" as a satire of Julius II
-Julius II did however commission the building of St. Peter's Basilica
Leo X (1513-1521)
-1st Medici Family Pope
-Pope during Martin Luther's 95 thesis posting
-Leo X was made Archbishop at age 8 and a Cardinal at age 13 by the Medici family
Problems in the Holy Roman Empire
- Holy Roman Empire elects its emperor with the 7 princes (7 noble families)
-Because of elections, Germany cannot consolidate power like France and England. Emperors are also unable to ensure dynastic succession.
-This sets the tables for Martin Luther to shake up the world.
1)All of Europe has a looming presence in the east. The ottoman Empire is the most powerful empire in the region (Turkey & Greece). The Pope and the Holy Roman Empire have the most to worry about because the Holy Roman Empire is not consolidated and the Pope already has problems with the Ottomans, the Holy Roman Empire, The French King, the French Catholic Church and various others in Europe.
2)The Printing Press: Luther's crew is better with this new invention than the Pope's Catholic Brigade.
3)Literacy is on the rise because of the Renaissance ideal of education and emphasis on public schools.
4) Luther appeals to the German princes to overthrow the Catholic Church, who are politically estranged from the Papacy.
European Religious History
Problems in the Renaissance Church:
1. Simony
2. Clerical Marriage
-Priests with wives or concubines
-upper Church officials with concubines and children
-Popes known to have illegitimate children
3. Nepotism
-Nepotism leads to the building of Clerical Dynasties
4. Pluralism (having two positions simultaneously)
-An unfortunate, but sometime necessary evil in some cases on account of the black death
-Non-residency of bishops in their bishoprics
Renaissance Popes
-Council of Constance (1411-1414)
-Reformation
-Most Renaissance Popes are looked cross-eyed at by the people for various religious issues
Systux IV - Nepotism, but begins the building of the Sistine Chapel and commissions Michaelangelo
Innocent VIII - (worst example of the Renaissance Popes) - 16 illegitimate children, which is widely known. Continues the Papal trend of centralizing Papal authority by creating 52 new administration jobs
Alexander VI (1492-1503)
-Buys the Papacy
-Borgia, son of Alexander VI, is sent in military action to divide the Papal States into his own familial lands
Julius II (1503-1513) - Leads the Papal army against his own enemies, dubbed "The Warrior Pope"
-Erasmus of Roderdam wrote "Julius Exclusivis" as a satire of Julius II
-Julius II did however commission the building of St. Peter's Basilica
Leo X (1513-1521)
-1st Medici Family Pope
-Pope during Martin Luther's 95 thesis posting
-Leo X was made Archbishop at age 8 and a Cardinal at age 13 by the Medici family
Problems in the Holy Roman Empire
- Holy Roman Empire elects its emperor with the 7 princes (7 noble families)
-Because of elections, Germany cannot consolidate power like France and England. Emperors are also unable to ensure dynastic succession.
-This sets the tables for Martin Luther to shake up the world.
1)All of Europe has a looming presence in the east. The ottoman Empire is the most powerful empire in the region (Turkey & Greece). The Pope and the Holy Roman Empire have the most to worry about because the Holy Roman Empire is not consolidated and the Pope already has problems with the Ottomans, the Holy Roman Empire, The French King, the French Catholic Church and various others in Europe.
2)The Printing Press: Luther's crew is better with this new invention than the Pope's Catholic Brigade.
3)Literacy is on the rise because of the Renaissance ideal of education and emphasis on public schools.
4) Luther appeals to the German princes to overthrow the Catholic Church, who are politically estranged from the Papacy.
Monday, February 20, 2006
More views on Creation
(Originally written on February 20, 2006)
Quiz
1) The notion that God created the world in six twenty-four hour days is connected with?
- Direct Creationism
2) In Genesis 1:27 how many times does the Hebrew word "barah" meaning "create" appear?
- Three
3) In the heavenly realm Satan's alter ego is?
- Michael
4) Who wrote the book Darwin's Black Box?
- Michael Behe
The cosmos is result of either impersonal + time + chance or Divine Creation
Divine Creation
- evidences in microsphere:
- "anthropic principle" - universe made in such a way that it is made to be conducive to human life
- evidences in microsphere:
"irreducible complexity" - the complexity of certain aspects of humanity makes it impossible for a gradual evolutionary process
Genesis & Evolution
Bible - Special creation of humanity as humanity
Theistic evolution?
Genesis 1-3 is not allegory or parable
3 Differentiations
Genesis 1:1 (ex nihilo) nothing becomes something
- Barah #1
Genesis 1:21 unconsciousness becomes conscious life
- Barah #2
Genesis 1:27 Conscious life becomes imago dei
- Barah #3
barah is used three times in verse 27, signifying that humanity is the pinnacle or apex of creation
Caveat: scientific theory is not equal to fact
The Bible states that:
1) God created, thus there is a time, a specific starting point for creation
2) The universe is not necessary, it is contingent upon something or someone. It is not independent, it is dependent on something
3) God of creation and God of redemption are the same (contrary to Marcion's heresy)
Angels
-Created beings, and self-existent spirits
-Spirits, not bodily (Matthew 22:30, Genesis 18:1)
Hierarchy of Angels
- Michael (Daniel 12:1, Jude 9, Revelation 12:7)
- Gabriel (Daniel 8:16, 9:21, Luke 1:19, 31-33)
Monad agents with the capacity to rebel
-Satan is a fallen angel (Revelation 12:7). Satan is not a self-existent spirit
A Faith for all Season Ch. 4
The starting point for answering these questions is comprehending the Bible. It is a foundational point, but experience and science should be used in addition to form a Christian worldview.
God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth
God created the world out of nothing (ex nihilo) simply by calling them into being
The universe is not eternal; only God is eternal.
A modern school of thought (process theology) believes that both God and the universe are eternally in developmental mode. This view ignores "in the beginning" and blurs the line between the creator and the created order.
The God of creation is the God of redemption. This is a belief that has been held by even the earliest Christians. The Nicene Creed and the Apostolic creed focus on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, but begin by affirming that God created all things. These creeds affirmed that the God of creation is the God of redemption and combated the gnostic view of a lesser god (usually the god of the Old Testament) creating the world, but a supreme God redeeming us.
Why God Created the World
This question is really two separate questions. The first is for what purpose did God create the world? The second is what caused God to create the world as it is? To answer the first question, creation has been called a theatrum gloriae dei (theater of the glory of God). Humanity is the centerpiece of this theater. We were created for the purpose of demonstration of the glory of God and for enjoying God forever. Man's highest purpose, according to John Piper, is to "glorify God by enjoying him forever" (Dorman, 67).
All creation glorifies God, but only man can enjoy God because man is the only creation capable of worshipping God.
The second question is considered improper to ask by some. They state simply that God created the world because he wanted to. During the Reformation Martin Luther said that before God created the world he was "cutting the switches to punish those who ask such impertinent questions" (Dorman, 68). Calvin said that before God created the world he was "building a hell for the curious" (Institutes 1.14.1)
Jonathan Edwards believed that God was delighting in himself before creating the world and was therefore motivated to create something glorious. He contended that God has both necessary work and free work. It is necessary for God to fully delight in Himself, but creation isn't essential to God's happiness. Creation is a free act that is done through motivation of God's glory.
According to Edwards, benevolence motivated God to create. He defined benevolence as a joy that is found in meeting the needs of others, rather than having one's own needs met. This motivating benevolence can also be described as a love that condescends to meet the needs of unworthy beings (mercy). God is so secure in Himself that He can condescend to us and love what is unloveable. Mercy is God's greatest act of glory because mercy is a free act. Free acts of will are much more glorious than necessary acts.
Alternatives to the Biblical View of Creation
Greek Philosophy
Biblical view - ex nihilo
Plato's view - ex nihilo nihil fit
- Two self evident things: God and matter
- God formed matter to reflect his eternal ideas in creation
Aristotle
- Believed the same thing other than the universe had a beginning: when God formed the matter to like it
Ancient greek philosophy had a tendency to view this self-existent matter as intrinsically evil.
Quiz
1) The notion that God created the world in six twenty-four hour days is connected with?
- Direct Creationism
2) In Genesis 1:27 how many times does the Hebrew word "barah" meaning "create" appear?
- Three
3) In the heavenly realm Satan's alter ego is?
- Michael
4) Who wrote the book Darwin's Black Box?
- Michael Behe
The cosmos is result of either impersonal + time + chance or Divine Creation
Divine Creation
- evidences in microsphere:
- "anthropic principle" - universe made in such a way that it is made to be conducive to human life
- evidences in microsphere:
"irreducible complexity" - the complexity of certain aspects of humanity makes it impossible for a gradual evolutionary process
Genesis & Evolution
Bible - Special creation of humanity as humanity
Theistic evolution?
Genesis 1-3 is not allegory or parable
3 Differentiations
Genesis 1:1 (ex nihilo) nothing becomes something
- Barah #1
Genesis 1:21 unconsciousness becomes conscious life
- Barah #2
Genesis 1:27 Conscious life becomes imago dei
- Barah #3
barah is used three times in verse 27, signifying that humanity is the pinnacle or apex of creation
Caveat: scientific theory is not equal to fact
The Bible states that:
1) God created, thus there is a time, a specific starting point for creation
2) The universe is not necessary, it is contingent upon something or someone. It is not independent, it is dependent on something
3) God of creation and God of redemption are the same (contrary to Marcion's heresy)
Angels
-Created beings, and self-existent spirits
-Spirits, not bodily (Matthew 22:30, Genesis 18:1)
Hierarchy of Angels
- Michael (Daniel 12:1, Jude 9, Revelation 12:7)
- Gabriel (Daniel 8:16, 9:21, Luke 1:19, 31-33)
Monad agents with the capacity to rebel
-Satan is a fallen angel (Revelation 12:7). Satan is not a self-existent spirit
A Faith for all Season Ch. 4
The starting point for answering these questions is comprehending the Bible. It is a foundational point, but experience and science should be used in addition to form a Christian worldview.
God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth
God created the world out of nothing (ex nihilo) simply by calling them into being
The universe is not eternal; only God is eternal.
A modern school of thought (process theology) believes that both God and the universe are eternally in developmental mode. This view ignores "in the beginning" and blurs the line between the creator and the created order.
The God of creation is the God of redemption. This is a belief that has been held by even the earliest Christians. The Nicene Creed and the Apostolic creed focus on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, but begin by affirming that God created all things. These creeds affirmed that the God of creation is the God of redemption and combated the gnostic view of a lesser god (usually the god of the Old Testament) creating the world, but a supreme God redeeming us.
Why God Created the World
This question is really two separate questions. The first is for what purpose did God create the world? The second is what caused God to create the world as it is? To answer the first question, creation has been called a theatrum gloriae dei (theater of the glory of God). Humanity is the centerpiece of this theater. We were created for the purpose of demonstration of the glory of God and for enjoying God forever. Man's highest purpose, according to John Piper, is to "glorify God by enjoying him forever" (Dorman, 67).
All creation glorifies God, but only man can enjoy God because man is the only creation capable of worshipping God.
The second question is considered improper to ask by some. They state simply that God created the world because he wanted to. During the Reformation Martin Luther said that before God created the world he was "cutting the switches to punish those who ask such impertinent questions" (Dorman, 68). Calvin said that before God created the world he was "building a hell for the curious" (Institutes 1.14.1)
Jonathan Edwards believed that God was delighting in himself before creating the world and was therefore motivated to create something glorious. He contended that God has both necessary work and free work. It is necessary for God to fully delight in Himself, but creation isn't essential to God's happiness. Creation is a free act that is done through motivation of God's glory.
According to Edwards, benevolence motivated God to create. He defined benevolence as a joy that is found in meeting the needs of others, rather than having one's own needs met. This motivating benevolence can also be described as a love that condescends to meet the needs of unworthy beings (mercy). God is so secure in Himself that He can condescend to us and love what is unloveable. Mercy is God's greatest act of glory because mercy is a free act. Free acts of will are much more glorious than necessary acts.
Alternatives to the Biblical View of Creation
Greek Philosophy
Biblical view - ex nihilo
Plato's view - ex nihilo nihil fit
- Two self evident things: God and matter
- God formed matter to reflect his eternal ideas in creation
Aristotle
- Believed the same thing other than the universe had a beginning: when God formed the matter to like it
Ancient greek philosophy had a tendency to view this self-existent matter as intrinsically evil.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Views of Biblical inspiration & Interpretation
(Originally written on February 10, 2006 in book 23)
Modern views of Biblical Inspiration
Revelation - Acts of God in History are divine, but the interpretation are human
Partial-Inspiration theories:
- Bible is true on matters of faith (spiritual)
- Bible may incorrect on historical matters
example (virgin birth is a spiritual interpretation, not a historical event)
This statement is neither true nor false. It is a meaningless statement. There is no way to validate or falsify it.
The Interpretation of Scripture
Origen -
Allegory: historical events are images or shadows of divine realities (Plato)
Origen held that the truth are found above the text
Luther
Literal - "grammatical-historical" approach (evangelical interpretation)
Truth is found within the text
Historical-Critical - seeks to reconstruct a historical, non supernatural Jesus
Truth found behind the text
Theological Liberalism
Authority of Scripture
1) Presuppositional - circular reasoning
2) Ecclesiastical - Catholic
3) Spiritual - From the Holy Spirit
4) Evidentialist - reasoning and evidence
Modern views of Biblical Inspiration
Revelation - Acts of God in History are divine, but the interpretation are human
Partial-Inspiration theories:
- Bible is true on matters of faith (spiritual)
- Bible may incorrect on historical matters
example (virgin birth is a spiritual interpretation, not a historical event)
This statement is neither true nor false. It is a meaningless statement. There is no way to validate or falsify it.
The Interpretation of Scripture
Origen -
Allegory: historical events are images or shadows of divine realities (Plato)
Origen held that the truth are found above the text
Luther
Literal - "grammatical-historical" approach (evangelical interpretation)
Truth is found within the text
Historical-Critical - seeks to reconstruct a historical, non supernatural Jesus
Truth found behind the text
Theological Liberalism
Authority of Scripture
1) Presuppositional - circular reasoning
2) Ecclesiastical - Catholic
3) Spiritual - From the Holy Spirit
4) Evidentialist - reasoning and evidence
Friday, February 3, 2006
Ways of interpreting Scripture
(Originally written February 3, 2006 in Book 23)
Clement of Alexandria in the fourfold interpretation of Scriptures
- Clement states there are four ways to interpret Scriptures
1) The literal sense
2) The allegorical sense, which conveys something to be believed
3) The moral (tropological) sense, which conveys something which is to be done
4) The analogical sense, which conveys something which is to be hoped for
(The four-fold interpretation is called the Quadriga)
Origen on the Three Ways of Reading Scripture
- Origen believes there is a correlation between a Christian's maturity level and what he/she can get out of certain passages of the Bible. He classifies them in 3 sets:
1) The "body": this is what the simplest Christians obtain. It is the mere immediate acceptance of the text as divine in nature
2) The "soul": is what Christians, who have matured by the "body" way of reading scripture are able to extract from the text
3) The "spiritual" is the complete perfect understanding of the text only mature Christians are capable of obtaining.
There are some passages that contain messages for all three of these, while some only contain messages for those who read at the "soul" or "spiritual" levels.
Augustine on the Literal and Allegorical senses of Scripture
Augustine writes on this topic to refute held by the Manichaeans
The Manichaeans hold a view that the New Testament makes the Old Testament obsolete, The New Covenant in Christ removes completely the old.
Augustine states that rather than rendering the Old Testament obsolete, the New Testament removes a "veil" that was over it, making it possible for us to understand the spiritual meaning of the Old Testament. He states there is "no tension" between the two. The New Testament removes the veil of the Old Testament allowing us to see the connection and relationship between the two.
Vincent of Lépins on the role of Tradition
He wrote in an attempt to find a way to be secure in deciding what was true teaching and what was heresy. His findings were rooted in two key principles of accepting any specific doctrine:
1) by authority of the divine law
2) by the tradition of the Catholic Church
The need for the use of the tradition of the Catholic Church is that many people interpret the Scriptures in many different ways. The Church was to govern which interpretations were true and which were false.
Vincent assures us that the Church will have all the sound doctrines by ensuring three things:
1) The ecumenicity of the doctrine and that it is believed everywhere
2) The antiquity of the doctrine: it has always been believed, especially by the original leaders of the Church
3) The consent of the doctrine: it is believed by all people
"That which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all people" (The Vincentian Canon)
Martin Luther on the fourfold sense of Scriptures
Luther maintains the Quadriga, but states there are two subsets of the literal approach.
1) Literal-historical views an Old Testament passage as directly involving Israel
2) Literal-prophetic views Old Testament passage in relation to the Incarnation of Christ
He states there are two ways of living and each has a distinct way of interpreting Scripture:
1) Spirit (Literal-Prophetic)
2) Flesh (Literal-Historical)
Luther warns that the Scriptures will become ludicrous if Scripture is taken allegorically or tropologically without it being explicitly stated in a historical manner somewhere else.
Emil Brunner on the Personal Nature of Revelation
Brunner believes that God reveals Himself to the individual, not just the information of Himself, but His essence
The relationship with man and God is personal. If God were only relaying information to man it would be an impersonal relationship.
James Packer on the Nature of Revelation
Packer defines revelation as two things:
1) God's act: a personal self-disclosure whereby he brings us actively to know him as our God and savior
2) God's gift: the revelation of knowledge about Himself
"God reveals Himself by telling us about Himself, and what He is doing in His world"
Packer believes God speaks to us in a verbal way. Either through angels, dreams, visions or through the Holy Spirit directing us to do a certain thing; in any case it is a form of verbal communication that God uses to reveal himself to us.
Clement of Alexandria in the fourfold interpretation of Scriptures
- Clement states there are four ways to interpret Scriptures
1) The literal sense
2) The allegorical sense, which conveys something to be believed
3) The moral (tropological) sense, which conveys something which is to be done
4) The analogical sense, which conveys something which is to be hoped for
(The four-fold interpretation is called the Quadriga)
Origen on the Three Ways of Reading Scripture
- Origen believes there is a correlation between a Christian's maturity level and what he/she can get out of certain passages of the Bible. He classifies them in 3 sets:
1) The "body": this is what the simplest Christians obtain. It is the mere immediate acceptance of the text as divine in nature
2) The "soul": is what Christians, who have matured by the "body" way of reading scripture are able to extract from the text
3) The "spiritual" is the complete perfect understanding of the text only mature Christians are capable of obtaining.
There are some passages that contain messages for all three of these, while some only contain messages for those who read at the "soul" or "spiritual" levels.
Augustine on the Literal and Allegorical senses of Scripture
Augustine writes on this topic to refute held by the Manichaeans
The Manichaeans hold a view that the New Testament makes the Old Testament obsolete, The New Covenant in Christ removes completely the old.
Augustine states that rather than rendering the Old Testament obsolete, the New Testament removes a "veil" that was over it, making it possible for us to understand the spiritual meaning of the Old Testament. He states there is "no tension" between the two. The New Testament removes the veil of the Old Testament allowing us to see the connection and relationship between the two.
Vincent of Lépins on the role of Tradition
He wrote in an attempt to find a way to be secure in deciding what was true teaching and what was heresy. His findings were rooted in two key principles of accepting any specific doctrine:
1) by authority of the divine law
2) by the tradition of the Catholic Church
The need for the use of the tradition of the Catholic Church is that many people interpret the Scriptures in many different ways. The Church was to govern which interpretations were true and which were false.
Vincent assures us that the Church will have all the sound doctrines by ensuring three things:
1) The ecumenicity of the doctrine and that it is believed everywhere
2) The antiquity of the doctrine: it has always been believed, especially by the original leaders of the Church
3) The consent of the doctrine: it is believed by all people
"That which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all people" (The Vincentian Canon)
Martin Luther on the fourfold sense of Scriptures
Luther maintains the Quadriga, but states there are two subsets of the literal approach.
1) Literal-historical views an Old Testament passage as directly involving Israel
2) Literal-prophetic views Old Testament passage in relation to the Incarnation of Christ
He states there are two ways of living and each has a distinct way of interpreting Scripture:
1) Spirit (Literal-Prophetic)
2) Flesh (Literal-Historical)
Luther warns that the Scriptures will become ludicrous if Scripture is taken allegorically or tropologically without it being explicitly stated in a historical manner somewhere else.
Emil Brunner on the Personal Nature of Revelation
Brunner believes that God reveals Himself to the individual, not just the information of Himself, but His essence
The relationship with man and God is personal. If God were only relaying information to man it would be an impersonal relationship.
James Packer on the Nature of Revelation
Packer defines revelation as two things:
1) God's act: a personal self-disclosure whereby he brings us actively to know him as our God and savior
2) God's gift: the revelation of knowledge about Himself
"God reveals Himself by telling us about Himself, and what He is doing in His world"
Packer believes God speaks to us in a verbal way. Either through angels, dreams, visions or through the Holy Spirit directing us to do a certain thing; in any case it is a form of verbal communication that God uses to reveal himself to us.
Notes on the Formation, Interpretation and Composition of Scriptures
(Originally written February 3, 2006 in Book 23)
A Faith for all Season
Chapter 2 - The Need for Holy Scripture
Originally, God created a perfect world in this perfect world there was no distinction between special and general revelation. God's words and God's works (creation) were together. God's works (man) rebelled gains God's words. God could no longer be in the presence of His works because of their sinfulness and neither could God's word. Thus, each is still full of general revelation (God's works) but special revelation (His words) are nowhere to be found. Salvation can not be provided by general revelation, special revelation is needed. God provide that special revelation: the Scriptures and Jesus Christ.
Scripture as the Word of God
Theologians throughout history have affirmed what Jesus said: that scripture was and is the word of God (John 10:35)
The Church's belief of scripture as the word of God's is closely linked with the doctrine of divine inspiration of Scripture.
The doctrine of divine inspiration of Scripture comes from 2 Timothy 3:16-17. All Scripture is inspired by God. The NIV translates it as "God-breathed" The Greek in this passage uses the word "theopneustos" (literally God + Breath)
2 Peter 1:20-21 confirms that the authors were not simply inspired to write something; but the words themselves were inspired by God. No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation for the prophecy never had its origin in the will of men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Both Paul and Peter were referring to Scripture as the Old Testament, but applying to the New Testament is justified by 3 things:
1) Jesus saw his mission and message as in accordance with the Old Testament
2) Jesus made his apostles agents of divine revelation inspired by the Holy Spirit
3) Jesus stated that future believers would come to faith through the apostolic word
The Scripture is useful in two ways:
1) Doctrine
2) Practice
The Scripture can be used to accomplish 4 Things:
1) Teaching: the idea of proclaiming the truth
2) Rebuking: the idea of combating doctrinal error
3) Correction: the act of leading someone away from an ungodly lifestyle (this is about ethics, not doctrine)
4) Training in righteousness: helping people lead godly lives
The Scriptures make the man of God complete
Nobody profits from understanding the Scriptures if they do not accept and follow them.
Sometimes the words verbal and plenary are used to describe the traditional Christian doctrine of Biblical inspiration
Verbal, Plenary Inspiration
Plenary means full, therefore "plenary inspiration" is full inspiration
"Verbal inspiration" is the idea that the words of Scripture are the exact words God wanted written.
Most Christians do not believe that God dictated to the writers. He allowed them to keep their personalities and styles in their books. God dictating is what Islam believes is the origin of the Qu'ran.
Some Christians believe that God inspired feelings and ideas in the writers. This takes in account for the differing styles in the books. This view however states that the Bible is only quantitatively superior to other works.
The historic consensus of theology is qualitatively superior to other works.
Modern Protestants take the Scriptures as both the word of God and the words of men. This view is that God supervised the writing to get what he wanted said written, but allowed the human authors to keep their humanity and individuality in their work.
Modern Alternatives to Verbal, Plenary Inspiration
Karl Barth: a 20th century Swiss theologian
In his "Church Dogmatics", Barth acknowledges only Jesus Christ as special revelation.
According to Barth's view the Bible is not special revelation and there is no general revelation. The only way God reveals himself is through Jesus Christ.
Revelation only occurs through the risen Jesus Christ living inside of Christian.
Barth denies that the Bible is the "word of God". He states that the Bible can only become the word of God when Jesus Christ uses it to convict us.
Barth believed that knowledge of God was beyond any man's capabilities.
Barth's form of theology is Dialectical theology.
Dialectical theology is when God comes to us as the One who is beyond comprehension and he judges anyone who attempts to comprehend him.
However, Barth changed his views later in life. He states that God can actually be known, but not because man is capable of knowing him. Man can know God because God bridged the gap between humanity and God through Jesus Christ.
In Barth's view the Bible, while not revelation in and of itself, is a witness to revelation in the person of Jesus Christ.
Another school of modern theology bases their beliefs, not on the revelation being in Jesus Christ, but in the belief that the revelation of God comes from the historical events of God's redemption.
Scripture, in this view, is ancient writer's attempts of documenting God's saving acts and those acts' impacts on our lives.
As in the case with Barth's theology, revelation does not lie in the text of the Scripture, but in the "encountered results of what God did for them" (Dorman, 25).
This view holds that the Scriptures are the writers' interpretation of the significance of God's actions. In this view, we are not competed to believe what God did, only what his actions did to impact the writers.
Another modern theology is a partial-inspiration theory. There are various forms of this theory.
This view states that all Biblical statements that deal with spiritual matters are true and from God, but statements regarding historical matters are not necessarily accurate.
The partial inspiration theory does attempt to link the text of the Bible with special revelation.
This view states that the Bible can in fact be erroneous, but is still important on matters of faith.
The Historical events of the Bible are regarded as parables and allegories is the partial-inspiration theory.
The Interpretation of Scripture
Allegory - "the expression through symbolic figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human conduct or experience" (Dorman, 27)
The idea that readers of Scripture must reinterpret the events recorded in them as allegories is rooted in the Greek philosophy of dualism.
According to this dualistic theory, historical events and realities, including the language, are mere images or shadows of the divine realities.
Ancient Judaism and Christianity believed, contrastingly, that God had in fact spoken and acted at specific instances in history. Jesus Christ is the prime example of this.
It is because this belief that the early church generally avoided interpreting the Scriptures allegorically.
During the second century A.D. some of the Church had trouble seeing the connection between God in the Old Testament and Jesus Christ. Marcion is a prime example of this.
Marcion believed that the Bible showed two gods:
1) the Old Testament was a warlike, judgmental deity
2) The New Testament god was kind and loving.
Because of his view of two differently described, Marcion rejected the Old Testament as Scripture and purged the gospel of any Jewish tradition.
Origen considered some of the descriptions of God in the Old Testament as cruel and sub-Christian, but refused to reject the Old Testament like Marcion. He instead removed the offensive passages by interpreting them allegorically.
Origen held that not every Christian was capable of finding the spiritual or allegorical meaning of the text. He believed that this spiritual interpretation was given to the apostles who passed it on to the teachers of the Holy Church. This laid the way for the Catholic view that only its teaching office was able to interpret.
Origen's spiritual interpretation came from two sources:
1) The Holy Spirit was the author of Scripture
2) An influence of Dualism, passed on to him by Philo, who had allegorized the Old Testament in order to synthesize it with Greek philosophy.
Origen held that the literal meaning of the text was inferior to the spiritual meaning because the literal meaning came from the human writer and the spiritual came from the Holy Spirit.
The Antiochean school of theology was opposite to the theology of Origen. They held that the primary meaning of Scripture was its literal, historical sense.
The works of Lucian (of Antioch) set the tone for the Antiochean interpretation of Scripture. Lucian sought to interpret the Scriptures through its Semitic perspective rather than through a Greek philosophical one.
Theodore, a later Antiochean, saw that the literal approach unified a record of God's redemptive work in time, whereas the allegorical method saw it as a collection of timeless truths.
The Antiochean school did not have any lasting effects on theology because of two reasons:
1) Lucian, its founder was also seen as the founder of Arianism. Arianism was a heresy that denied the full divinity of Christ.
2) Nestorious was found to be a heretic. Nestorious was taught by Theodore and therefore Theodore and the entire Antiochean School was condemned as well.
Because of the condemnation of the Antiochean School, one form or another of allegorical interpretation was held by the Church for the next 1,000 years.
The end of allegorical total domination came with the Protestant Reformation.
Luther stated that unless the text is plainly demands us to interpret it allegorically, it is to be interpreted literally, otherwise Scripture is a worthless fable.
Luther's approach to a more literal based interpretation of Scripture was called the grammatical-historical exegesis (exegesis is a fancy word for interpretation).
Luther stressed the perspicuity of Scripture. This basically means that the Bible is clear enough for any reasonably informed person to understand it.
Luther's emphasis on the literal interpretation of the Scriptures opened the doors to new theological insight which were previously shut by the dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church. It also, unfortunately opened the doors to a terrible form of interpretation, the "historical-critical" method.
During the 18th century history was defined by the Rationalists (an Enlightenment Philosophical offshoot) as a closed continuum of cause and effect. Basically, it denied any possibility for miracles. The "historical-critical" method was born out of this view. It declared that the miracles in the Bible were actually myths of the Bible. This method turned Jesus into a human teacher of ethics and denied him of any supernatural being.
This view of Jesus came under attack by late 19th century theologians. These theologians were ironically trained in the "historical-critical" method. They stated that the Gospels were written in such a way that it was impossible to separate a non-miraculous Jesus from a supernatural Christ.
The "historical critical" method seeks to find the meaning of Christ behind the Biblical texts.
The allegorical approach used by Origen sought to find the meaning of Christ above the Biblical text.
The literal approach used by the Antiochean school and the Reformers sought to find the meaning of Christ with the Biblical text.
The historical-critical method denies that Scripture is the word of God.
The Authority of Scripture
Christians have sought to confirm the authority of Scriptures in four ways:
1) The presuppositional approach
-This states that we know the Bible is the word of God because it claims to be.
-God is the author
-This approach does not give any criteria that can distinguish its claims to being divine revelation from the claims of other texts being of divine revelation, like the Qu'ran
-Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so
2) The Ecclesiastical Approach
-Christians can know Scripture is the word of God because the Church says it is (this is the Roman Catholic approach)
-It is true that the New Testament grew out of the very life of the Church
-Jesus loves me this I know for the Church it tells me so
3) The Spiritual Approach
- This view holds that the ecclesiastical approach places the Church above the Bible
- The inner witness of the Holy Spirit affirms the authority of Scripture
- Absolute assurances of the authority of Scripture can only come from God
- Jesus loves me this I know for the Spirit tells me so
4) The Evidentialist Approach
-There are many convincing proofs that Jesus Christ rose from the dead
-belief in the Bible comes from faith in Christ
-This view holds that the Bible is a generally historically accurate document
-It holds that the evidences from the Bible when combined with reasonable argument establishes that Jesus Christ was crucified, died, buried and rose from the dead beyond a reasonable doubt
-It holds that Jesus' resurrection proves He is the son of God and as such he is trustworthy in all he says
-Jesus trusted the Scriptures we should to
-Because of this we are obliged to follow Jesus and put our whole trust in the Bible as the word of God
The four categories of the authority of Scripture can be placed in two:
1) Fideism
2) Evidentialism
Fideism is based on the term faith, when faith means belief not related to knowledge. The presuppositional, ecclesiastical and spiritual approaches are all fideism.
Evidentialism bases faith upon evidences available to all people. It takes the seriously the historical nature of divine revelation. It refuses to confine knowledge of God to a subjective experience.
All four approaches agree that Scripture is the Church's rule of faith and practice.
The Sufficiency of Scripture
Protestant Reformers believed that the Scripture was alone sufficient while the Roman Catholic Church stated extra-Biblical teachings could be incorporated into Christian dogma.
Roman Catholicism holds that the same spirit which inspired the Scripture still inspires the teaching office of the Church (who they believe is the only fit persons to interpret Scripture).
Their non-Biblical dogmas must meet "apostolic" criteria to be included. There are two criteria it can meet:
1) Any oral tradition whose origins can be traced back to the apostles qualifies
2) The authoritative pronouncements of the ecclesiastical teaching office, whose origin (according to Catholicism) goes back to the apostle Peter qualifies
Protestants believe that only Scripture is apostolic in nature.
The apostles were more than filled with the spirit, they were commissioned by Christ as agents of revelation.
The Protestant definition of "apostolic" is based on the apostle's unique eyewitness experience of Christ's life, death and resurrection gave them the sole authority to write authoritative works to be included in the Scriptures.
The Formation of the Canon
The early church considered the Hebrew Scriptures as the Canon. The need for Scripture that witnessed to Jesus Christ became an issue in the middle of the second century.
It had become more difficult to separate genuine historic oral tradition concerning Christ from the pure myths of Christ.
The need for a church sanctioned canon became more apparent after Marcion produced his canon of some of Paul's letters and the Gospels (purged of any Jewish influence)
The Muratorian Canon is the earliest known list of books which were considered Christian Scripture appeared around AD 200.
In the first half of the third century Origen traveled extensively and recorded which books were considered as Scripture by the various local churches.
He categorized these books three ways:
1) Undisputed
2) Disputed
3) False
The letters of Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were categorized as undisputed.
2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Hebrews, James and Jude were categorized as disputed.
The false category included all of the heretical gospels.
Athanasius, the most influential theologian of his day, recorded all 27 books included in todays New Testament in a letter in 367 AD.
The Council of Carthage, in 407 AD affirmed todays canon.
The Reformation saw Luther exclude the Apocrypha from the Old Testament Canon. Thus, the Roman Catholic Bible has nine more books in it than the Protestant one. Luther excluded these because the Jewish Scriptures did and he believed that Jesus and his disciples held the Jewish Scriptures as authoritative.
A Faith for all Season
Chapter 2 - The Need for Holy Scripture
Originally, God created a perfect world in this perfect world there was no distinction between special and general revelation. God's words and God's works (creation) were together. God's works (man) rebelled gains God's words. God could no longer be in the presence of His works because of their sinfulness and neither could God's word. Thus, each is still full of general revelation (God's works) but special revelation (His words) are nowhere to be found. Salvation can not be provided by general revelation, special revelation is needed. God provide that special revelation: the Scriptures and Jesus Christ.
Scripture as the Word of God
Theologians throughout history have affirmed what Jesus said: that scripture was and is the word of God (John 10:35)
The Church's belief of scripture as the word of God's is closely linked with the doctrine of divine inspiration of Scripture.
The doctrine of divine inspiration of Scripture comes from 2 Timothy 3:16-17. All Scripture is inspired by God. The NIV translates it as "God-breathed" The Greek in this passage uses the word "theopneustos" (literally God + Breath)
2 Peter 1:20-21 confirms that the authors were not simply inspired to write something; but the words themselves were inspired by God. No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation for the prophecy never had its origin in the will of men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Both Paul and Peter were referring to Scripture as the Old Testament, but applying to the New Testament is justified by 3 things:
1) Jesus saw his mission and message as in accordance with the Old Testament
2) Jesus made his apostles agents of divine revelation inspired by the Holy Spirit
3) Jesus stated that future believers would come to faith through the apostolic word
The Scripture is useful in two ways:
1) Doctrine
2) Practice
The Scripture can be used to accomplish 4 Things:
1) Teaching: the idea of proclaiming the truth
2) Rebuking: the idea of combating doctrinal error
3) Correction: the act of leading someone away from an ungodly lifestyle (this is about ethics, not doctrine)
4) Training in righteousness: helping people lead godly lives
The Scriptures make the man of God complete
Nobody profits from understanding the Scriptures if they do not accept and follow them.
Sometimes the words verbal and plenary are used to describe the traditional Christian doctrine of Biblical inspiration
Verbal, Plenary Inspiration
Plenary means full, therefore "plenary inspiration" is full inspiration
"Verbal inspiration" is the idea that the words of Scripture are the exact words God wanted written.
Most Christians do not believe that God dictated to the writers. He allowed them to keep their personalities and styles in their books. God dictating is what Islam believes is the origin of the Qu'ran.
Some Christians believe that God inspired feelings and ideas in the writers. This takes in account for the differing styles in the books. This view however states that the Bible is only quantitatively superior to other works.
The historic consensus of theology is qualitatively superior to other works.
Modern Protestants take the Scriptures as both the word of God and the words of men. This view is that God supervised the writing to get what he wanted said written, but allowed the human authors to keep their humanity and individuality in their work.
Modern Alternatives to Verbal, Plenary Inspiration
Karl Barth: a 20th century Swiss theologian
In his "Church Dogmatics", Barth acknowledges only Jesus Christ as special revelation.
According to Barth's view the Bible is not special revelation and there is no general revelation. The only way God reveals himself is through Jesus Christ.
Revelation only occurs through the risen Jesus Christ living inside of Christian.
Barth denies that the Bible is the "word of God". He states that the Bible can only become the word of God when Jesus Christ uses it to convict us.
Barth believed that knowledge of God was beyond any man's capabilities.
Barth's form of theology is Dialectical theology.
Dialectical theology is when God comes to us as the One who is beyond comprehension and he judges anyone who attempts to comprehend him.
However, Barth changed his views later in life. He states that God can actually be known, but not because man is capable of knowing him. Man can know God because God bridged the gap between humanity and God through Jesus Christ.
In Barth's view the Bible, while not revelation in and of itself, is a witness to revelation in the person of Jesus Christ.
Another school of modern theology bases their beliefs, not on the revelation being in Jesus Christ, but in the belief that the revelation of God comes from the historical events of God's redemption.
Scripture, in this view, is ancient writer's attempts of documenting God's saving acts and those acts' impacts on our lives.
As in the case with Barth's theology, revelation does not lie in the text of the Scripture, but in the "encountered results of what God did for them" (Dorman, 25).
This view holds that the Scriptures are the writers' interpretation of the significance of God's actions. In this view, we are not competed to believe what God did, only what his actions did to impact the writers.
Another modern theology is a partial-inspiration theory. There are various forms of this theory.
This view states that all Biblical statements that deal with spiritual matters are true and from God, but statements regarding historical matters are not necessarily accurate.
The partial inspiration theory does attempt to link the text of the Bible with special revelation.
This view states that the Bible can in fact be erroneous, but is still important on matters of faith.
The Historical events of the Bible are regarded as parables and allegories is the partial-inspiration theory.
The Interpretation of Scripture
Allegory - "the expression through symbolic figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human conduct or experience" (Dorman, 27)
The idea that readers of Scripture must reinterpret the events recorded in them as allegories is rooted in the Greek philosophy of dualism.
According to this dualistic theory, historical events and realities, including the language, are mere images or shadows of the divine realities.
Ancient Judaism and Christianity believed, contrastingly, that God had in fact spoken and acted at specific instances in history. Jesus Christ is the prime example of this.
It is because this belief that the early church generally avoided interpreting the Scriptures allegorically.
During the second century A.D. some of the Church had trouble seeing the connection between God in the Old Testament and Jesus Christ. Marcion is a prime example of this.
Marcion believed that the Bible showed two gods:
1) the Old Testament was a warlike, judgmental deity
2) The New Testament god was kind and loving.
Because of his view of two differently described, Marcion rejected the Old Testament as Scripture and purged the gospel of any Jewish tradition.
Origen considered some of the descriptions of God in the Old Testament as cruel and sub-Christian, but refused to reject the Old Testament like Marcion. He instead removed the offensive passages by interpreting them allegorically.
Origen held that not every Christian was capable of finding the spiritual or allegorical meaning of the text. He believed that this spiritual interpretation was given to the apostles who passed it on to the teachers of the Holy Church. This laid the way for the Catholic view that only its teaching office was able to interpret.
Origen's spiritual interpretation came from two sources:
1) The Holy Spirit was the author of Scripture
2) An influence of Dualism, passed on to him by Philo, who had allegorized the Old Testament in order to synthesize it with Greek philosophy.
Origen held that the literal meaning of the text was inferior to the spiritual meaning because the literal meaning came from the human writer and the spiritual came from the Holy Spirit.
The Antiochean school of theology was opposite to the theology of Origen. They held that the primary meaning of Scripture was its literal, historical sense.
The works of Lucian (of Antioch) set the tone for the Antiochean interpretation of Scripture. Lucian sought to interpret the Scriptures through its Semitic perspective rather than through a Greek philosophical one.
Theodore, a later Antiochean, saw that the literal approach unified a record of God's redemptive work in time, whereas the allegorical method saw it as a collection of timeless truths.
The Antiochean school did not have any lasting effects on theology because of two reasons:
1) Lucian, its founder was also seen as the founder of Arianism. Arianism was a heresy that denied the full divinity of Christ.
2) Nestorious was found to be a heretic. Nestorious was taught by Theodore and therefore Theodore and the entire Antiochean School was condemned as well.
Because of the condemnation of the Antiochean School, one form or another of allegorical interpretation was held by the Church for the next 1,000 years.
The end of allegorical total domination came with the Protestant Reformation.
Luther stated that unless the text is plainly demands us to interpret it allegorically, it is to be interpreted literally, otherwise Scripture is a worthless fable.
Luther's approach to a more literal based interpretation of Scripture was called the grammatical-historical exegesis (exegesis is a fancy word for interpretation).
Luther stressed the perspicuity of Scripture. This basically means that the Bible is clear enough for any reasonably informed person to understand it.
Luther's emphasis on the literal interpretation of the Scriptures opened the doors to new theological insight which were previously shut by the dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church. It also, unfortunately opened the doors to a terrible form of interpretation, the "historical-critical" method.
During the 18th century history was defined by the Rationalists (an Enlightenment Philosophical offshoot) as a closed continuum of cause and effect. Basically, it denied any possibility for miracles. The "historical-critical" method was born out of this view. It declared that the miracles in the Bible were actually myths of the Bible. This method turned Jesus into a human teacher of ethics and denied him of any supernatural being.
This view of Jesus came under attack by late 19th century theologians. These theologians were ironically trained in the "historical-critical" method. They stated that the Gospels were written in such a way that it was impossible to separate a non-miraculous Jesus from a supernatural Christ.
The "historical critical" method seeks to find the meaning of Christ behind the Biblical texts.
The allegorical approach used by Origen sought to find the meaning of Christ above the Biblical text.
The literal approach used by the Antiochean school and the Reformers sought to find the meaning of Christ with the Biblical text.
The historical-critical method denies that Scripture is the word of God.
The Authority of Scripture
Christians have sought to confirm the authority of Scriptures in four ways:
1) The presuppositional approach
-This states that we know the Bible is the word of God because it claims to be.
-God is the author
-This approach does not give any criteria that can distinguish its claims to being divine revelation from the claims of other texts being of divine revelation, like the Qu'ran
-Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so
2) The Ecclesiastical Approach
-Christians can know Scripture is the word of God because the Church says it is (this is the Roman Catholic approach)
-It is true that the New Testament grew out of the very life of the Church
-Jesus loves me this I know for the Church it tells me so
3) The Spiritual Approach
- This view holds that the ecclesiastical approach places the Church above the Bible
- The inner witness of the Holy Spirit affirms the authority of Scripture
- Absolute assurances of the authority of Scripture can only come from God
- Jesus loves me this I know for the Spirit tells me so
4) The Evidentialist Approach
-There are many convincing proofs that Jesus Christ rose from the dead
-belief in the Bible comes from faith in Christ
-This view holds that the Bible is a generally historically accurate document
-It holds that the evidences from the Bible when combined with reasonable argument establishes that Jesus Christ was crucified, died, buried and rose from the dead beyond a reasonable doubt
-It holds that Jesus' resurrection proves He is the son of God and as such he is trustworthy in all he says
-Jesus trusted the Scriptures we should to
-Because of this we are obliged to follow Jesus and put our whole trust in the Bible as the word of God
The four categories of the authority of Scripture can be placed in two:
1) Fideism
2) Evidentialism
Fideism is based on the term faith, when faith means belief not related to knowledge. The presuppositional, ecclesiastical and spiritual approaches are all fideism.
Evidentialism bases faith upon evidences available to all people. It takes the seriously the historical nature of divine revelation. It refuses to confine knowledge of God to a subjective experience.
All four approaches agree that Scripture is the Church's rule of faith and practice.
The Sufficiency of Scripture
Protestant Reformers believed that the Scripture was alone sufficient while the Roman Catholic Church stated extra-Biblical teachings could be incorporated into Christian dogma.
Roman Catholicism holds that the same spirit which inspired the Scripture still inspires the teaching office of the Church (who they believe is the only fit persons to interpret Scripture).
Their non-Biblical dogmas must meet "apostolic" criteria to be included. There are two criteria it can meet:
1) Any oral tradition whose origins can be traced back to the apostles qualifies
2) The authoritative pronouncements of the ecclesiastical teaching office, whose origin (according to Catholicism) goes back to the apostle Peter qualifies
Protestants believe that only Scripture is apostolic in nature.
The apostles were more than filled with the spirit, they were commissioned by Christ as agents of revelation.
The Protestant definition of "apostolic" is based on the apostle's unique eyewitness experience of Christ's life, death and resurrection gave them the sole authority to write authoritative works to be included in the Scriptures.
The Formation of the Canon
The early church considered the Hebrew Scriptures as the Canon. The need for Scripture that witnessed to Jesus Christ became an issue in the middle of the second century.
It had become more difficult to separate genuine historic oral tradition concerning Christ from the pure myths of Christ.
The need for a church sanctioned canon became more apparent after Marcion produced his canon of some of Paul's letters and the Gospels (purged of any Jewish influence)
The Muratorian Canon is the earliest known list of books which were considered Christian Scripture appeared around AD 200.
In the first half of the third century Origen traveled extensively and recorded which books were considered as Scripture by the various local churches.
He categorized these books three ways:
1) Undisputed
2) Disputed
3) False
The letters of Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were categorized as undisputed.
2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Hebrews, James and Jude were categorized as disputed.
The false category included all of the heretical gospels.
Athanasius, the most influential theologian of his day, recorded all 27 books included in todays New Testament in a letter in 367 AD.
The Council of Carthage, in 407 AD affirmed todays canon.
The Reformation saw Luther exclude the Apocrypha from the Old Testament Canon. Thus, the Roman Catholic Bible has nine more books in it than the Protestant one. Luther excluded these because the Jewish Scriptures did and he believed that Jesus and his disciples held the Jewish Scriptures as authoritative.
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
Christianity & Philosophy, Proofs and nature of faith
(Originally written February 1, 2006)
The Christian Theology Reader
Clement of Alexandria on Philosophy and Theology
Clement argues that God gave the Greeks philosophy in order to prepare them for the coming of the Lord. He parallel this with God giving the Jews the law.
Philosophy was necessary to the Greeks for righteousness before the incarnation.
Post-incarnation philosophy assists people who come to faith by way of demonstration. It is a preparation for true religion.
Clement states all good things come from God. Some come directly (like Jews receiving the law from God through Moses) and some come indirectly (the Greek's philosophy).
"Philosophy, acted as a custodian to bring Greeks to Christ, just as the law brought the Hebrews" (6).
Philosophy is not antiquated or made obsolete by Christ's coming. It is a way for some people (lovers of truth) to come to the Lord.
Clement views Christ as both the perfection and fulfillment of the Old Testament and of philosophy.
Biblical parallels Galatians 3:23-24. The Greek word Paul uses for "custodian" is the same word Clement uses to describe philosophy for the Greeks.
Tertullian on the Relation of Philosophy and Heresy
Tertullian was avidly opposed to the fusion of philosophy and theology.
He held that philosophy had a pagan outlook on life.
He contacted the differences between Athens and Jerusalem, symbolic of the differences between pagan philosophy and God's revelation of the Christian faith.
He held that Christian minds were completely on a different wave length than their pagan counterparts.
Philosophy provides worldly wisdom by "boldly asserting itself to be the interpreter of the divine nature and dispensation" (7)
Heretics and philosophers often accept or deny similar viewpoints, i.e. Marcion came from the Stoics.
Tertullian holds that it is necessary to seek God in the simplicity of the heart. Philosophy completes it too much.
There is no need for curiosity after discovering Jesus Christ.
After believing in Christ "there is nothing else which we are obliged to believe"
Tertullian uses historical evidence to connect heresies and philosophy. He felt this was enough to justify the exclusion of philosophy from theology.
Since Philosophy has, at its core, values which are contrary to Christian principles, the fusion of the two would lead to the erosion of Christian integrity.
Augustine on Philosophy and Theology
Augustine advocates using all of the good philosophy in theology and disregarding the bad. He parallels this with the Hebrews casting of the burdens of the Egypt, but taking its treasures with them.
What the Plutonists have said which is true should be claimed by Christians for their own use because the Plutonists posses it illegally.
"Pagan learning is not entirely made up of sales teaching and superstitions. It contains also some excellent teachings, well suited to be used by truth, and excellent moral values"
Philosophy can neither be totally rejected or uncritically accepted.
Augustine points to person who were raised pagans, converted, then brought some of their values (now spun through truth) into the church and made a great impact.
Anselm of Canterbury's proof for the existence of God
God is "that than which no greater thing can be thought". Knowing this definition of God, Anselm states that without God the idea of God would still exist. Then (since God does not exist) the greatest thing that can be thought of is the idea of God. This contradicts the definition of God, therefore, it cannot be true. Since it is not true, the only option we have left is that God exists.
This argument is often referred to as the "ontological argument". (Ontological philosophy refers to the branch of philosophy dealing with being)
This is not a purely logical argument, nor was it intended to be. It is more of a statement of how obvious it was to himself that God exists and the implications that that entails.
The important part of this theory to remember is that the idea of something is inferior to the reality of that something.
Thomas Aquinas on Proofs for the existence of God
Aquinas postulated 5 "proofs" for the existence of God.
The term "proofs" cannot be taken in the strictest sense of the word here. It instead demonstrates the consistency of Christian theology with what is known of the world.
Aquinas' work "the Totality of Theology is" widely regarded as the greatest work of medieval theology (17)
The first argument for the existence of God, is the argument from change.
"Everything that is in the process of being changed is changed by something else" (18).
It is impossible for something to be the cause of change and be changing itself.
There must be a first cause to effect change. The first cause of change must be God.
The second argument for the existence of God is based on the nature of an efficient cause.
There is a sequence of efficient causes in the observable world, but nothing is the cause of itself. This would require something to exist prior to itself, which is impossible.
If there were no first cause there would be no effect. We can see that then are causes and effects, therefore there must have been an initial cause. This initial cause is God.
The third argument for the existence of God is the nature of possibility and necessity.
"If nothing ever existed, it would have been impossible for anything to begin to exist" (19).
Since we exist and we see other things that exist, there could never have been a point in time that nothing existed because then nothing would have begun to exist.
All things that exist must, by necessity, have been brought into existence by something. Therefore something must exist free of necessity to begin the existence of all other things (directly or indirectly). This existence free of necessity of being brought into existence is God.
The fourth argument for the existence of God is from the gradation that occurs in things.
Things are known to be more or less because they approximate in varying degrees to that which is greatest.
There must be something that is greatest, truest, best and noblest. This is God.
The fifth argument for the existence of God is based on the governance of things.
Because things, like natural bodies, work towards a goal without any knowledge of that goal with amazing precision and accuracy makes it obvious that they achieve this goal by design and not chance.
There is no way things without knowledge can reach goals consistently without a designer. Therefore, there is an intelligent being who designed all natural things to reach their goals. This being is God.
God's existence is proven 5 ways:
1) The world is in motion. Something had to start that motion: God
2) The world is full of causes and effects. There must have been a first cause: God
3) Things exist in this world that we are not necessary (humans are one of them). The fact that humans exist means something exist that is necessary to bring what is our necessary into existence: God
4) Values, truth, and morals must come from an ultimate source of values, truth and morality: God.
5) The world shows obvious traits of intelligent design. There must have been an intelligent designer: God.
Martin Luther on the theology of the Cross
Luther draws a distinction between theologians of glory who seek God apart from Jesus Christ and theologians of the cross who know that God is revealed through Jesus Christ.
John Calvin on the Nature of faith
Calvin establishes a direct relation between faith and the merciful promises of God.
Faith is a steady and certain knowledge of the divine benevolence towards us, which is founded upon the truth of the gracious promise of God in Christ.
Faith should be certain and secure but doubt and anxiety are natural.
Calvin states believers have a "perpetual struggle with their own lack of faith, and are far from possessing a peaceful conscience, never interrupted by any disturbance" (26).
Faith is not believing God exists, it is trusting in the promise of a benevolent God.
Blaise Pascal on Proofs for the Existence of God
Pascal places an emphasis on the heart, rather than reason, in the knowledge of God. He also stresses the limitations of reason.
Knowledge of God comes through the heart. Reason vainly attempts to discredit that knowledge. The inability to prove this knowledge of God does not affirm the uncertainty of this knowledge; it demonstrates the weakness of our reason.
Reason must recognize there are many things which it cannot comprehend.
The metaphysical proofs for God have little impact on men because their reason is incapable comprehending them.
Knowledge of God must be accompanied by the acknowledgement of our depravity and of acceptance of Christ as the redeemer to be effective.
John Calvin on the Natural knowledge of God
A full knowledge of God can only be achieved through Scripture, but a partial knowledge of God is possible apart from scripture which makes it impossible for humans to plead ignorance at the judgment.
God's existence can be recognized by all mankind. They are condemned by not worshipping God to light of their awareness.
A sense of divinity is "inscribed in the hearts of all people" (98).
A faith for all seasons
Ch. 1 our knowledge of God
Faith and Knowledge
If faith has nothing to do with knowledge, then theology (study of interactions between man and God) is reduced to anthropology (a study of man's interaction with man).
A lot of modern Christian theology is based on the assumption that faith has nothing to do with knowledge. This makes God impossible to know. We can only know about our experiences with God.
This theologies based on the Enlightenment which states that man is the ultimate measure of everything.
The rationalists came out of the Enlightenment. They believed that knowledge could only come from empirical or scientific evidence. However, God is above any empiricism or scientific method.
"Faith finds its basis in non rational elements of human experience" (2). This is a modern view of faith. A historic view of faith believes it is a part of knowledge.
Augustine says that you first have to believe in God, then knowledge of God will follow.
Faith also looks to the future. Hebrews 11:1 states, "faith is the assurance of things hoped for; the conviction of things not seen"
While knowledge of God comes directly through Scripture, it can also come indirectly through creation.
General revelation is what God has revealed to all humanity through creation.
Special revelation is what God has revealed to a limited number of people through redemptive history: Scripture and Jesus Christ.
Knowledge of God through General Revelation
All men in all times know God to some extent even if they don't have access to the Bible.
There are two types of General revelation
1) Outward general revelation is reality around that points us to God
2) Inward general revelation is reality within our moral and spirituality that points us to God
Creation reveals the power of God and His divine nature
Conscience dictates our morality. It is included in inward general revelation.
The Christian Theology Reader
Clement of Alexandria on Philosophy and Theology
Clement argues that God gave the Greeks philosophy in order to prepare them for the coming of the Lord. He parallel this with God giving the Jews the law.
Philosophy was necessary to the Greeks for righteousness before the incarnation.
Post-incarnation philosophy assists people who come to faith by way of demonstration. It is a preparation for true religion.
Clement states all good things come from God. Some come directly (like Jews receiving the law from God through Moses) and some come indirectly (the Greek's philosophy).
"Philosophy, acted as a custodian to bring Greeks to Christ, just as the law brought the Hebrews" (6).
Philosophy is not antiquated or made obsolete by Christ's coming. It is a way for some people (lovers of truth) to come to the Lord.
Clement views Christ as both the perfection and fulfillment of the Old Testament and of philosophy.
Biblical parallels Galatians 3:23-24. The Greek word Paul uses for "custodian" is the same word Clement uses to describe philosophy for the Greeks.
Tertullian on the Relation of Philosophy and Heresy
Tertullian was avidly opposed to the fusion of philosophy and theology.
He held that philosophy had a pagan outlook on life.
He contacted the differences between Athens and Jerusalem, symbolic of the differences between pagan philosophy and God's revelation of the Christian faith.
He held that Christian minds were completely on a different wave length than their pagan counterparts.
Philosophy provides worldly wisdom by "boldly asserting itself to be the interpreter of the divine nature and dispensation" (7)
Heretics and philosophers often accept or deny similar viewpoints, i.e. Marcion came from the Stoics.
Tertullian holds that it is necessary to seek God in the simplicity of the heart. Philosophy completes it too much.
There is no need for curiosity after discovering Jesus Christ.
After believing in Christ "there is nothing else which we are obliged to believe"
Tertullian uses historical evidence to connect heresies and philosophy. He felt this was enough to justify the exclusion of philosophy from theology.
Since Philosophy has, at its core, values which are contrary to Christian principles, the fusion of the two would lead to the erosion of Christian integrity.
Augustine on Philosophy and Theology
Augustine advocates using all of the good philosophy in theology and disregarding the bad. He parallels this with the Hebrews casting of the burdens of the Egypt, but taking its treasures with them.
What the Plutonists have said which is true should be claimed by Christians for their own use because the Plutonists posses it illegally.
"Pagan learning is not entirely made up of sales teaching and superstitions. It contains also some excellent teachings, well suited to be used by truth, and excellent moral values"
Philosophy can neither be totally rejected or uncritically accepted.
Augustine points to person who were raised pagans, converted, then brought some of their values (now spun through truth) into the church and made a great impact.
Anselm of Canterbury's proof for the existence of God
God is "that than which no greater thing can be thought". Knowing this definition of God, Anselm states that without God the idea of God would still exist. Then (since God does not exist) the greatest thing that can be thought of is the idea of God. This contradicts the definition of God, therefore, it cannot be true. Since it is not true, the only option we have left is that God exists.
This argument is often referred to as the "ontological argument". (Ontological philosophy refers to the branch of philosophy dealing with being)
This is not a purely logical argument, nor was it intended to be. It is more of a statement of how obvious it was to himself that God exists and the implications that that entails.
The important part of this theory to remember is that the idea of something is inferior to the reality of that something.
Thomas Aquinas on Proofs for the existence of God
Aquinas postulated 5 "proofs" for the existence of God.
The term "proofs" cannot be taken in the strictest sense of the word here. It instead demonstrates the consistency of Christian theology with what is known of the world.
Aquinas' work "the Totality of Theology is" widely regarded as the greatest work of medieval theology (17)
The first argument for the existence of God, is the argument from change.
"Everything that is in the process of being changed is changed by something else" (18).
It is impossible for something to be the cause of change and be changing itself.
There must be a first cause to effect change. The first cause of change must be God.
The second argument for the existence of God is based on the nature of an efficient cause.
There is a sequence of efficient causes in the observable world, but nothing is the cause of itself. This would require something to exist prior to itself, which is impossible.
If there were no first cause there would be no effect. We can see that then are causes and effects, therefore there must have been an initial cause. This initial cause is God.
The third argument for the existence of God is the nature of possibility and necessity.
"If nothing ever existed, it would have been impossible for anything to begin to exist" (19).
Since we exist and we see other things that exist, there could never have been a point in time that nothing existed because then nothing would have begun to exist.
All things that exist must, by necessity, have been brought into existence by something. Therefore something must exist free of necessity to begin the existence of all other things (directly or indirectly). This existence free of necessity of being brought into existence is God.
The fourth argument for the existence of God is from the gradation that occurs in things.
Things are known to be more or less because they approximate in varying degrees to that which is greatest.
There must be something that is greatest, truest, best and noblest. This is God.
The fifth argument for the existence of God is based on the governance of things.
Because things, like natural bodies, work towards a goal without any knowledge of that goal with amazing precision and accuracy makes it obvious that they achieve this goal by design and not chance.
There is no way things without knowledge can reach goals consistently without a designer. Therefore, there is an intelligent being who designed all natural things to reach their goals. This being is God.
God's existence is proven 5 ways:
1) The world is in motion. Something had to start that motion: God
2) The world is full of causes and effects. There must have been a first cause: God
3) Things exist in this world that we are not necessary (humans are one of them). The fact that humans exist means something exist that is necessary to bring what is our necessary into existence: God
4) Values, truth, and morals must come from an ultimate source of values, truth and morality: God.
5) The world shows obvious traits of intelligent design. There must have been an intelligent designer: God.
Martin Luther on the theology of the Cross
Luther draws a distinction between theologians of glory who seek God apart from Jesus Christ and theologians of the cross who know that God is revealed through Jesus Christ.
John Calvin on the Nature of faith
Calvin establishes a direct relation between faith and the merciful promises of God.
Faith is a steady and certain knowledge of the divine benevolence towards us, which is founded upon the truth of the gracious promise of God in Christ.
Faith should be certain and secure but doubt and anxiety are natural.
Calvin states believers have a "perpetual struggle with their own lack of faith, and are far from possessing a peaceful conscience, never interrupted by any disturbance" (26).
Faith is not believing God exists, it is trusting in the promise of a benevolent God.
Blaise Pascal on Proofs for the Existence of God
Pascal places an emphasis on the heart, rather than reason, in the knowledge of God. He also stresses the limitations of reason.
Knowledge of God comes through the heart. Reason vainly attempts to discredit that knowledge. The inability to prove this knowledge of God does not affirm the uncertainty of this knowledge; it demonstrates the weakness of our reason.
Reason must recognize there are many things which it cannot comprehend.
The metaphysical proofs for God have little impact on men because their reason is incapable comprehending them.
Knowledge of God must be accompanied by the acknowledgement of our depravity and of acceptance of Christ as the redeemer to be effective.
John Calvin on the Natural knowledge of God
A full knowledge of God can only be achieved through Scripture, but a partial knowledge of God is possible apart from scripture which makes it impossible for humans to plead ignorance at the judgment.
God's existence can be recognized by all mankind. They are condemned by not worshipping God to light of their awareness.
A sense of divinity is "inscribed in the hearts of all people" (98).
A faith for all seasons
Ch. 1 our knowledge of God
Faith and Knowledge
If faith has nothing to do with knowledge, then theology (study of interactions between man and God) is reduced to anthropology (a study of man's interaction with man).
A lot of modern Christian theology is based on the assumption that faith has nothing to do with knowledge. This makes God impossible to know. We can only know about our experiences with God.
This theologies based on the Enlightenment which states that man is the ultimate measure of everything.
The rationalists came out of the Enlightenment. They believed that knowledge could only come from empirical or scientific evidence. However, God is above any empiricism or scientific method.
"Faith finds its basis in non rational elements of human experience" (2). This is a modern view of faith. A historic view of faith believes it is a part of knowledge.
Augustine says that you first have to believe in God, then knowledge of God will follow.
Faith also looks to the future. Hebrews 11:1 states, "faith is the assurance of things hoped for; the conviction of things not seen"
While knowledge of God comes directly through Scripture, it can also come indirectly through creation.
General revelation is what God has revealed to all humanity through creation.
Special revelation is what God has revealed to a limited number of people through redemptive history: Scripture and Jesus Christ.
Knowledge of God through General Revelation
All men in all times know God to some extent even if they don't have access to the Bible.
There are two types of General revelation
1) Outward general revelation is reality around that points us to God
2) Inward general revelation is reality within our moral and spirituality that points us to God
Creation reveals the power of God and His divine nature
Conscience dictates our morality. It is included in inward general revelation.
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