Today is the 64th anniversary of the Allied fire-bombing of Hamburg known as Operation Gomorrah. The British part, which deliberately targeted civilians, actually involved four night-time attacks beginning the nights of 7/24, 7/25, 7/27, and 8/2 of 1943. (There were supplemental American attacks by day that aimed at military targets.) Thus, this night is actually the anniversary of the third night of bombing; but that was the one that created the fire-storm that killed tens of thousands in horror- Continue reading…
Philosophy
Perhaps the title is something of a stretch, but Wittgenstein does make numerous comments that fit within an agrarian outlook. Along with his distrust of science, his attitude towards culture, aesthetics, tradition, religion and life share much in common with Virgil, the Old South, the Inklings, the Vanderbilt agrarians, and to a certain extent, Jefferson. Continue reading…
My colleague has begun to address some of the issues of the philosophy of science (see e.g. review of Gordon Clark on science), but it is also necessary to explore some of the broader issues involved in science.
Below are a few Wittgenstein quotes on science. Continue reading…
The book entitled The Philosophy of Science and Belief in God expounds Gordon H. Clark’s view of science. The book proceeds by historical survey, and the three chapter divisions divide the history into the ancients, the Newtonians, and the 20th century. Roughly speaking, this corresponds to views of science that we could call rationalist, empirical-determinist, and empirical-indeterminist. Each of these is shown to come up short of the standard Clark has set for what science needs to accomplish Continue reading…
Utilitarianism is famous for its many flaws (e.g. committing the naturalistic fallacy, positing a simplistic psychological theory, failing to come to terms with ethical distinctions). All these, and more, have been dealt with extensively elsewhere. Here I merely wish to show that if one of J. S. Mill’s arguments succeeds, then Utilitarianism fails. Continue reading…
One of our correspondents raised a question about the ethics of nudity in movies in connection with a remark I made in reviewing Dreamlife of Angels. In trying to pen some preliminary thoughts, I soon realized that the topic deserved a thread of its own, both because more needs to be said than is appropriate in a little “comment” box, and also to provide a better stage for our readers to offer additional suggestions on how to address this topic. Here are a few random thoughts to prime the pump: Continue reading…
In the comments section to a previous post, somebody asked if Continue reading…
The old man sitting next to me at the performance of Continue reading…
The relation of God and time has been a study of renewed interest in the last couple decades. Most writers have moved toward weakening or abandoning the traditional orthodox view that God dwells in a non-temporal eternity. Continue reading…
Full title: William Lane Craig. Time and Eternity: Exploring God’s Relationship to Time (Wheaton Continue reading…
Posted by M
on September 19, 2006
Aesthetics, Agrarianism, Culture, Philosophy, Politics / 3 Comments
Aesthetics, Agrarianism, Culture, Philosophy, Politics / 3 Comments
Sometime back a non-Christian friend asked me to explain my general political and cultural outlook. Because of the position I was arguing for she mistook me for a libertarian. Below is my reply. It is somewhat simplistic, but since she was unfamiliar with some of the basic teachings of Christianity I wrote it intentionally so.
Please forgive this lapse into autobiography. The aim of First Word is to be issue-oriented not personal. But some feel for the outlook of the writers on this blog may be helpful in orienting those who have no familiarity with us.
One last thing. I write in sweeping terms which often lack nuance and qualification. Understand that I have no particular person in mind nor do I believe there are no exceptions to my generalizations. I am also aware of my own hypocrisies regarding many of the things I write. Continue reading…
Because epistemology is at the heart of apologetics, and because there continues to be significant disagreements between men over epistemological questions, the apologist must begin with a clear and firm understanding of his own position as a Christian–in particular, his distinctive Christian conviction touching matters of epistemological importance. If he is muddled or mistaken about these basic issues touching on the Christian faith, he can hardly raise a clear and effective defense of that very faith. He is more likely to resort to argumentative tactics which do not epistemologically comport with the system of truth he seeks to vindicate.
- Greg Bahnsen, Van Til’s Apologetic
Throughout the history of the church, apologists and theologians have adopted (sometimes consciously, but often unconsciously) epistemological views from pagan and secular sources in an attempt to defend the truth of Christianity. But as Greg Bahnsen has warned us, these epistemologies need to be investigated in order to discover whether they comport with Christianity. Sadly, this has rarely been attempted and thus Christian apologists have rarely had a completely biblical epistemology with which to defend the faith.
Though many examples could be cited, I will illustrate the problem of employing non-Christian epistemologies in apologetics by examining the traditional Roman Catholic approach as represented by Thomas Aquinas and a compromised Reformed approach as represented by Charles Hodge. Continue reading…
This book (see bibliog. at end) is a discussion of the philosophy of time, with specific attention to the question of the relation between God and time. Continue reading…
