Wayfarer

There are numerous Orthodox websites which say very similar things. Your objection is to specific forms of 'atonement theory'. I already said that the...

Here is a catechism from a site called 'Orthodox Europe' which is 'Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate'. There are 18 ...

And I would have thought the former presupposes the latter. @Mariner - would you have any comment on this point?

But the fact is, it is commonly understood as a sacrifice. Girard might be a Christian, but that is immaterial for the account, which is naturalistic,...

I would say that a non-realist account would revolve around the assertion that there are actually no particles as such, and that what manifests as 'pa...

Of course - but by means of giving, or giving something up - something of great value. That is not what Christians believe, though. I believe you have...

'Withholding the truth' suggests not saying anything - which is not the same as lying. Sometimes, a person might infer a meaning on the basis of your ...

One very important point is the ideological root of terrorism (Islamist terrorism in particular. Basque, tamil, irish and other forms of terror, are e...

Actually my thought was to have any success, you would have to send lots of Chinese first. Why? Because they're hardy, they can adapt to any environme...

Where I'm really critical of progress, is the idea that 'the next step is outer space'. It's total bollocks, in my view, and dangerous bollocks. We ha...

Materialism

No, it doesn't - it means that it's better on average, which it is. There are many aspects of the 'belief in progress' that I think are worth criticiz...

I stick with what I said - Christ's sacrifice makes sense in the light of a culture that understood and practiced sacrifice, which all ancient culture...

There's a big difference between 'not rational' and 'beyond rationality' and you haven't written anything that indicates you know what that might be.

If often seems to me that the 'meaning of sacrifice' is something that has become almost completely lost in the so-called 'modern age'.

You would have a hard time making that stand up in an essay on Christian theology. I have heard of Girard, but he's obviously a very profound author, ...

From various sources. It is a fact that life expectancy, overall health and even overall wealth have increased significantly since those times, even d...

No, not at all. I have great respect for Wittgenstein, none whatever for those positivist pratts. They're scared of their own shadow, in my view.

EVERY SINGLE PERSON. On the whole, you and every one you know, is much less likely to die of a preventable disease, be imprisoned by an autocrat, or s...

Agree, but I tend to regard W's silence ('that of which we cannot speak...') as apophatic - being circumspect in the face of a mystery, rather than (w...

Dharma wheel, reflects my interest in Buddhism. Also it's like the steering wheel on a vessel which is not a coincidence.

Trump makes America grate :-)

I wouldn't be sure about that at all. From Wittgenstein,Tolstoy and the Folly of Logical Positivism, Stuart Greenstreet.

Hey thanks for clearing that up.

I don't think much has changed, because I don't think many people are aware of the problem that he's trying to articulate. I find this passage pretty ...

I agree that empirical and a priori propositions are different in kind. However that is very unfashionable view in today's academy, where empiricism r...

Have a look at the book 'the eclipse of reason', by Max Horkheimer. He and Adorno's criticism of the 'instrumentalisation of reason' are worth being a...

One of the ironic things about the insistence on 'reason' - like, for example, Richard Dawkins 'Institute for Reason' (or whatever it's called), is th...

So you did, beg your pardon. It's getting piled on thicker by the day, in any case.

That's a revealing comment. I would have thought 'practitioner' more appropriate. I think there is a fair amount of reporting that indicates that this...

(Y)

'Common to all who think', would be a way of putting it. The same as saying, '7' is the same for anyone who can count (and meaningless to anyone who c...

I read the OP again - I don't think it is worded very well. But I interpret it as a philosophy of learning to rise above the reflexive sense of ego wh...

Could I make a suggestion here, which is that the term 'objective' is somewhat misleading in this context. This is because mathematical proofs are not...

not to mention dysentery

ahem, the icon you're thinking of doesn't depict the Buddha, but a Chinese figure who is something like the Buddhist deity of good fortune and prosper...

Not at all. Rationality is indeed the faculty of reason, but this fact has nothing to do with the 'abolition of self'. Furthermore, in many places in ...

I don't know about that. 'Identity' is not something set in stone, it is dynamic. Basically the OP is picking up some principles based on Eastern teac...

'Laying aside the self' is also basic to Christianity, although not all Christians will utilise the terminology. But there's not as big a gulf between...

'Anything really beautiful and good' is what is the subject. Artisans, too, know their craft but are mistaken in believing that they know anything 'hi...

There's been progress in technology and physical knowledge, but I how would you gauge progress in respect of the kinds of questions that Socrates was ...

I think you're on the right track. The point as I understand it is that throughout the Platonic dialogues, one of the major themes is the nature of kn...

Very well said. That idea of being 'at home in the Universe' is a very important one; a hallmark of a lot of 20th century art was just that sense of t...

If it is the same for anyone who can understand it then it is common to all who think. What I think is interesting, is that it is both true, and also ...

Maybe there isn't any!

Are you familiar with Max Weber? His Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a classic study of just these questions.

Which branch of science do you think ought to be in the business of investigating the causal power of belief?

Look at the current political debate about health cover in the USA. I would say 'belief' plays a huge role in that. The hardline conservatives believe...

Mine also. It depends a lot on the individual practicing it. Again, varies a lot from person to person. I imagine in any congregation, there's philoso...