tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post1100110597235456705..comments2024-03-24T03:21:55.744-06:00Comments on Life On Gold Plates: Review: David Bentley Hart, "Atheist Delusions"BHodgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01751807169882645742noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-24402420694178920542016-07-31T23:52:43.837-06:002016-07-31T23:52:43.837-06:00hdfc loan for perofessionals interest rates<a href="http://hdfcnetbanking.co.in/hdfc-loans-for-professionals-features-benefits-and-online-application-procedure.php" rel="nofollow">hdfc loan for perofessionals interest rates</a><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15480087743278905801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-71586768997128104502010-05-17T15:21:38.199-06:002010-05-17T15:21:38.199-06:00Thanks for the link.Thanks for the link.BHodgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01751807169882645742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-40255318326876822212010-05-17T08:21:46.539-06:002010-05-17T08:21:46.539-06:00Sure. I went to a conference at Fordham two years ...Sure. I went to a conference at Fordham two years ago on "Eastern Orthodoxy and St Augustine." I wrote up a retrospective for an Eastern Orthodox journal. It's somewhat provocatively titled "When Tradition Fractures: St. Augustine Lives on in the Great Theological Conflicts of Today." <br /><br />Sadly, "Again" no longer exists. But a friend linked my article to his blog. Here it is in all its glory:<br /><br />http://silouanthompson.net/2008/10/when-tradition-fractures/<br /><br />Rip to shreds as needed. I'm not sure what I'd change if I had to rewrite the article two years later. I mostly stand by what I wrote.John Stampsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-27655884466821111332010-05-15T19:09:33.261-06:002010-05-15T19:09:33.261-06:00Thanks for stopping by, John. Can you clarify what...Thanks for stopping by, John. Can you clarify what you mean?BHodgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01751807169882645742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-1497683207461786532010-05-15T19:02:44.088-06:002010-05-15T19:02:44.088-06:00At best, Eastern Orthodoxy is ambivalent to St Aug...At best, Eastern Orthodoxy is ambivalent to St Augustine. Our anthropology is not Augustinian.John Stampsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-47979324073923991792010-04-04T10:12:52.600-06:002010-04-04T10:12:52.600-06:00Charles, thanks for the comments.Charles, thanks for the comments.BHodgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01751807169882645742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-57398262210252388692010-04-04T02:23:36.743-06:002010-04-04T02:23:36.743-06:00The biggest problem Hart and his supporters have ...The biggest problem Hart and his supporters have is to overcome the burden of original sin laid on Christians by the Augustinian view of Christianity. There were much more optimistic views about human dignity in the works of the church father Origen and Julian of Eclanum but these were wiped out. If you read medieval writers on their view of humanity it is of a debased humanity deserving of eternal punishment. The restoration of the classical authors and the Enlightenment (as well as the work of some Christian writers such as Erasmus, though every one of his works was placed on the papal index) restored the idea that human beings are dignified in their own right. I think the next move in Christian history , already under way with some scholars, is to realise the extent to which alternative Christianities were suppressed, especially in the fourth century.<br /> I have reviewed Stark's book, Victory of Reason, on Amazon.co.uk. I didn't know that such material could be presented as scholarship but we live in strange times. Charles Freeman.Charles Freeman.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-91180720571192767552010-03-16T10:57:32.992-06:002010-03-16T10:57:32.992-06:00By the way, djinn, I noticed you only mentioned an...By the way, djinn, I noticed you only mentioned anti-Christian views, and given your pseudonym's reference to Islam I wonder if you are a Muslim? I should point out that while this book is focused mainly on Christianity it has a few tips of the cap to Islam and its intellectual tradition.BHodgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01751807169882645742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-72478604825005116422010-03-16T09:52:57.479-06:002010-03-16T09:52:57.479-06:00Or, djinn could read something from the fairly vas...Or, djinn could read something from the fairly vast literature on the history of science (and its attendant technology) and Christianity.<br /><br />Sociologist of religion Rodney Stark's <i>The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led To Freedom, Capitalism, And Western Success</i> is an accessible and useful corrective.<br /><br />+1 irony points for making the very same uninformed mistake which the book under review discusses, though. :-)Greg Smithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-46797896414158117222010-03-15T23:05:30.360-06:002010-03-15T23:05:30.360-06:00Thanks for stopping by, djinn. The "opposite ...Thanks for stopping by, djinn. The "opposite of science"? No, I don't understand how Hart's description of reason is the opposite of science. Planes, trains, and automobiles were brought to us by the non-Christian viewpoint? That's just flatly false (actually bordering on the nonsensical). <br /><br />But this post is merely a book review. I suggest you pick up Hart's book and see what it has to offer as a corrective to your perspective. :)BHodgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01751807169882645742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-53576622723672814002010-03-15T22:43:08.386-06:002010-03-15T22:43:08.386-06:00“Reason, in the classical and Christian sense,&quo...“Reason, in the classical and Christian sense," he adds, "is a whole way of life, not the simple and narrow mastery of certain techniques of material manipulation, and certainly not the childish certitude that such mastery proves that only material realities exist. A rational life is one that integrates knowledge into a larger choreography of virtue, imagination, patience, prudence, humility, and restraint. Reason is not only knowledge, but knowledge perfected in wisdom” You do understand that is the opposite of science, don't you? How do you feel about planes, trains, and automobiles, all brought to us by the non- and occasionally (ever so quietly) anti-christian viewpoint.djinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06112894520660114580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-17608081803372524242010-03-15T16:22:18.035-06:002010-03-15T16:22:18.035-06:00Thanks, Greg, and thanks for the tip on the book!Thanks, Greg, and thanks for the tip on the book!BHodgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01751807169882645742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32960447.post-56487889418265324872010-03-15T15:53:47.102-06:002010-03-15T15:53:47.102-06:00A good review of a great book. Hart is one of tho...A good review of a great book. Hart is one of those writers that makes you either throw up your hands in frustration because you'll never write half that good.<br /><br />One need not agree with every contention, but he provides an excellent example of how historically uninformed authors like Hitchens, Dawkins, and Sam Harris are.Greg Smithnoreply@blogger.com