In some sense, we all need to escape from subjectivity. We all experience different forms of self enclosure and alienation. Whether we fail to make friends as children (or as adults), whether our interior experience fails to harmonize with reality, or reality fails to harmonize with our interior needs, whether we experience rejection personally or … Continue reading Descartes Failed Escape Plan
Wonder (θαυμάζειν) for both Aristotle and for Plato was the beginning of Philosophy (cf. Theaetetus & Metaphysics). This distinctive mark of authentic philosophy serves to: A. Distinguish philosophy from the arts and sciences The arts and sciences begin from need. How can I feed my family or move this rock? The sciences may move on … Continue reading Wonder as the Beginning
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). This is a difficult verse. If we read it as a proclamation of tit-for-tat justice on earth, or even with the expectation that we can always discern the purposes … Continue reading All Things Work Together for Good?
There is a lot of good literature on shame, but it can be confusing to assess from a Christian perspective. There are three major reasons for this First, many of those with good things to say about shame often dismiss the concept of sin, even treating it as the boogeyman of our psyches. This is … Continue reading On Whether We are to be Ashamed
The solution to loneliness is not connection. Or to put it more correctly, deep social connection is not, by itself, the complete answer to our predicament. This is partly because loneliness is not simply a problem to be solved. As one reads more and more about the ‘epidemic‘, it is worth considering whether the problem … Continue reading Loneliness, Integrity, and the Limits of the Created Person
Throughout Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, the great Bolkonsky household is a home bereft of affection and the caresses of love for which perhaps every child and every parent longs. The father, Nikolai Bolkonsky, proud, intelligent, eccentric, and cynical, has tormented his daughter by his schedule, his demands, his scoffing at her faith and manners. But … Continue reading On Maria and the Death of Nikolai Bolkonsky in War and Peace
Is philosophy just a word game? How can I argue that it is not? What words might I use? Perhaps, only those who have engaged seriously in philosophy can definitively answer this question–only they can confirm or deny whether it entails an authentic engagement with reality. Yet, we might head off a certain misconception which … Continue reading Philosophy or Word Games
Achilles is remembered for his glory; we are remembered because of God’s! Continue reading Glory and Memory, from Pagan to Redemptive
Anne Shirley of Green Gables is a tremendously challenging character for me understand. Her use of words like ‘thrilly’, ‘romantical’, ‘tragical’, her naming of flowers and trees and avenues (‘the lake of shining waters’), her chatter and forgetfulness, all delight and frighten me. One of the difficulties I have is understanding whether or not she … Continue reading Anne with an ‘E’, or a Bridge too Far
Having seen the 1985 Anne of Green Gables mini series, I knew of Matthew Cuthbert’s death. The author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, certainly prepares her readers by way of hints and foreshadowing, so that it is no great surprise. Yet it remains a solemn and sad chapter. It is nearly impossible for readers or for Anne … Continue reading The Eyes of God
Same & Other 