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Evangelical

2020-08-30T19:43:37-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Critic Responds to His Critic

Last updated on: August 30, 2020 at 7:43 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

Jeff Williams has presented his ideas frequently here and one professor, Dr. Eric Holloway, took on his approach to ideas. Mr. Williams responded, a response sadly delayed by my decision to focus on the positive during the early stages of the pandemic. To be fair to him, I present his response to his critic (unedited) here: A Response to a Very Sincere Critic Theists find it increasingly difficult to justify their faith as human knowledge advances, and with that become... Read more

Philosophy

2020-08-27T21:44:36-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Internet Atheists, the last true Victorians

Last updated on: August 27, 2020 at 9:44 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

An idea is not false because the idea is old. Think of Socrates and his Method. An idea is not impotent because the idea is old. Think of Jesus and the Gold Rule. An idea is not true because it is hallowed by age. Ask the Victorians about colonialism. The English Victorians did much good, but English colonialism did great evil. The novels, architecture, music of the Victorian era often is magnificent, even if most artifacts, as is true of... Read more

Apologetics

Culture

Philosophy

2020-08-28T18:50:39-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mind Churn

Last updated on: August 28, 2020 at 6:50 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

Then beside their ships the other nobles of the grand Achaean army slept the whole night long, overcome by sinking sleep; but sweet sleep did not hold Agamemnon son of Atreus, shepherd of the people, as he churned in his mind many things. A pandemic. This week maybe there was going to be a hurricane. Classes to teach, a book to write, a novel to finish, and most important family to love and nourish. My mind churns. My usual method... Read more

Culture

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Spiritual Reflections

2020-08-27T09:27:51-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Proper Weirdness!

Last updated on: August 27, 2020 at 9:27 am By John Mark N. Reynolds

Weirdness can be the sign of eccentric genius or it can be harmless madness. The eccentric down the street may be Tesla, but most often is merely a monomaniac obsessed with a theory only notable by the odd ways it proves to be false. Do not aspire to weirdness, but if seeking the truth and the label comes from the conventional intellectual, proudly accept “weird.” Pause, though, and think about whether you are pursuing truth or merely looking for a quirky... Read more

Apologetics

Culture

Spiritual Reflections

2020-08-24T19:44:18-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

God Is Not A Big Us and Other Mistakes Lots of Us Make

Last updated on: August 24, 2020 at 7:44 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

We worship God, not a giant “us.” God is not made in our image. He cannot be. If such a being exists, then God does not need us. He might choose to create humankind or not. God is, in God’s essence, totally different from humanity. This matters greatly, since it is deadly error to think God is actually some bigger, faster, stronger version of us. Some of us might picture God as a big, bearded man (perhaps our race) sitting on a... Read more

Apologetics

Culture

2020-08-24T19:36:12-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Man Comes Around: Embrace the Weird

Last updated on: August 24, 2020 at 7:36 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

My dad in eighty-three years of life has run into all kinds: saints, grifters, prophets, and madmen. One thing he taught me is that when all the weirdness is gone, there is death. A living human in touch with the divine and still living in the cosmos, religion and science united, will be both worldly and other worldly. Like the Lord Jesus, this person will feast with tax collectors and sinners, and yet also call us to holiness. He will remove no moral... Read more

Culture

2020-08-22T19:26:05-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

God as the Great Mary Sue?

Last updated on: August 22, 2020 at 7:26 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

God is not, in fact, the Great Mary Sue. A “Mary Sue” is an overpowered character that a hack writer uses as a stand-in for his or her own persona.* Writing a fictional character in our own image is tempting, even for great authors. Dickens works out his marriage problems in more than one novel and while Dorothy Sayers may not have been Harriet Vane, eventually married to her great detective Peter Wimsey, she bore more than a passing resemblance.... Read more

Apologetics

Philosophy

2020-08-21T10:04:07-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Understanding Reality is, indeed, a messy affair.

Last updated on: August 21, 2020 at 10:04 am By John Mark N. Reynolds

Reality may not be messy, but human understanding can be. We see partially, misunderstand mostly, debate continually, discuss endlessly, experiment constantly, examine universally. One joy of living is wondering and discovering. The good God allows us to grow through this school for our souls. Christians live by faith with uncertain yet reasonable beliefs. Nobody can claim more than this for any philosophy or religion. We live by faith, reasonably, passionately, hopefully. There is joy in our disagreement as one recent... Read more

Apologetics

Philosophy

2020-08-20T23:07:04-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Way

Last updated on: August 20, 2020 at 11:07 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

If a group is small enough, say a group of American Christians in a small town with a charismatic founder, they can go awry. Why? Connection to the globe shows our peculiar institutions. The little group in one place, in one time, with one leader caught in that place and time, decide that they know all …when all they are doing is explaining what they wish to be as if it were so. This rapidly grows weird. Any sensible person... Read more

Philosophy

2020-08-19T22:19:52-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Based on the World Around Me and In Me

Last updated on: August 19, 2020 at 10:19 pm By John Mark N. Reynolds

Let’s live based on the world around and in us. Fantasy, even high fantasy, is valuable as “what-if-ery”, but not as a final account of the truth, the good, and beauty. I loved fantasy novels as a boy, even groaners like Elfstones of Shannara, but never doubted that they were unreal. Science fiction, another literary passion, think Isaac Asimov or Ray Bradbury, had this advantage: it claimed a “could be.” Imagine the disappointment when after enough science reading, I discovered that science fiction... Read more

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