“Docetism” (from the Greek word “dokeo” meaning “I seem”) usually refers to an unorthodox view of Jesus that alleges he was pure spirit and only “seemed” to have a physical body.
Orthodoxy of course has long insisted Jesus had (has?) two natures, one human and the other divine. Ancient Docetism, in contrast, claimed Jesus had only one nature and that “one nature” was pure spirit.
Ironically, many Christians hold to an analogous “Docetic” view of the “Bible.”
Tags: bible, canon, catholic, docetic, docetism, god's word, Protestant, scripture
What do these people have in common?
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.S. President Barack Obama on 8 Nov 2011.
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer on 29 Mar 2011.
Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson on July 6 2008.
Tags: agonizers, aplogetics, apologetics, apologia, apologist, authority, catechesis, christian, common faith, contention, corporate faith, declaration, dividing, doctrine, edification, evidentialist, faith, fellowship, gospel, greek, insiders, instruction, irenics, katecheo, kerugma, kerygma, maturity, open microphone, open mike, outsiders, persuasion, pietistic, polemics, preacher, presuppositionalist, private faith, proclamation, rhetoric, teacher, teaching, types of speech, uniting
Do a Google search on the phrase “is not a Christian” and two criteria will compete for first place in denying people a Christian identity.
Tags: baptism, boasting, christian identity, common faith, confessional, conversional, corporate faith, humility, infant baptism, mark of a christian, objectivity, private faith, righteousness, subjectivity
Good ideas are well-served by good illustrations and tonight Conan O’Brien will gift us with a great one.
Conan O’Brien (left) and gay fiancés David Gorshein and Scott Cronick
O’Brien will reportedly perform Gorshein and Cronick’s wedding during tonight’s show.
(Use of copyrighted material for critical commentary is fair use.)
Tags: conan o'brien, david gorshein, gay marriage, ontological inferiority, scott cronick
The “occupywallstreet” protesters are furious over Wall Street’s self-enrichment via its undue influence on the political process.
Photo from http://rangel.house.gov/index.shtml
Capitalism has a corrupting influence on politics and must be severely restrained.
Tags: academia, higher education, occupy wall street, occupywallstreet, politics, wall street
The Keynesian model of macroeconomics has two components worthy of reflection in the face of the current Administration’s approach to fixing the economy . . .
John Maynard (“in the long run, we’re all dead”) Keynes
Tags: economic stimulus, in the long run we're all dead, john maynard keynes
Congresswoman Gabby Giffords makes a surprise return
to Congress on 1 August after having suffered a gunshot
wound to the head in January.
Photo from Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s website.
How many times have you heard the popular bit of wisdom, “we only use 10% of our brains”?
Tags: barack obama, brain trauma, deepak chopra, folk wisdom, gabrielle giffords, gnosticism
“High church” and “low church” mean different things to different people
Here are some typical distinctions . . .
Tags: catholic, clergy, confessional, conversional, high church, laity, low church, Protestant, ritual, sacrament, sacramental
Think there’s a moral equivalence between Islam and Christianity? Read the following clipping from the “Questions of Faith” column in the Saudi Gazette and ask yourself, “what would we do without Mohammed?”
Then consider, “what would we do without Jesus?”
Tags: apostasy, bathroom etiquette, beheading, islam, muslim, sharia law
“Akedah” is the generic Hebrew word for “binding.” In Jewish Tradition, it came to be used as a proper noun to refer to Abraham’s “sacrifice” of Isaac (Genesis chapter 22).
[God] said, “Take now your son, your only son,
whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah,
and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the
mountains ….” (Gen 22:2ff)
The “Sacrifice of Isaac”
by Caravaggio (1603)
Most people today understand the Akedah in terms of an existential dilemma for Abraham– and there’s a good reason for that.
Tags: Abraham, akedah, binding of Isaac, canaanites, carthage, child sacrifice, dilemma ethics, gen 22, genesis 22, historical accounts, moral absolutism, sacrifice of Isaac, tophet of salammbo stele
A friend recently related the story of how he once pointed a T-37 Trainer straight up to see how high he could go.
Tags: culture, enlightenment, foundationalism, irrationalism, rationalism, reason, religion, science
Can doubt be a basis for certainty?
Rene Descartes, famous French philosopher
Painting by Frans Hals
Descartes thought so.
Tags: certainty, deduction, deductive logic, doubt, epistemology, faith, induction, inductive logic, knowledge, omniscience, philosophy
While I agree with Miss America on the problem of eating disorders, I think more depth would be useful in thinking about it.
Tags: anorexia, battle between the sexes, bulimia, eating disorders, gender, miss america, western culture
Mr. Obama wants us to be more polite . . .
Here’s why he’s going to be disappointed—
Tags: adversarial system, bill ayers, civility, democracy, democrats, jeremiah wright, keith olbermann, morton deutsch, obama, politial correctness, republicans
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