Back from the Gower

We're now back from camping at the Gower, here:

Odds and sods

• Anthony Grayling on atheism
• A dictionary of Christian Dictionaries
• Debate between Tom talbott (universalist) and Eric Landstrom (evangelical)[HT Crisendom]
• A LDS version of the Nicene Creed: [HT He lives]

We believe in one God, the main God of a number of Gods(1), who acquired His place as Supreme Being over a long period of time by living a righteous life(2), the Father Almighty, Maker one of the Makers (3) of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible (and Who is married, by the way) (4);

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, one of the spirit children of God (Lucifer being another), (5) the Only-begotten, Begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father (6) by whom all things were made: Who won God’s favor by agreeing with God’s plan of salvation when Lucifer disagreed,(7) and who was called Jehovah in the Old Testament(8).

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, of a physical relationship between God the Father and Mary, (9) and was made man, and was married at the wedding in Cana (10);

And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried;

And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures;

And ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father in the celestial kingdom, the highest of the three kingdoms of heaven;(11) And He and Joseph Smith (12) shall come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, Who spake by the Prophets;

And we believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. in the Mormon Church, which restores Christianity to the form it had in the time of the apostles.(13)

We acknowledge one Baptism – for both living and dead – (14) for the remission of sins as long as that baptism is conducted by the Mormon Church (15)

We look for the Resurrection of the dead which will be presided over by Joseph Smith,(16)

And the Life of the world to come. And Joseph Smith. (17) Amen.

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Holiday Reading

Review of Stellingwerff's Hstory of Reformatonal Philosophy

Glenn Friesen has posted his review of John Stellingwerff's History of Reformational Philosophy on his site.

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Albert Weideman on RRP

The Reformational Publishing Project are to publish a book by Albert Weideman Beyond Expression: A Systematic Study of the Foundations of Linguistics. In the meantime there are 11 articles by Weideman on the RRP site: here.

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Maths as rhyme?

I have recently read Vern Poythress's paper 'Mathematics as a rhyme'. Below are a few of my initial observations.

His idea as maths as a poem is an interesting idea, but I am not so sure as to how fruitful it is. It seems to be little more than Kepler/Galileo's idea that maths is the language of the universe.

I am not convinced of the metaphor of maths as a rhyme within the poem of the universe. It has too many resonances with the two books concept for my liking!

Not all poems rhyme!

If the poem is created by a poet, then the poet takes things he has not created (letters, words) to create the poem using rhyme etc. This suggest that God (poet) creates the universe (poem) using uncreated maths!

If maths is the rhyme what are the words?

He does makes some good points regarding mathematics; including:

Maths is a distinct science

It is not reducible to other sciences

Its regularities are a reflection of the faithfullness of God

There is at lest some degree of a posteri character within the knowledge of maths, even though it gives the impression that its truths are a priori

He subverts the view that maths is necessary rather than contingent. [ Though I would contend that it is necessary for creatures, but contingent for the Creator.]

Maths is personally structured [I'm not totally sure what he means here], for intelligibility there must be a personal interpreter.

There is a good discussion of reductionisms of logicism, formalism, intuition and empiricism - he shows the attractiveness of reductionism: "stimulating as a metaphor inadequate as ultimate explanation" [could this be said of maths as a rhyme within the poem of the universe?]

He shows the irreducibillity of the subparts of maths to one another.

GM Organisms lecture

Wednesday, 1st August, 8 pm @ WYSOCS


Dr. Uko Zylstra, Professor of Biology and Academic Dean of Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, will visit WYSOCS on 1st August to give a lecture on:

GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS - creation confounded?

Followed by a discussion at 9 pm on
THE PLACE AND TASK OF A CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY in today's world
Details here.

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"A Rocha: "Why Should Christians Care for Creation?" (10:05min)"

A Rocha: "Why Should Christians Care for Creation?" (10:05min)

10 min 5 sec -
Description: A Rocha is an international Christian nature conservation NGO working to show God's love for all creation. This video features theologians (John Stott, Alister McGrath, James Jones) and scientists (Ghillean Prance, Simon Stuart) who talk about the biblical basis for creation care.

If you're having trouble watching the video, try copying the following URL into your browser:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2887099263216835896&q=McGrath+Dawkins&pr=goog-sl

Reformational philosophy by Blosser

Catholic philospher Philip Blosser has a brief overview of reformational philosophy. He writes:

Any intellectual wading more than ankle-deep into the work of these Reformational Philosophers soon realizes that he would be a fool to ignore the wealth of theoretical insights yielded by them over the last century. Dooyeweerd is probably among the two or three greatest Christian philosophers of the twentieth century from any tradition, period. I say this as a Catholic with more than a passing acquaintance with the work of Etienne Gilson, Jacques Maritain, Gabriel Marcel, John Courtney Murray, Bernard Longergan, and Alasdair MacIntyre, not to mention Karol Wojtyla. This is a philosophical tradition, in my opinion, with which every serious thinker ought to be acquainted and conversant.

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Pop philosophy podcasts

Gregory Baus, in the comments to my previous post, points out that Open Court have a series of podcasts of chapters from the Pop Goes Philosophy series, a series similar to the Blackwell 24 and philosophy book I mentioned.

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24 and philosophy

It had to happen a book on 24 and Philosophy. Availbale in October from Blackwells.

24 and Philosophy is a book you just can't do without. It's all here, folks: the reason Presidents trust him; how Jack cuts through the lies and ambiguities; why he puts his life on the line for others; and how he knows which knee cap to blow out to get that all-important next lead. With the help of twenty "24 crazed" philosophers, you'll figure out what makes this guy tick, and much much more.

* A witty, but philosophical exploration of the popular television series 24, now in its sixth season
* Addresses pressing ethical issues relating to torture, terrorism and warfare
* Raises fascinating questions about knowledge, loyalty, and suspicion
* Explores in-depth the character and behaviour of Jack Bauer
* Written by philosophers who are all serious fans of the show

[HT Between two worlds]

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Inner compass

Inner Compass is a programme produced at Calvin College that explores how we make decisions about ethical, religious and social justice issues.

Recent episodes (each one is about 75 Mb) include:

• Quentin Schultze on High-Tech Church [HT Macht]
• Miroslav Volf on Giving Forgiveness
• Judge Michael McConnell on Separation of Church and State
• Lauren Winner on Christian Dating
• Tom Wright on Enjoying the Bible

Other episodes are available to listen using Real Audio:

• #516 The Meaning of Easter
• #423 Stem Cells: What's Coming
• #414 All Tech'd Out: No Computers in Class
• #406 Family-Based Youth Ministry
• #401 Learning Disabled or Lazy?
• #222 Internet Pornography
• #218 Chrisitan Counseling: Two Views
• #118 Trying Juveniles as Adults
• #101 Baptism When: Infancy or Later?

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Gene Haas on 'Creational ethics is public ethics'

The Journal for Christian Theological Research has just published an article by Gene Haas on 'Creational ethics is public ethics':

This paper presents the framework and key doctrines relevant to public moral engagement as found in the Reformed or neo-Calvinist tradition shaped by Abraham Kuyper and his disciples. My thesis is that Christian ethics is public ethics because it is creational ethics. Christian ethics has a place in the public arena because it is the articulation of the creational moral order that constitutes and guides all human beings. Neo-Calvinism considers the creation order as foundational. The fall of creation and its redemption must be understood in relation to this foundational doctrine. But the creational order also shapes the nature of Christian involvement in the public domain. The final section highlights some implications of this for involvement in public life.

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Steenfest

Bill Gram-Reefer has set up a new website steenfest.org to continue the Pete Steen Festchrift Project.;

The aim is to "To nurture ongoing community building, we hope this site can also be a resource for news about allied efforts at large including but not limited to:

news and events from friends and allied organizations

book announcements

articles and reviews

"can you help me find" requests (books, people, jobs, etc.)

job openings

conference papers

celebrations and anniversaries

topical discussions on issues of the day (be nice)

comments and suggestions on the project

share photos of Pete or current family and friends."

There are also loads of pictures of Pete Steen on Flickr.

And don't forget that Pete's book on Dooyeweerd is being uploaded on the Steen Pages at All of life redeemed.

Bruce Wearne's Skillen Bibliography

Bruce Wearne's annotated Skillen bibliography gets a mention here:

Subbuteo bowls

A great new sport from VROG

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Odds and sods

Ben House outlines his Christian Student Conference lectures; his topic is Calvinist worldview thinkers in the wilderness years.

Paul Robinson - pint in hand - explains 'what is philosophy anyway?'.

WikiMindmap:

Biography of Herman Bavinck

A biography of Herman Bavinck is available at Reformation 21 part I and part II, the author is Ron Gleason.

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Tom Wright at WYSOCS

The two talks by Tom Wright given at the WYSOCS 21st birthday event are now available on the Reformational UK site.

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Odds and sods

Adrian Warnock has now switched to: http://adrianwarnock.com/.
He also has a great 37-question quiz on the atonement.

Chris Tilling of Chrisendom is looking at universalism.

Jonathan Kvanig has posted some articles of his on 'Destiny and purpose' here.  Including an essay on 'Universalism and the problem of hell'. [HT prosblogion]

Guy Davies, the exiled preacher, has been conducting a number of interviews with Christian bloggers, including Cynthia Nielsen

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