In Communion and Otherness, John Zizioulas expands and elaborates upon ideas that were presented in Being and Communion. What sets this book from the earlier book is that instead of focusing on how communion is related to being he focuses on how otherness is related to being – what ties together communion and otherness isContinue reading “Communion and Otherness”
Category Archives: Human Nature
Being and Communion
When Being as Communion came out (especially in English) generated much discussion regarding the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine’s relationship to ecclesiology. Although many Trinitarian theologians would say that the divide between Eastern and Western Trinitarian theologies has been overplayed, Zizioulas emphasis on the uniqueness of Orthodox Trinitarian theology leads to many constructive claims. TheseContinue reading “Being and Communion”
Persons – What Philosophers Say About You
Warren Bourgeois attempts to tackle a set of perennial questions in Persons: What Philosophers Say About You. These questions include, “What are persons?” “What makes this person now identical to that person in the past?” and “What marks the beginning and end of a person.” Bouorgeois’s questions are, in part, motivated by events that areContinue reading “Persons – What Philosophers Say About You”
The Call to Personhood
In The Call to Personhood Alistair McFadyen expresses concern about two unsatisfactory conceptions of individuality and personality, these two conceptions are Individualism and Collectivism. Individualism attempts to maintain personal freedom and autonomy and Collectivism tries to take social relations and institutions seriously. However, when each of these two conceptions of personality get pressed too farContinue reading “The Call to Personhood”
I and Thou
Martin Buber’s I and Thou begins with the claim that “to man the world is twofold.” Human beings exist and interact with the world in two different ways. These ways are the “I-Thou” relation and the “I-It” relation. The first kind of relation, he says can only be spoken with the whole being, the secondContinue reading “I and Thou”
7 Theories of Human Nature
Seven Theories of Human Nature is a general introduction to philosophical anthropology. Written by Leslie Stevenson, who was a Reader in Logic and Metaphysics at the University of St. Andrews, this book focuses not only on major theories of what it is to be a human being but it also makes suggestions for how toContinue reading “7 Theories of Human Nature”
Is Theosis a soteriological or anthropological doctrine?
Theosis, write Stephen Finlan and Valdimir Kharlamov, is closely related to a number of other doctrines including: soteriology, Christology, anthropology, the sacraments, personal eschatology, the imago dei, redemption, and sanctification. Despite the doctrine’s connections to a number of other theological loci, in the minds of many—especially those who find their theological bearings in the West—the doctrineContinue reading “Is Theosis a soteriological or anthropological doctrine?”
Non-Reductive Physicalism – Some Problems (Part 2)
Yesterday, I mentioned one challenge that non-reductive physicalists face. Today I’d like to mention two more. The Problem of the Intermediate State… A second challenge that the nonreductive physicalist faces is the problem of the intermediate state and the afterlife. All physicalist accounts face the problem of a “gappy existence” during the intermediate state. ThatContinue reading “Non-Reductive Physicalism – Some Problems (Part 2)”
Non-Reductive Physicalism – Some Problems (Part 1)
Holding to non-Reductive physicalism has some benefits…. First, it takes seriously the dualist’s intuition—and the biblical data—that we cannot be reduced to the material; that is, we are more than merely matter. Second, it might avoid the reductionist pitfall of eliminating moral responsibility. Some people, like Nancey Murphy, have argued that can provide an accountContinue reading “Non-Reductive Physicalism – Some Problems (Part 1)”
Priests of Creation and a Dead Mountain Lion
Yesterday I heard some heartbreaking news: P-47, a 3-year-old mountain lion has died in the Santa Monica Mountains after being infected with rat poison. P-47 was one of the largest mountain lion observed in the National Park Services study in Los Angeles. This got me thinking about humanity’s vocation in relation to creation. In studying T.F. TorranceContinue reading “Priests of Creation and a Dead Mountain Lion”
CWoznicki Think Out Loud 