Category Archives: philosophical reflection

The new post-nihilism polytheism

Posted on December 6, 2010 by PaulVK

Bill Harris on CRC-Voices passed along a fascinating piece from the NYTimes blog: “Navigating Past Nihilism” by the chair of Philosophy at Harvard. A few initial thoughts: 1. There is always a frame of reference problem we have with noting … Continue reading →

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Words and Consequence

Posted on August 16, 2010 by PaulVK

Now that the vacations are done it’s back to the Tuesday night Men’s group and I’ve got a biography of John Calvin to finish reading. I’m up to Bolsec’s attacking Calvin on the subject of the doctrine of predestination. Bolsec … Continue reading →

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Logic

Posted on April 10, 2010 by PaulVK

If the God we imagine exists, a God who is as smart, as good, as powerful, as loving as we say, then this thought should give us astounding comfort and joy. If no such God exists then two things are … Continue reading →

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Contemporary Freedom and Identity

Posted on March 25, 2010 by PaulVK

This is from a video from http://publicchristianity.org/Videos/ethics_and_the_good_life.html of David Bentley Hart commenting on why he things modernity has struggled with being able to sustain a unified, compelling ethic without a metaphysical base. I thought how he phrased the two perspectives … Continue reading →

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What helps me to NOT believe the world is flat

Posted on December 18, 2009 by PaulVK

I wrote this for a friend at Calvin-in-Common who was sharing how he listens to Handel’s Messiah with longing. He loves the music but has come to doubt the texts it is built upon. Tolkien is one of my Christmas … Continue reading →

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Traditions are Trans-time Communities

Posted on September 15, 2009 by PaulVK

On Sept 14 Rachel Held Evans, a young author awaiting the publication of her first book from Zondervans posted “Why Calvinism Makes Me Cry” on her blog. There are a number of her comments that I’d like to respond to … Continue reading →

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Our Knowledge of God's Agency and our Free will

Posted on September 15, 2009 by PaulVK

Rachel Held Evans is a young author whose got a book coming out from Zondervans. In a blog post she talked about “why Calvinism makes her cry“. It’s an amazing piece of self-disclosure. There’s been a discussion on the subject … Continue reading →

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Exploring the elephant and the blind reporters

Posted on August 12, 2009 by PaulVK

On CRC-Voices someone trotted out the narrative of the elephant and the blind reporters in order to explain the existence of religious plurality so I wrote this. The elephant metaphor is commonly trotted out and worthy of deeper exploration. As … Continue reading →

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Can anyone "set the record straight" and still be a post-modern?

Posted on July 20, 2009 by PaulVK

Can you “set the record straight” in a post-modern world? Can an post-modern atheist or agnostic really appeal “to history”? Just about every verbal conflict I have ever been in or watched was conducted before a presumed audience. In a … Continue reading →

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Truth, Perception and Community

Posted on April 22, 2009 by PaulVK

http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2009/04/journey-to-tehr.html This little section struck me… Out the door again at 8:00am for a meeting with President Ahmadinejad’s press adviser, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a polite and smiling man with a prematurely snow-white beard. Javanfekr wanted to know what I wanted … Continue reading →

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