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Earlier open mic threads: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
Alastair's Adversaria 
Some of you might be interested in the comment discussion here, discussing whether it would be appropriate for a mother to baptize her child, on the dynamics of representative authority, and how the form of baptism is related to its meaning.
Your posts on baptism are really enlightening and your to comment* on The Great Commission, I say Amen and again, Amen.
* ‘1. The Great Commission of Matthew 28 isn’t addressed to every individual Christian, although we have all likely sat through many, many messages that have claimed that it is.’
Christine
Correction! ‘…to your comment…’
Anyone familiar with Michael Polanyi? Any specific thoughts on his work?
Anyone insanely excited to get this book? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0830839062/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
To avoid pasting a bunch of links, here’s a post I did of a few cool songs I enjoy:
http://theologiansinc.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/some-good-music/
I have hardly read any Polanyi. The people I know who have read him tend to have appreciated him, though.
I imagine you’d quite enjoy his work. I’ve read ‘Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy’, which was very dense but very good. Lots of similarities to some of James K.A. Smith’s more philosophical work (like in ‘Imagining the Kingdom’) but without all the words-joined-with-hyphenated-words and Heidegger/Merlau-Ponty dependance. http://infed.org/mobi/michael-polanyi-and-tacit-knowledge/
(sorry for the double; still figuring out the combox).
I have “Personal Knowledge” sitting on my shelf, which is a start I suppose 🙂 T.F. Torrance seems to have drawn a lot on Polanyi’s thought, or at least found a lot in common between the two of them.
Torrance was hugely influenced by Polanyi – he regarded him as one of the more important thinkers in modern history, along with Einstein and James Clerk-Maxwell. If you can find it, his essay, ‘The Place of Michael Polanyi in Philosophy of Science’ is an incredible piece of writing.
I’ll try track it down – thanks for the recommendation.
I have “Personal Knowledge” sitting on my shelf, which is a start I suppose 🙂 T.F. Torrance seems to have drawn a lot on Polanyi’s thought, or at least found a lot in common between the two of them.
I recently came across the “maternal incest” theory of the sin of Ham while preparing for a bible study group.
(see http://www.leithart.com/archives/001316.php for a brief summary and http://www.godawa.com/chronicles_of_the_nephilim/Articles_By_Others/Bergsma-Noahs_Nakedness_And_Curse_On_Canaan.pdf for a fuller treatment).
It seems to have a lot to commend it, especially making sense of why Canaan is cursed rather than Ham himself. I grew up with the “voyeurist” interpretation, but this makes sense of more of the details. However, there are a few things l’d like to see worked out more fully – Noah’s literal nakedness still seems to play an important role in the story because he is specifically said to be uncovered in his tent, and his Shem and Japheth appear to be covering Noah specifically with the cloak.
I’d be interested in your thoughts.
I’m familiar with that theory and it definitely has strong points. I’m still waiting for a particular reading of that account finally to persuade me, though.
What do you think of Jenson’s suggestion that “Word” in John 1:1 refers, through, say, Psalm 119:9 (“Logos” in the LXX), or perhaps Isaiah 40:8 (which uses “rhema”), refers to the Torah?
What about James Jordan’s suggestion that it’s a reference to the Holy of Holies?
I’m more convinced of Jenson’s position than Jordan’s. The Logos is connected with God’s Word, Wisdom, and Law, I believe. Of course, the more general teaching of John 1 would uphold the substance of Jordan’s position.
In keeping with one of the general themes around here: http://thomism.wordpress.com/2014/10/05/authenticity-sex-and-education/
‘Sexual activity seems to be one area of human life where those committed to an ethic of authenticity fail to see the paradoxes and difficulties of their commitments. We want Churches, schools, communities, etc. that speak to our unique needs, but what about the manifold ways that sexual desires are individuated to persons? We can’t condemn them like we condemn violence or property crime, where the activity is clearly contrary to the personal desires of the victims. So one group of those in the ethic of authenticity see no meaningful limits at all in sexuality as such – we can condemn violence or imperfect consent, but only in the same way we condemn any act of violence against the person. Within the ethic of authenticity, there doesn’t seem to be any sexual morality, only acts of violence that might happen to involve sex. Everything else is just a matter of what (mature enough?) participants find fulfilling. Notice that there is much more involved here than a “do no harm” ethic. Authenticity adds to this that justice is best achieved by an activity that all parties find fulfilling.’
Thought-provoking piece. Authenticity is definitely a neglected part of the picture. I’ve argued in the past that, in addition to the application of the harm principle, we need to recognize the presence of a supposed duty to ourselves to realize our ‘true selves’. Oliver O’Donovan makes some good points against the ethic of authenticity when he directly challenges the idea that the object of our desires is self-evident.
Supposed?
I am not persuaded that we have the duty to live ‘authentically’, as that is typically understood.
Gothca. I do appreciate the point made about how authenticity opens up dignity-ethics , though.
via Peter Leithart:
http://theweek.com/article/index/268985/how-liberals-are-unwittingly-paving-the-way-for-the-legalization-of-adult-incest
Interesting read! Thanks for passing it on.
You’ve quoted Rosenstock-Huessy before. Are you familiar with Rosenzweig? What do you think of him?
No, I’m not.
Hey Alastair,
I don’t know if you’ve seen the recent dust-up online between paedo & credo baptists and closed communion; most of which seemed to occur on the Ref21 website. I thought that might be something that would be good for the Mere Fidelity boys to discuss. You guys are a bit of a mixture as well right? I would love to hear your take on it all.
Good suggestion, Rick! This is a subject that we will probably tackle at some point soon.
The problems of family/work balance for women are now solved! New era of harmony is upon us.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/perk-facebook-apple-now-pay-women-freeze-eggs-n225011
Given a chance, I think Snow White might have a thing or two to say about a ‘poison apple’!
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