Wondering

literature: lyrics to new hymns and some revisions to old hymns, poetry, and stories

Mathematics and beauty

Extracts from Scientific Method in Ptolemy’s Harmonics by Andrew Barker (Cambridge University Press 2004): Mathematics is not the study of all quantities and all quantitative relations indiscriminately. It is the science of beauty. Its task, at the theoretical level, is to interpret, in terms of ‘rationally’ or mathematically intelligible form, the features, movements or states […]

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In the beginning is reality

In the beginning is reality. That is, reality precedes us. We discover reality. We don’t invent reality. “Wonder is the only beginning of philosophy.” (Socrates in Plato’s Theaetetus 155d) “For it is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize.” (Aristotle, Met. 982b12). We wonder about reality. That

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Church and ethnos

Most Christian congregations have an ethnos, a term from cultural anthropology for people with a common national or cultural tradition. Congregations are usually part of a larger network, denomination, or hierarchy, which has at least one ethnos. (Eastern) Orthodox autocephalous churches are national churches, which include the ethnos of their nation. The (Roman) Catholic church

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Merry, marry, Mary Christmas

The word “merry” is rarely used anymore except in relation to Christmas, which reflects the jaded and conventional time in which we live. Busy people aren’t merry, though they might occasionally get plastered or fall over laughing. But in centuries past people could be merry without self-consciousness about it. The birth of a baby was

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Synopsis of the Gospel

A previous post here gave a summary of the Gospel. The following comes from Rev. David Harper’s blog entry, The power of story: Here’s a synopsis. 1. God created humankind in His image for fellowship and partnership, entrusting to us stewardship of His earth. (Gen. 1:28)   2. Because of sin, in which we all

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Basic Gospel Message

Vic Scaravilli is a Catholic who put the following on his website here. I’m reposting it (with permission) and note that Evangelicals would agree that this is the gospel, with some nuances about baptism. The Basic Gospel Message By Vic Scaravilli God loves each one of us. He loves me and He loves you with

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Creation of ubiquitous light

The first chapter of the first book of the Bible, Genesis 1, has attracted many commentators over the centuries. Recent scholarly work attempts to place it in the context of ancient Near East writings. (Near East is the European moniker for what Americans call the Middle East.) That however undervalues the unique, nuanced text of

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One-sentence summaries

One could use the common one-sentence summary of the Muslim faith to describe other monotheistic faiths and monistic ideologies; for example: There is no God but Yahweh and Moses is his legislator. There is no God but Yahweh and David is his psalmist. There is no God but Deus and the Pope is his bishop.

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I give thanks

I give thanks that “God exists and rewards those who seek him (Heb. 11:6). I give thanks that “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether (Ps 19:9). I give thanks to God for providing salvation and life everlasting, even for me, who am not worthy nor able to do the least to begin a new life in Christ.

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Catholic, Orthodox, and Evangelical

This post is about the words catholic, orthodox, and evangelical and what they mean. The first question is whether only one branch (denomination) of Christianity can legitimately use any of these words. The answer is No; many churches can use them. The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed includes the words “In one holy catholic and apostolic Church”. So any

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