tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-197758462024-03-18T11:00:36.533+08:00Daniel's Place - (Reformata et semper reformanda)This blog is my personal blog. All views and articles expressed and written here are solely my own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or denomination or anyone else. Most posts are written for my own personal edification, and are not written in response to any external situation, unless otherwise and explicitly stated. Nobody should be reading into them anything other than what is explicitly stated, unless otherwise confirmed by me in writing.Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.comBlogger2179125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-19205909157005568942024-02-23T10:39:00.001+08:002024-02-23T10:39:08.351+08:00The problem with the new scholasticism - "Retrieval of classical theism"According to the philosopher, the people on the first story have no visible stairway by which they may walk up to the second story and actually see the nature of who God is. They can look at pictures that God the owner has placed on the first story. Some of the pictures are very good and very beautiful. But it is still all the first story. The philosopher, however, is like the manager of the Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-76620283685359022992024-02-22T21:15:00.000+08:002024-02-22T21:15:00.966+08:00The corruption of monasticism on the life of the churchAfter the victory of icons, the number of monks who became bishops grew. (John Binns, The T & T Clark History of Monasticism, p. 77)
The monastery was a centre of support for icons during the iconoclast controversy in the eighth and ninth centuries. (p. 90)
Monasteries were places of ascetic struggle and were populated by women and men who lived by different standards and had a different set of Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-44992238483656817772024-02-22T09:33:00.022+08:002024-02-22T11:03:19.262+08:00Monasticism in violation of Scripture: The case of AmounAnother pioneer of Egyptian monastic life was Amoun. He was born in 295 and lived in the north of Egypt in the region of the Nile Delta. He was an orphan and at the age of twenty-two was forced by his uncle to marry. He went unwillingly through the ceremony but then read passages of the Bible to his illiterate new wife instructing her about the importance of chastity. She had little option but toDaniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-87841156328327875152024-02-22T00:01:00.000+08:002024-02-22T00:01:48.359+08:00The beginnings of monasticismWhere did Christian monks come from? There were certainly no monks or nuns in the Bible, yet, for we know that monasticism infests the lands in the time of Martin Luther. Most certainly, monasticism is a departure from biblical Christianity, yet how did it emerge in the first place?
In his book on the history of monasticism, John Binns details the emergence and development of monasticism [John Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-47489399012232911592023-12-06T23:42:00.000+08:002023-12-06T23:42:09.024+08:00John Damascene on energiesFor activity is the natural power and movement of each essence. (St John of Damascus, On the Orthodox Faith, 147)
ἐνέργεια γάρ ἐστιν ἡ φυσικὴ ἑκάστης οὐσίας δύναμίς τε καὶ κίνησις (pp. 147-8)
And again: Natural activity is the innate movement of every essence. It is therefore clear that those things that have the same essence have the same activity, and those things that have different natures Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-54259156741492970552023-12-06T22:58:00.000+08:002023-12-06T22:58:46.946+08:00John Damascene's view on the willOne needs to know that here is a faculty naturally implanted in the soul that is appetitive of what is in accordance with nature and embraces everything that is essentially characteristic of nature. This is called the capacity for willing (θέλησις, thelēsis). For the essence of being and living and moving, both mentally and sensibly, has an appetency directed towards its own natural and full Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-12571881132362873642023-10-28T00:18:00.001+08:002023-10-28T02:28:11.233+08:00Confessions of a former Strict Confessionalist (Consolidated, with footnotes and conclusion)I have completed my personal reflections on strict confessionalism and my time in it. The whole article with footnotes and conclusion can be read here. Here is an excerpt from the conclusion:
The promise of Reformed Confessionalism is to plot a path between Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism, to not pick fights on minor issues while keeping fidelity to the Christian faith. Evangelicalism has Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-60984372348970732023-10-27T00:41:00.001+08:002023-10-27T00:41:56.542+08:00Confessions of a former Strict Confessionalist (Part 4)The failure of strict confessionalism: Theological lies and the failure to tell the truth
It is not a secret that the American Reformed churches are extremely divided. After studying Reformed theology, it is my opinion that many divisions are not warranted and driven more by ego and the need to “prove oneself.” For example, the whole republication (of the Covenant of Works in the Mosaic Covenant)Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-43900708385900981832023-10-24T23:47:00.000+08:002023-10-24T23:47:18.580+08:00Machen does not hold to the modern Ressourcement view on the "Great Tradition" of the churchIf we could imagine all the creeds of Christendom as having been suddenly wiped out of men’s memories, so that we should have to start all over again in our understanding of the Bible and in our summary setting forth of what the Bible teaches, I believe in tie the necessary creeds of the church would again be built up. It might take another nineteen centuries – if it be God’s will that the Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-25050197092996551942023-10-24T23:42:00.002+08:002023-10-24T23:42:55.790+08:00Machen on creationThe book of Genesis seems to divide the work of creation into six successive steps of stages. It is certainly not necessary to think that the six days spoken of in the first chapter of the Bible are intended to be six days of twenty-four hours each. We may think of them rather as very long periods of time. But do they not at least mark six distinct acts or stages of creation, rather than merely Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-13177257536973651862023-10-24T01:42:00.002+08:002023-10-24T01:43:12.881+08:00Confessions of a former strict Confessionalist (Part 3)The failure of strict confessionalism: Racism and the failure to love
Racism and the Reformed Tradition
With the main expression of the Reformed tradition currently in North America, the Reformed tradition unfortunately has to struggle with American history, specifically the history of slavery and racism. Americans in the late 19th century fought a civil war to end slavery, but ending racism Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-9001730673043778782023-10-17T02:17:00.002+08:002023-10-23T22:58:03.239+08:00Confessions of a former strict Confessionalist (Part 2)Into strict confessionalism
Reformed theology is rigorous, and precisely the type of spiritual food that appeals to one starved of biblical truth. It was not fast before I encountered what I now recognized as strict confessionalism, particularly as mediated by one of its foremost proponent R. Scott Clark.
In his book Recovering the Reformed Confessions, Clark argued for his idea of Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-89926899502880140702023-09-17T23:21:00.004+08:002023-10-16T23:06:26.492+08:00Confessions of a former strict confessionalist (Part 1)[I am currently busy with work commitments and preparing for my next phase of life, so updates here will be sporadic]
My life has been quite a journey, and with my current progress in the Christian life, I thought it would be helpful to tell parts of that story here.
Introduction
How does one relate to God in this world? To the church? What should a Christian do in order to glorify God? All of Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-27444375386182446172023-08-13T21:20:00.000+08:002023-08-13T21:21:45.396+08:00Once more on the word "biblicism"Here is the work by Sophei Finngan which discussed "Biblicism".Note that Finngan is a Catholic Priest. pic.twitter.com/Ov7snxXodB— Namor 📖 (@NamorPB) July 25, 2023 What is "biblicism"? Matthew Barrett has found an early work from 1827 that uses the term "bibicism," probably the earliest known use of that word in the English language. Does this somehow imply that the word "Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-16579045650409141312023-05-20T21:38:00.001+08:002023-05-20T21:38:35.203+08:00Tim Keller (1950 - 2023)World renown pastor Timothy J. Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, NY, and a giant within certain segments of Evangelical and Reformed circles, has passed away on May 19 2023. While I am sure he has a positive influence on many, he leaves behind a very mixed legacy.
On the positive side, he has run the race and kept the faith. His works has positively impacted theDaniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-73865949612342224592023-05-10T21:41:00.010+08:002023-05-10T21:41:00.134+08:00God and Time: The aeon and the pre-aeonial stateBefore the formation of the world, when there was no sun dividing day from night; there was only the aeon that is coextensive with the things that are eternal like some temporal movement or interval. In this sense there is a single aeon, in according with which God is said to be aoenial, but also pre-aeonial, for he himself also made this aeon. (John of Damascus, On the Orthodox Faith, 97-98)
Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-741030079084505932023-05-10T09:37:00.000+08:002023-12-06T22:59:15.582+08:00Apophaticism and the limits of human reasonThe divine, being incomprehensible, is also necessarily nameless. [St John of Damascus, On the Orthodox Faith: A New Translation of An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Popular Patristics Series 62; trans. Norman Russell; Yonkers, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2022, 88]
… [God's essence - DHC] it is superessential and beyond beings, beyond the divine, beyond the good, beyond fullness,Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-23313026663354505852023-05-06T00:23:00.000+08:002023-05-06T00:23:09.405+08:00The London Lyceum Symposium on "Christian Platonism"Back in 2022, the London Lyceum did a symposium of sorts on the issue of "Christian Platonism" as promoted by Craig Carter - what it is and is it a helpful term. The posts are as follows:
Paul M. Gould, “On Classical Christian Platonism: A Philosopher’s Reply to Carter,” (August 1 2022), here
Willemien Otten, “Christian Platonism: Some Comments on Its Past and the Need for Its Future,” (AugustDaniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-20402064745287139672023-05-06T00:06:00.004+08:002023-05-06T00:07:10.555+08:00Fanciful history and Dubious Hermeneutics: A review of Craig Carter's Interpreting Scripture with the Great TraditionCraig Carter is one of the foremost proponents of the ressourcement happening in current Reformed and Evangelical circles. His books on the subject have been promoted as showing us the way forward towards embracing Classical Theism and 'Great Tradition' exegesis. I have finally gotten around to review his book on exegesis, and it has been a real doozy. Here is my review of Craig Carter's book Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-61248638016759151272023-05-01T16:57:00.002+08:002023-05-04T12:10:53.559+08:00The history of modern science and the revisionist view of the history of modern scienceSince the awe-inspiring rise of modern technological science based on the so-called hard sciences, including physics, chemistry, and biology, many other academic disciplines have aspired to be regarded as objective sciences. One way they have sought to do so is by imitating the methods of the empirical sciences in what Andrew Louth (following George Steiner) referred to as “the fallacy of Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-25269298850658832662023-04-29T23:44:00.002+08:002023-04-29T23:44:49.419+08:00Craig Carter on John CalvinAnother Christian Platonist, John Calvin, makes a very similar point in the opening lines of his Institutes of the Christian Religion:
Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But, while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern. In the first place, no Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-75534896169257161522023-04-26T23:10:00.000+08:002023-04-26T23:10:01.111+08:00We have the prophetic word made more sure: Natural Theology, Hermeneutics, and Sola ScripturaIt has been some time, but I have completed my response to Jordan Steffaniak's article in Modern Reformation on Natural Theology and Sola Scriptura, and have decided to just publish it on my website, here.
At a time when the term "biblicism" is thrown around as a term of derision, and where Reformed confessionalists have veered hard towards Roman Catholicism in her fascination with the philosophyDaniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-83873974649642540332023-04-12T23:26:00.002+08:002023-04-12T23:26:50.443+08:00James White DL: Response to Mike Riccardi and Derrick Brite
Christian apologist James White has recently done a Dividing Line podcast responding to Mike Riccardi's talk at the recent Shepherd Conference and the tweets of Derrick Brite.Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-89267060812343875842023-03-21T22:57:00.002+08:002023-03-21T22:57:36.101+08:00Book Review: The Secular Creed by Rebecca McLaughlinSome time back, The Gospel Coalition (TGC) had a free PDF book giveaway of Rebecca McLaughlin's book The Secular Creed. I therefore came to possess a book that I might not have read. I have recently finished the book, and while the book is orthodox in the positions taken, there is much here that is disturbing and undermines those same biblical positions. I have therefore decided to write a reviewDaniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19775846.post-6691737624330975202023-02-22T22:46:00.001+08:002023-02-22T22:47:32.846+08:00The American captivity of the Reformed ChurchFor me, the term "Biblicism" does not just mean holding a high view of Scripture.Biblicism is the view that no nonbiblical words can be required for orthodoxy: "No creed but the Bible." It was taught by Arians (4th C), Socinians (16th C), & a fair number of modern Evangelicals.— Craig A. Carter (@CraigACarter1) February 15, 2023
In his book, 'The Bible Made Daniel Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00678184721218949112noreply@blogger.com0