The Calvinist International
Victoria Kahn’s Rhetoric, Prudence, and Skepticism in the Renaissance is well worth the read for anyone interested in the topic of political theology, virtue ethics, or the Renaissance and Reformation more broadly. She describes the nature of Renaissance concepts of prudence and rhetoric and its importance for the debate between Erasmus and Luther on the freedom […]
Albert the Great (1193/1206 – 1280) is perhaps best known today as the celebrated forefather and instructor of Thomas Aquinas. His legacy, however, is much larger than that. One of the common Medieval myths surrounding Albert is that he possessed the mythical philosopher’s stone which enabled him to discover the ancient secrets of nature. In […]
In this our seventh installment on Johann Heinrich Alsted’s Theologia naturalis we see Alsted utilize the metaphor of a “ladder” of truth to describe the relationship between nature and grace, and he argues that God intends for man to study the truths of nature in order to make grace sweeter: IV. Natura & Gratia non pugnant […]
A few of the regular contributors at TCI will have their work featured in the forthcoming edition of the Reformation and Renaissance Review (view the contents online here), entitled Studies on the Living Legacy of Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499–1562). This volume (15.1) is a special issue to mark the 450th anniversary of the death of the Italian […]
In the third theorem of his Theologia naturalis Alsted discusses the issue of non-Christian authors and commends their use even for public preaching, though with certain caveats: III. Præclara ethnicorum dicta Theologica ab eis tanquam iniustis possessoribus, in usum nostrum transferenda sunt. Hoc theorema totidem ferme verbis occurrit apud Augustinum lib. 3. de doctrina Christ. […]
Philip Cary explains Augustine’s relationship to Plotinus in terms of an “inward turn” in moral philosophy. The idea of turning inward was prevalent among Platonists of antiquity and stems from the basic distinction between material and immaterial principles. Since man is guided by an immaterial soul his happiness is not to be found in the […]
Phillip Cary offers an informative summary of Augustine’s appropriation of the Platonic concept of love or eros (ἔρος) – the Symposium (a dialogue “περὶ τῶν ἐρωτικῶν λόγων”) is perhaps the most famous dialogue in this regard – and its relationship to his theology of grace and freedom of the will – for those who are interested in further examination […]
For those of you who may be unaware of the Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews or who browse it intermittently, I direct your attention to John Bussanich’s review of Lloyd Gerson’s eminently important work, Aristotle and Other Platonists (Cornell University Press, 2005). Not only does Bussanich helpfully summarize and offer caveats to Gerson’s general argument, that […]
As I mentioned in this post last week, the idea of “preparations” for grace or justification was not completely rejected by the Reformers. Rather, they insisted that God uses certain preparations as his instruments to bring the unbeliever to self-knowledge, particularly the condemnation of the Law – this causes one to reflect on one’s own […]
Alsted does not directly address the issue of “neutrality” in apologetics, that is, the question of whether one may or should use rational principles in an effort to neither promote nor refute the truth claims of religion, thus establishing a sort of “public space” in which to debate the importance of religion on non-religious grounds. […]