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Archive Early Church Fathers Eric Parker Nota Bene

Know Thyself to be Incomprehensible

Perhaps it would have done Descartes some good to read Gregory of Nyssa. Perhaps not. Regardless, for Gregory, there is great mystery in the human intellect. Man lacks the ability to fully comprehend himself, though surely he comprehends what is necessary for cognition, for piety, and for the other virtues. The incomprehensibleness of the human […]

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Andrew Fulford Archive Authors Nota Bene

Richard Hooker on Belief, Commitment, and Anxiety

In Laws II.vii.5: The truth is, that the mind of man desireth evermore to know the truth according to the most infallible certainty which the nature of things can yield. The greatest assurance generally with all men is that which we have by plain aspect and intuitive beholding. Where we cannot attain unto this, there what […]

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Archive Eric Parker Natural Law Philosophy Reformed Irenicism

Man as Microcosm in John Calvin’s Theology

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 […]