Secular Frontier

In the Greek and Roman world, Ehrman argues there isn’t a universal neighbor ethics like a Greek should love every other Greek. This is on the other hand present in the Old Testament with every Israelite should love every other Israelite, stranger or not. Jesus radicalizes this teaching, such as with the parable of the ... Bart Ehrman and the Surprising Truth Behind Love Thy Neighbor

Mark presents a satirical view of Jesus and his world.  With Mark’s Gospel, Mark does numerous things lampooning Jesus and his world, like having Jesus predict the apocalypse and his return during the listeners’ generation, though by Mark’s time that never happened.  He had the absurdity of Jesus repeatedly explaining his resurrection/crucifixion to his disciples, ... (3) Some thoughts on my History Valley Podcast with Jacob Berman Presentation: Who Killed Jesus?

Regarding objects, it is clear today philosophers tend to privilege the physical object, the object of inquiry in physics, and so interpret the anthropological object, sociological object, mathematical object, psychological object, geographical object, historical object, indeed the object of inquiry in general in this light.  By “meta-physics” we thus usually mean the most fundamental physics: quarks, general relativity, ... Rethinking Metaphysics

One of my first slides in the presentation I wrote: Again, we see the idea of blame for Jesus’ death being transferred to the Jewish elite. Just as we saw the difference between the John the Baptist of Josephus vs the John the Baptist of the gospels, we see the caricature of Pilate in the ... (2) Some thoughts on my History Valley Podcast with Jacob Berman Presentation: Pilate

It has long been known that the gospels have to some extent appropriated the famous figure John the Baptist and repurposed him for Christians purposes to note that while John is the greatest among men, the newly developed Christian community was greater: In Matthew 11:11, Jesus declares that among those born of women, no one ... (1) Some thoughts on my History Valley Podcast with Jacob Berman Presentation: Jesus and John the Baptist

Bart’s new book that I’ll be blogging about on Jesus’ revolutionary ethics will be out soon, and here is a taste about Jesus and charity.

Our Vice President Ed did a kiosk article recently on the origin of evil that was also featured on Debunking Christianity. Here is the link: https://infidels.org/kiosk/article/why-adam-and-eve-sinned/

What we find in the historical record about Jesus’ death is that it all converges on the idea that Jesus’ death is the responsibility of the Jewish elite.  The Roman leader Pilate is exonerated, for instance, even though he orders the crucifixion.  In my opinion this totality of evidence speaks against the idea that Jesus was ... My Presentation on the Historical Paul and Jesus on HISTORY VALLEY PODCAST with JACOB BERMAN

Ehrman’s new book on Jesus’ innovative ethics is coming out later this month so I will be blogging about that, and I will supplement this with Goicoechea’s book on Christianity and personhood. Here’s a preview: From the blurb: From the New York Times bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus comes a surprising history of Jesus’ most radical commandment—a new kind ... New Blog Series: A New Christian Theory of Ethics and Personhood with Ehrman and Goicoechea

Bart looks at how Jesus’ ethics of service and avoiding exerting power over others contrasts with ancient Greek ethics centered on finding contentment (quite interesting, though I think we find the service model with Socrates giving thanks for the poison and the impaled just man of Plato’s Republic. I also think Ehrman misses the importance ... Bart Ehrman and did Jesus Found Modern Morality?

Ehrman’s new book is coming out and in it he will argue for Jesus’ radical message of love of stranger even outside of one’s community.

In Bart’s new book he argues the lack of atonement theology in Luke-Acts reflects Luke going back to the historical Jesus who did not think God required a sacrifice. Ehrman’s basic thought seems to be there was an historical Jesus who in the tradition of John the Baptist taught a God who forgives if you ... Bart Ehrman on the Absence of Atonement in Luke-Acts

Heidegger’s grave in Meßkirch (wiki) Derrida lecturing at EHESS, 1990s (wiki) Foreword: Of course, most people live their lives “as though” the next moment won’t be denied, though it could be.  Every time I reach for my glass or leave for work I’m doing so “as though” the activity will be completed, as though the ... Landing Page for Posts on Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida on the Philosophy of Death

SEE THIS CURRENT BLOG SERIES LANDING PAGE ON DERRIDA’S AND HEIDEGGER’S PHILOSOPHY OF DEATH: Jacques Derrida and Martin Heidegger on The Philosophy of Death Last time I noted the deep presence of Anxiety in Christianity that seems to inform Heidegger’s interpretation of the human condition in Being and Time, specifically Heidegger’s own self-understanding which would put ... (Derridean Heidegger 2/2) Philosophy and Christianity as the Religion of Anxiety

SEE THIS CURRENT BLOG SERIES LANDING PAGE ON DERRIDA’S AND HEIDEGGER’S PHILOSOPHY OF DEATH: Jacques Derrida and Martin Heidegger on The Philosophy of Death Once that affect of conclusion (conviction or belief) is suspended, “it is surely possible,” says Freud, “to throw oneself [to give oneself up to—it is a strong phrase: sich hingeben] into ... A Derridean Interpretation of Christian/Stoic Being-Toward Death in Heidegger’s Being and Time:

We had another great session of the Being and Time/Derrida discussion group today, especially thanks to our great discussion organizer.  What stood out to me: We asked what Heidegger is doing with the question of Being, since this isn’t immediately obvious.  If Hegel is right and Being is just the most general concept, then it isn’t clear ... Today’s Meeting on Being and Time and Derrida

Excited to be attending the next meeting on Heidegger and Derrida tomorrow.  We will be looking at Derrida’s introduction to his translation of Husserl’s geometry book. That makes me think of when Heidegger says “in Leibniz’s sense, a ratio sufficiens, a sufficient reason, isn’t at all a ground capable of supporting a being so that it ... Heidegger/Derrida Book Club Meeting Tomorrow

“Out of life’s school of war—what does not kill me makes me stronger (Nietzsche’s1888 book Twilight of the Idols.)” There is an entirely new type of causality here whereby the effect correlates with the cause but is not the result of it.  We might suppose a set of triplets in an abusive home: One grows ... Concluding Post on Derrida’s Life Death Seminar

I’m picking up from the same lecture course I was looking at from Derrida on concepts and metaphors, this time beginning a series on Life. If DNA is information like a text that is transmitted and deciphered without being “understood” as we typically talk about texts and meanings constructed hermeneutically, then is Derrida right that ... (Part 1) Derrida and Jacob on Life and Writing

δῆλον γὰρ ὡς ὑμεῖς μὲν ταῦτα [τί ποτε βούλεσθε σημαίνειν ὁπόταν ὂν φθέγγησθε] πάλαι γιγνώσκετε, ἡμεῖς δὲ πρὸ τοῦ μὲν ᾠόμεθα, νῦν δ’ ἠπορήκαμεν … This is translated as: “For manifestly you have long been aware of what you mean when you use the expression ‘being’. We, however, who used to think we understood it, ... CONCLUSION: ONLY A GOD …

I previously covered the first 3 lectures of Derrida’s Life/Death seminar focusing on what Derrida calls the Metaphoricity of the Metaphor and the Conceptuality of the Concept. That served as a good beginning and now I’d like to move on with an introduction to his fourth lecture. Nietzsche has a passage about “to schematize” and ... (Part 1) Derrida and The Logic of the Supplement The Supplement of the Other, of Death, of Meaning, of Life

In relation to Leibniz’s principle of ground/reason, Heidegger clarifies this issue in his 1957 book The Principle of Reason, “in Leibniz’s sense, a ratio sufficiens, a sufficient reason, isn’t at all a ground capable of supporting a being so that it doesn’t straightaway fall into nothing. A sufficient reason is one that reaches and offers ... (CONCLUSION) The Metaphoricity of Metaphor and the Conceptuality of the Concept with Heidegger and Derrida: A Case Study of Angelus Silesius

Interpretations are not hermeneutics of reading but political interventions in the political rewriting of the text. This has always been the case, but especially so since what is called the end of philosophy, since the textual indicator named Hegel. It is not an accident but an effect of the structure of all post-Hegelian texts that ... (PART 2) The Metaphoricity of Metaphor and the Conceptuality of the Concept with Heidegger and Derrida: Example, Exemplar, and Analogy Based Thinking.

“The metaphoricity of metaphor and the conceptuality of the concept …” – Derrida, Jacques. Life Death (The Seminars of Jacques Derrida) (p. 68). INTRODUCTION “Metaphor” means transporting something from one domain to another, such as when I say “he’s a cold blooded killer” or “she’s boiling mad,” I am transporting descriptions from the physical world ... New Blog Series: The Metaphoricity of Metaphor and the Conceptuality of the Concept with Heidegger and Derrida

“a mortal can only start from here, from his mortality.  His possible belief in immortality, his irresistible interest in the beyond, in gods and spirits, what makes survival structure every instant in a kind of irreducible torsion, the torsion of a retrospective anticipation that introduces the untimely moment and the posthumous in the most alive ... My Posts on Jacques Derrida’s Interpretation of Martin Heidegger’s Philosophy of Death: Afterword

(Jacques Derrida, wiki) (Martin Heidegger, wiki) These are my notes for an upcoming study of Heidegger’s Being and Time and Derrida’s response. I focus on philosophy of death and Derrida’s books The Gift of Death, On the Name, and Aporias. Foreword: Of course, most people live their lives “as though” the next moment won’t be ... Jacques Derrida and Martin Heidegger on The Philosophy of Death

Nietzsche argued that early Jews and Greeks were fundamentally “attached to life” and paid little attention to ideas of a personal afterlife or postmortem rewards and punishments. In his 1881 work Daybreak (specifically Section 72), Nietzsche contrasts the early Jewish and Greek mindset with that of Christianity and later mystery religions: Priority of Life over ... Jacques Derrida and the Philosophy of Death in Response to Heidegger in “APORIAS” (CONCLUSION)

Derrida notes no context, such as death, “can determine meaning to the point of exhaustiveness (Derrida, 9).”  Derrida connects this to the notion of aporia, a block in the path of appropriation that elicits wonder/thaumazein, something “fascinating/passionne (12)” that causes us to deconstruct and reconstruct our guiding perspective, such as when the beloved traditional definition ... Jacques Derrida and the Philosophy of Death in Response to Heidegger in “APORIAS” (Part 4)