Secular Frontier

PREVIOUSLY (INDEX) Education, Philosophy, Religion: The Dog Days of Summer Posts NOW: “Faith has no place in thought (Martin Heidegger, ‘Anaximander’s Saying,’ in Off the Beaten Track, 280).” What follows are some background ideas and contexts that may be helpful in thinking about Heidegger’s Being and Time. “Being” is a concept we always have with ... ANNOUNCEMENT: My 50th Birthday is Next Month and Starting August 7th I’ll be Blogging About and Celebrating the 100 Years Centenary of Martin Heidegger’s Gift of “Being and Time!”

PREVIOUSLY: Have a Great and Reflective Summer! Celebrating New Teachers: Education and Metaphysics with Squaring and Circling (2/2) Celebrating New Teachers: The Interview What I’m Watching: Jacob Berman and Dr. Robert M. Price on the Parousia (2/2) What I’m Watching: Jacob Berman and Dr. Robert M. Price on the Parousia Most Adults’ Beliefs about Humanity ... (INDEX) Education, Philosophy, Religion: The Dog Days of Summer Posts

I’m still on vacation from regularly posting on the blog, but… In honor of my American friends, I like to celebrate the United States with an English word: “Thing.”  I usually work with translations of various languages like German, French, Latin and Greek, but today let’s meditate on my native language I find it remarkable ... Happy Secular 4th of July to my American Friends!

July 1st is a nationwide statutory holiday in Canada, officially known as Canada Day. It celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation and is a paid day off for eligible employees across all provinces and territories. It is widely celebrated with outdoor events, parades, community gatherings, and fireworks across the country

If you’d like to see more by me, here is my Author’s Page at The Secular Web. (Darth Harley, Bark Lord of the Sith and curator of Secular Web Kids)

This is a great topic and I encourage reading Price’s article on it HERE. Here are some thoughts the video occasioned on the crucifixion. Substitutionary atonement is basically the idea that God is mad at sin and so to prevent his wrath a sacrifice must be offered, as offerings please God (e.g., the aroma of ... What I’m Watching: Jacob Berman and Dr. Robert M. Price on Christian Writers Rewriting the Old Testament to Create Stories About Jesus

From 2026 American Worldview Inventory – Report #4: Dr. George Barna, the Director of Research at the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, explained that the purpose of the Center’s annual worldview research is to help parents, church leaders, and Christian school educators identify areas of belief and behavior where Christians are missing the ... Most Adults’ Beliefs about Humanity and the Supernatural Stray from Biblical Teaching

Last Time: What I’m Watching: Jacob Berman and Dr. Robert M. Price on the Parousia Now, the conclusion In some ways the parousia in the New Testament is not just a future eschaton but a current reality, such as “Christ in You” in Paul’s letters. Plato in the Phaedo uses the word parousia to describe ... (2/2) What I’m Watching: Jacob Berman and Dr. Robert M. Price on the Parousia

I’ve been watching some videos in my free time and would like to share some thoughts occasioned by this one. Does Jesus say the kingdom is within, even in the hearts of the hard hearted pharisees? The Old Testament says the heart is corrupt beyond all things, but God will renew their hearts. Paul talks ... What I’m Watching: Jacob Berman and Dr. Robert M. Price on the Parousia

Last Time: Celebrating New Teachers: Education and Metaphysics with Squaring and Circling Now the conclusion: I’m still on vacation here at the blog, but I wanted to do a part 2 for the last post.  While last time I talked about some ideas for new teachers, I thought I might conclude this two-part series with ... (2/2) Celebrating New Teachers: The Interview

* (INTRODUCTION) Examples of Organizing Thinking with the Magic of 4s (Children Playing 4-Square at Recess) NEXT TIME: (2/2) Celebrating New Teachers: The Interview BUT FIRST: I’ve been on vacation from blogging until the Fall, but I encountered some very enthusiastic education students from the local university recently who had a table event at a ... Celebrating New Teachers: Education and Metaphysics with Squaring and Circling

I think I finally got all the typos in my last blog post, lol! We were thinking about fourfold rubrics of criteria used to teach, assess/evaluate.  In the history of Metaphysics from Plato to Heidegger, you have the basic idea that the really real is not the “present” thing in front of you (me on ... Have a Great and Reflective Summer!

The Fourfold Cord vs The Threefold Cord “And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Eccl 4:12) I talked a little the last few times about the threefold cord (I might have misspelled as “chord” a few times, but that’s okay I’m musical, lol), and ... (Part 6) The Fourfold Cord vs The Threefold Cord: My thoughts on Derrida’s “Interpretations at War Kant, the Jew, the German”

I keep coming back to the example / exemplar of houseness and threefold appearing “as” (mansion as houseness incarnate, houseness being merely present in the average house, and deficient in the dilapidated shack).  Moreover, there is the twofold deconstructive reversal where the mansion may appear gawdy to the next person, or the shack quaint/rustic.  But ... (Part 5) My thoughts on Derrida’s “Interpretations at War Kant, the Jew, the German”

We are trying to determine with Derrida what it means that Cohen was an exemplar of the Jewish-German spirit incarnated in the figure of Kant.  In order to think this let’s go back a little to the Apostle Paul. Debating the dates and authenticity of the Pauline letters is very difficult.  Seven are generally considered ... (Part 4) My thoughts on Derrida’s “Interpretations at War Kant, the Jew, the German”

We’ve been thinking with Derrida about examples and exemplars, where traditionally the exemplar is the really real (e.g., true friend), while the example is deficient in relation to it (just a friend).  Thought holistically, the missing third term here is a “bad friend.” The error that Derrida notes is our tendency to see the exemplar/example ... (Part 3) Threes and My thoughts on Derrida’s “Interpretations at War Kant, the Jew, the German”

I’ve been writing a lot about threes, like how the threefold degrees of houseness (mansion, average house, dilapidated shack) gives us a clear picture of the concept In that vein of threes, we might also see how the “threefold cord” is a metaphor for strength through unity and partnership. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says “And though one ... (Part 2) Threes and My thoughts on Derrida’s “Interpretations at War Kant, the Jew, the German”

“In order to understand, Heidegger says, one must see phenomenologically. He thus invites us to the first exercise of phenomenological “kindergarten.” To tear apart [zer-reissen] means: to tear into two parts, to separate: to make two out of one. If a sock is torn, then the sock is no longer present-at-hand—but note: precisely not as ... (Part 1) My thoughts on Derrida’s “Interpretations at War Kant, the Jew, the German”

1 Philosophy and Mysticism There is a profound connection between Heidegger and Christian mysticism. Heidegger stresses the passivity and receptivity of thought with the “Es gibt.” For example, we may struggle in futility all night when suddenly the solution “comes to us.” Likewise, we may struggle for days trying to remember a favorite song when ... My Thoughts on Derrida’s Des Tours de Babel  (In French, 1980; in English, 1985)

If Heidegger is playful, creating puzzles for his readers such as introducing concepts that are not clarified until hundreds of pages later or in other texts entirely, Derrida is one of the most tangential, deferring writers you will meet.  I imagine the late Derrida reincarnated as a watchdog distracted and chasing a squirrel into a ... My Thoughts on Derrida’s Faith and Knowledge The Two Sources of “Religion” at the Limits of Reason Alone

I’ve done two main blog series on Derrida so far: Landing Page for Posts on Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida on the Philosophy of Death and (INDEX) My Blog Series on the Anthology by and About John Caputo: Cross and Khora Now I’m moving on to his anthology “Acts of Religion.” Religious is an interesting ... Announcing New Blog Series: Jacques Derrida’s Acts of Religion

What is Postmodern Philosophy?  Postmodernism is what you get when you deconstruct the modern-Cartesian foundation of truth as certainty, free from doubt, to see it is not absolute but receives its privilege from Christianity from Thomas to Luther, because what had to be certain as free from doubt in that context was the salvation of ... Reflections on my now Completed Caputo Blog Series: Jesus and Postmodern Philosophy

THE POSTS There are many different paths in the Jesus tradition, and so we have Jesus on the cross in Mark begging God to save him but keeping trust in God’s plan and faithfulness. By contrast, in Luke-Acts we have the condemned Jesus and Stephen, not begging God to send a legion of angels to ... (INDEX) My Blog Series on the Anthology by and About John Caputo: Cross and Khora

If we look to the story of the prodigal son, we see both a case against substitutionary atonement, and a case for it.  On the one hand, we have a remorseful prodigal and a father who forgives without punishment, but at the same time we still have the offended protests of the good brother who ... Conclusion: Encountering Caputo’s Cross and Khora

I am coming to the end of the anthology on and by Philosopher John Caputo. The key emphasis seems to be beyond substitutionary atonement to focus on loving widow, orphan. stranger and enemy as more important than self, and so in Luke-Acts Jesus and Stephen not only end their wrongful deaths with prayers for themselves ... Religion and Phenomenology with Buckley and Caputo

We often wonder to what extent punishment is vengeance rather than justice.  Glazebrook suggests Yet punishment cannot undo harm. A jail sentence does not unrape the victim. A better world is not one wherein all crimes are paid for, but one in which harm-generating activities like crime are no longer one’s best option. The impossible, ... Caputo and Glazebrook on Trying to Appease God’s Wrath vs Focus on Love of Undesirables

I’m continuing my reading of the Caputo anthology Cross and Khora, which is the first book in the Postmodernism and Ethics series that was left unfinished after David Goicoechea died. The deconstructive reading points to a context without privileging that context vs others.  So, you may read in an “author intention” context, trying to get ... Caputo and Huntington on the Economy of Religion