http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos Following the Logos Where He Leads Fri, 20 Apr 2007 21:10:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I was here, but now I am here. I am not going to update this site so you might want to go there! Please change your book marks. http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/please-visit-my-new-blog/ New York City before Rudy was an aging courtesan. Visiting New York City was a trip to a third-world country that had become so by choice. Times-Square was disgusting . . . full of the sort of raunchy shops that the morally stunted think are adult. Much of the city ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/i-probably-cannot-do-it-rudy-2008/ The following post is by Josh Sikora, who determines film excellence in our house. A winner of the Saint Anne’s Award as outstanding THI student of his year, he is also a producer and soon (I predict) will be a leader in bringing new content (beyond Diet Coke bottles exploding) ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/further-thoughts-on-lady-in-the-water/ Why should a person believe in God? In this world, it is hard to be sure of anything very interesting. I am not sure that my wife really loves me, cannot be sure that my children are my own (!), and cannot be positive that I will live to see ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/dostoyevsky-atheism-and-god-a-second-reply-to-a-letter-from-a-reader/ To the Republican Leadership: A republican form of government exists because opinion polls are not always correct. The “will of the people” at any given moment is not always what the people want when they pause to consider. The Founders in their wisdom allowed the people (us) to elect representatives who ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/support-the-troops-and-avoid-useless-politics/ I don’t usually respond to letters from readers . . . because I have a day job and can hardly do all the things that it requires, but this one was interesting and captured the ideas in many letters and questions I get. It was also better written than ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/on-atheism-and-god-a-letter-from-a-reader/ Ignorance of sophisticated religion is at the heart of much “anti-religious” nattering from atheists and skeptics. It is hard to blame them since most schools don’t require reading sophisticated religious writings and will purge religious writers (like John Locke) of religious references when they are read. Since most of ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/check-out-this-great-new-blog/ Ignorance of sophisticated religion is at the heart of much “anti-religious” nattering from atheists and skeptics. It is hard to blame them since most schools don’t require reading sophisticated religious writings and will purge religious writers (like John Locke) of religious references when they are read. Since most of ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/heather-mcdonald-what-the-ivy-schools-dont-discuss-causes-strange-ignorance/ The original Lerner/Lowe musical Camelot is a musical without a moral center . . . a confusing piece of early sixties fluff. It has some great tunes, no team that did My Fair Lady could do less, but a muddle of a book . . .something even sympathetic reviewers ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/la-mirada-camelot-the-best-version-of-this-flawed-classic-ever/ Great Britain faced great global dangers in the 1920’s and 1930’s. She decided the Empire could not afford to rearm and feared war more than anything else. Yet war with a still weak, but re-arming Germany could not be avoided. Britain could fight sooner or later, but it would have ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/at-a-greater-cost-winning-now-or-later/ As Romney gets ready to run for President, Christians need to avoid making arguments that can easily be turned against their own views. I have argued that Romney’s Mormonism should not disqualify him from office. I stand by that argument, though I have not yet decided who is best ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/on-weisberg-romney-and-secular-ignorance-about-religion/ Let us be blunt: it is hard to define cool in any generation, but easier to say what cool is not. Republicans are not cool . . . and lose elections when they try as California Republicans discover every so often. (The belief that “Arnold” is an exception . ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/on-being-cool-stephanie-edwards-the-rose-parade-and-the-stupidity-of-ktla/ Today is the third day of the Feast of Christmas. . . a day the Church chooses to remember Saint John the Evangelist and Apostle. Theologian, man of passions, and apostle, John is my favorite writer in the New Testament. He is easily the match for Plato in terms of ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/saint-johns-day-the-third-day-of-christmas/ The Holiday is not over! The Church is not stingy like the secular culture and knows better than to try to squeeze all the jollification we need into one day. There are still ten days to go. . . but still St. Stephen’s Day can seem a bit pale. Many ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/saint-stephens-day-boxing-day-the-second-day-of-christmas/ Nearly every culture dreamed of it: a virgin would conceive, a god would come to Earth and show us justice, and healing and peace would come at last to mankind. Nobody could make all of the elements work into one great story, but humanity knew what we needed. We dreamed of ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/merry-christmas-the-fairy-tale-is-true/ Happy endings require love, but the love folks are looking for is either in short supply or surprisingly unsatisfying when found. Christmas is a holiday for loving the movies tell us, but love is pretty hard to find. As Love Actually points out “love is all around” in virtual reality, ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/love-is-all-around-this-christmas/ Christmas always brings out the cynics in modern times and it is no wonder. Children grow up watching Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, or some other fairy tale, but seeing their parents divorce, political leaders lie, and hearing “grown up” media sneer at their movies. Disney promises that if they ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/romance-at-christmas-defeating-the-cynics/ Note on the origins of the manuscript: Yesterday I was working on a manuscript related to Plato’s view of time and eternity in Timaeus. My daughter was playing Christmas music in the other room just as I was translating the odd section on numbers that puzzled even A.E. Taylor. Mary Kate ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/a-letter-from-2035-the-appeal-of-the-dutiful-man/ The Conclusion of a Five Part Series based on a 11/06 ETS paper. (This section contains work also found in a paper on Mozart given to THI two yeas ago.) West ends up taking young artists too seriously, empowering, hip-hop artists instead of educating them in better things. However, ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/loving-christendom-on-cornel-west-constantine-and-a-defense-of-the-religious-right-v-2/ Our children, the greatest asset our society has, are given to the college and university system in part to produce leaders. America needs leaders . . . men and women of virtue and character who can make hard decisions and who will serve their fellow citizens. Colleges and universities have ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/choose-a-college-that-will-try-to-teach-leadership-and-virtue/ A Series of Posts Based on a Paper Given at the ETS 11/2006. Cornel West with other modern Christian liberals has a problem. He does not want to argue for passive non-involvement in politics, since he feels that great social change is needed. Most Americans are Christians and motivated by their ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/loving-christendom-on-cornel-west-constantine-and-a-defense-of-the-religious-right-iv/ A Series of Posts Based on a Paper Given at the ETS 11/2006. Cornel West with other modern Christian liberals has a problem. He does not want to argue for passive non-involvement in politics, since he feels that great social change is needed. Most Americans are Christians and motivated by their ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/loving-christendom-on-cornel-west-constantine-and-a-defense-of-the-religious-right-iv/ Based on a Paper Given at the ETS in 11/2006 Cornel West Tries to Attack Constantine . . . III. Possible Definitions of Constantinianism West uses the term “Constantinianism” throughout his book Democracy Matters. Over the course of the text, no formal definition is given, but West does give clues to what he ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/loving-christendom-on-cornel-west-constantine-and-a-defense-of-the-religious-right-iii-2-2/ Part II of a Series based on a Paper Given at the 11/06 ETS What about Constantine? Why is this Roman Emperor dragged into modern debate by writers like Cornel West? Constantine was the Emperor who ended the official Roman persecution of the Church and favored Christianity in his public acts. ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/loving-christendom-on-cornel-west-constantine-with-a-defense-of-the-religious-right-ii/ Part I in a Series of Posts Based on an ETS paper of 11/2006: Christendom is widely abandoned and ridiculed. Despite helping create the modern university, parliamentary forms of government, international law, world class arts and science, the vices of Christendom are more widely know than her virtues. Yet Christendom ... http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/eidos/archives/loving-christendom-on-cornel-west-constantine-with-a-defense-of-the-religious-right/