Philosophy, theology, and occasionally something that isn’t either of those two. Feel free to email, Facebook, whatever.
walterjosephkovacs11 at gmail dot com is my working email.
Guest posts so far:
The Biomechanics of Pragmatism
A blog of sound and fury, signifying nothing
Scattered Thoughts on Theology and Ministry...
Seeking truth and beauty from the heavenly city.
A desktop app that gives WordPress a permanent home in your dock
An exploration of the works of poet Charles Williams (1886-1945)
Some Thoughts on the Book of Acts and Pauline Theology
“Either we are fools for the world because of Christ or we are fools for Christ because of the world. O how short-lived is the sound of a word of the world! If the world would say to us ‘fool,’ the world will die and its word will die! What then is the value of its word? But if the heavenly, immortal ones say to us ‘fool,’ that will neither die nor is it removed from us as eternal condemnation.” + St. Nikolai Velimirovich
Blogging about philosophy, by a part-time student
A venue for anti-passivist thinking, from metaphysics to social theory
Miscellaneous Musings
A blog devoted to the translation of German New Testament scholarship
A Sydney based theological reading and discussion group
Theology. Philosophy. Life.
| a faith worth keeping |
The name of this blog is A Rigid Designator
"religion is above all an external word" (Lindbeck)
βιβλιο: "book"; σκώληξ: "worm"
Theologians, Inc. 
Your blog does not read as a straw “dog” 😉
Thanks for being a good and faithful disciple…
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Thanks for the kind words – I’m trying my best 🙂
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As a regular reader, I would echo what nelsonpage says above, and add that in a world of sub-straw, even straw is strong.
In line with that, this quote might tickle you:
‘If by grace what I say has in any respect any validity,
it is, of course, only one facet of a truth incalculably rich.’
JRR TOLKIEN, ‘On Fairy Stories’, 1939.
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I would wholeheartedly agree with Tolkien there – and I appreciate the encouragement 🙂
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And what sayest thou of William Stringfellow? Jacques Ellul?
Wright? — but not Crossan? Calvin, Wesley, & that silly Lewis person… but not George Fox?
Should I try to bother thee about a old Quaker Bible study blog in need of new personnel?
“Bizarre travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.” [Bokonon]
(Peace & Good Stuff anyway, even if you don’t want to come over & play.)
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Apologies for the delay in reply. I’m not a big fan of Crossan, myself. The other names are not familiar to me.
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William Stringfellow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stringfellow
Jacques Ellul was a French Protestant theological writer, best known here for his writings on the tyrannical dominance of ‘technological’ thinking on the modern mind-set, but also for his book on the Book of Revelation, and some nice commentary on some stories from Kings, etc.
NT Wright is an Episcopalian bishop, studied 1st Century Jewish/early-Christian history under Crossan, whom he continues to respect despite a much more traditional (& more cogent, to my mind) take on what Jesus was doing in the midst of that history…
George Fox: active in the 17th Century English Puritan movement, the most prominent of the founders of the Society of Friends aka ‘Quakers’. Jailbird.
Bokonon: calypso-writing fictional holy man in Kurt Vonnegut’s _Cat’s Cradle_.
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Ah, Fox I did know of then. Ellul sounds interesting – thanks for the explanation.
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Ellul is EXCELLENT – can’t recommend highly enough (along with Albert Borgmann; both deal with issues of technological advance and ‘technique’).
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Beautiful! I am happy to walk with you 🙂
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I like N. T. Wright a lot too; I think you’d also like his friend James D. G. Dunn, whom I find just as brilliant, if not more!
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Dunn is quite brilliant – one heck of a scholar. I need to read more of him.
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I have been doing some posts around the theme of the reformation of contemporary American Christianity. Assuming you think we need reforming, do you have any thoughts on the subject?
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I’m a big believer in the paleo-orthodox movement, which basically a back-to-the-roots movement – it sees the first 5-6 centuries of Christianity (various councils and dogmas) as normative for the Christian faith at large (N.T. Wright, T.F. Torrance and Karl Barth are some of the more well known names who fall within the very large umbrella of paleo-orthodoxy.
I say that to say that I see a return to the early church as being quite key in reforming American Christianity (which means lots of things to lots of people, but I have an idea of how you mean it here). In a nutshell? Go back to the early church, listen to the Fathers, and, honestly, re-think a lot of things (justice, for example) from the ground up.
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Thank you for your comment. I was not aware of a paleo-orthodox movement. I had however thought of the Nicene Creed as a basis for the unity of a reformed Christianity. It leaves out many of the divisive issues while requiring adherence to the “meat” of what Christians need to believe. It is also pre-Reformation so all branches of Christianity could accept it as foundational. As far as the theological study you suggest, I think that is beyond me. However, I think you are right about the need to reexamine all our Christian positions to make sure, as best we can, that these are what Jesus would want us to think.
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I’m writing to invite you to join the new Bible Gateway Blogger Grid (BG²). If you’d like details, please email me. Thanks.
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I’d love to – but I’m afraid I don’t know your email or know of where to find it – when I click on your username I get taken to the BibleGateway site – there’s an ‘contact’ tab there, is that the correct email?
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Great to meet you. Thanks for visiting my blog so that I could find you.
Regards,
Sreejith
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Looking forward to interacting with you.
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sounds good
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Would you say that Lewis believed in immediate resurrection?The New Testament does say we go to heaven at death and at the Second Advent. When we die, are we resurrected at that time? Please share your opinion.
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Regarding Lewis’ view of the afterlife, I’ll direct you to this article, since it’s been quite a while since I’ve read on Lewis’ take on the afterlife – http://augustinecollective.org/augustine/becoming-oneself
As far as my own opinion, I pretty much agree with N.T. Wright on this issue: http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1710844,00.html
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Whitefrozen,
Thank you again for the always-helpful material. You have my apologies for the links earlier.
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Whitefrozen,
I am wondering why you had made your request. Based on my discussion with another Christian who is much more senior than I am and his reaction to my comments about hell in other threads, I think I know why. My ambivalence about the three (perhaps 4) views on Scripture’s conclusion on the topic of hell are described in several threads. And, to be honest, I don’t know which of the three (or 4) is the full truth of it. While often taking some heat for that uncertainty, both from Non-Christians and Christians, I feel it is important to settle it in my own mind and heart before injecting a truth claim on that topic into any conversation, especially a public one. Reasoning it through and allowing the conclusion to be shaped by the full body of my own Christian awareness has not come to a conclusive end as of yet. I can understand that being perceived as a failure to defend our faith, and I can only say that, if one reads other threads where that same ambivalence is unpacked further, you may appreciate that such is not a betrayal of our faith but rather a pause — waiting for the picture to come into better focus. For any potential readers, my own linking to your blog should not be referenced as any level of association between [a] that ambivalence on my part and [b] you or your blog. Yours is a fruitful work and you do a wonderful job of not only defending both the Christian Faith and the use of reason but also of aiding the intellect, the heart, and the soul in finding good reasons to turn their gaze upward.
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