modern.gods

A directed-topic paper for Nicholas Adams' excellent seminar on Kant's  Critique of Pure Reason , this paper explores the question "Does Kant assume the existence of things-in-themselves ( ding an sich )?" and finds that there is an irreducible inconsistency in Kant's view as a consequent of his division between understanding and moral reasoning. https://www.academia.edu/2066793/Kant_-_Things_in_Themselves

In contrast to the much-debated topic of whether or not Barth is a universalist, this paper examines Barth's explicit denial of universalism and asks what is theologically at stake in this denial. https://www.academia.edu/2066790/Barths_Repudiation_of_Universalism

Inspired by WB Root conscripted stone in the fight against man roiling tendrils and tender filaments wrapped slowly, gently gracing the rough granite the stoic crystal, the fragment of ancient bedrock. Sinew and bone, and steel struggled long, but was outdone retired home towards the fading hearth. A monument to victory still stands on that hill, feeling the breeze, old, and coarse. Root still holds stone in long embrace The strength-blood of a hundred years and the cold heir to a thousand still bound in bright defiance. But what is wrought in life, life will undo it: A hairline crack, a thread of water and it is finished in an instant.

Christian leadership is a popular topic today. While Jesus and the Bible definitely spoke about those in political authority in their time, we do not often limit the term today to refer to those in office. Where do we find the concept of a Christian leader in the life of Christ and the early church? What is significant about "leading"? Is it a core Biblical concept, or is it merely a baptism of the modern love of effectiveness and managerial prowess? To find what is meant today by Christian leadership, we must first ask to whom and in what situation this term is  directed. Those most often termed "Christian leaders" or seen as in need of leadership training tend to fall into three types, sometimes overlapping, each with a corresponding leadership "axis": the pastor as leader of their church, the influential businessperson as leader in their business relations, and more generally the Christian as a leader in their relationships with neighbors. The Bible

"According to Nussbaum, the attempt to secure social cooperation on the basis of mutual advantage for the contracting parties is at the heart of liberal political theory.... Liberalism teaches us to provide an account of justice that does not depend on the presumption of altruism, but rather assumes an admittedly fictive bargaining process that establishes fundamental principles of mutual advantage. The presumption is that people will do the right things if they can see that it really is in their best interest." (85) Hauerwas's critique of liberal political theory hinges on his theological anthropology. LPT assumes a society composed of autonomous rational actors, independent of and prior to any determinative tradition, seeking after their own self-interest, as necessary for an account of justice distributed to the members of said society . (...) Despite such strong critiques of LPT on a person/society scale, LPT is still the dominant mode of thought on a nation-s

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