tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post2713563911114713149..comments2024-03-28T10:44:30.518-06:00Comments on American Creation: The God of BenevolenceBrad Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17669677047039491864noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-15776478246864634872015-08-05T13:56:53.811-06:002015-08-05T13:56:53.811-06:00So nice to hear from you, KT. Were I to return, th...<i>So nice to hear from you, KT. Were I to return, they would eventually lynch me again, for it's their nature.</i><br /><br />Their inclination is to cite one for offenses against supposed community manners; it is, of course, a pose. I cannot think of any of that crew offhand who would not pull that con job. The tangle which got me banned was with the faux-libertarian college teacher from Michigan. Art Decohttp://wwrtc.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-63536134250421319192015-07-30T14:05:32.529-06:002015-07-30T14:05:32.529-06:00So nice to hear from you, KT. Were I to return, th...So nice to hear from you, KT. Were I to return, they would eventually lynch me again, for it's their nature.<br /><br />http://allaboutfrogs.org/stories/scorpion.html<br /><br />Some of the better gentlepersons follow me on Twitter. Hope to see you there or elsewhere, such as newreformclub.com, for which I have a number of things in the hopper.<br /><br />Again, nice to hear from you, and thank you.Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-60332857792240543042015-07-30T10:15:29.936-06:002015-07-30T10:15:29.936-06:00Now that Jon is posting over at OT (The Gents), I ...Now that Jon is posting over at OT (The Gents), I wonder if maybe you'll mosey on back, Tom? There remain a number of peeps who, I think, would like to see you again. ("See you again" in a good way.)ktwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10046394790308301956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-3172758797960394452015-07-26T10:01:31.507-06:002015-07-26T10:01:31.507-06:00Depends on how many Swedenborgers still kept their...Depends on how many Swedenborgers still kept their slaves. There were plenty of orthodox Christians who turned against the peculiar institution too.Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-43111842925899954302015-07-26T00:03:03.145-06:002015-07-26T00:03:03.145-06:00It's also interesting to look for which groups...It's also interesting to look for which groups first anticipated the ideas everyone now concedes are "good" moves in history (i.e., getting rid of slavery, recognizing religious liberty).<br /><br />In Protestant thought, the Quakers and Swedenborgs were ahead of the learning curve on among other issues slavery. <br /><br />Robert Carter III conversion to Swedenborg directly influences his decision to do what he did. And he was ahead of "Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee" in this regard.<br /><br />http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2010/12/forgotten-first-emancipator.htmlJonathan Rowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04079637406589278386noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-17762889076334775232015-07-25T23:26:04.176-06:002015-07-25T23:26:04.176-06:00One of the interesting things about studying "...One of the interesting things about studying "heresy" is how it compares and contrasts with "orthodoxy," and the common ground between them.<br /><br />One of Swedenborg's most notable works is entitled "Divine Providence." <br /><br />http://www.newcenturyedition.org/DP.pdf<br /><br />Swedenborg's writings are so dense however that it seems it would take a lifetime to absorb them. Just as there are "Kant scholars" (i.e., what John Silber was) there are "Swedenborg scholars." Though I think the former are more "respectable" in the "philosophy studies."Jonathan Rowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04079637406589278386noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-48615699893628637662015-07-25T19:13:33.165-06:002015-07-25T19:13:33.165-06:00One of the claims made, among elsewhere, in Dr. Gr...<i>One of the claims made, among elsewhere, in Dr. Gregg Frazer's book is that the God of the American Founding (what he terms "theistic rationalism," but could be termed differently) was more benevolent than the God of "the commonly received ideas of Christianity" in late 18th Century America.</i><br /><br /><br />I'm not sure arguing the fringes against the rule makes for a good method, although it's increasingly infesting American scholarship. Everybody seems to be a lot more interested about the unitarians and Swedenborgers and the like believed than what the far greater mass of Americans did.<br /><br />Orthodoxy is boring, yes, but few these days even know what the orthodox Protestantisms teach, let alone their debt to an even older tradition. ;-)<br /><br />http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2014/04/plagiarizing-catholicism-algernon-sidney-and-the-whigs.html<br /><br />Now, it may be true that these fringe theologies eventually devolved into today's new civic religion <br /><br />http://www.christianpost.com/news/moralistic-therapeutic-deism-the-new-american-religion-6266/<br /><br />and I find the idea persuasive, but it if Frazer argues<br /><br /><i>America's God wasn't that of late 18th Century biblical Christianity, but something more humanistic and rationalistic (the idea is it's American "man's reason" that changed the Christian God's features).</i><br /><br />I think he's off by at least a century.Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.com