Tag: Chrestomathy

“A blind, purposeless and material process does not and cannot know that it is blind, or purposeless, or material. It cannot know anything. If thought is simply the froth on the waves of our brain activity, then one of the first things that thought loses is the ability to know that there is even such a thing as brain activity, or froth for that matter. If human argumentation is simply the epiphenomena that our brain chemistry produces, then there is absolutely no reason to trust human argumentation—including the arguments that urge us to believe that argumentation is simply the epiphenomena that our brain chemistry produces. If reason is simply what these chemicals do under these conditions and at this temperature, then we cannot know that such things as ‘chemicals’ exist, and we certainly cannot know about ‘conditions’ and ‘temperatures.’”

The Light From Behind the Sun, pp. 54-55

“In my view, whatever form the argument takes—although this may be just me—it is a slam-dunk, knock-down, set-the-tattered-remains-on-fire argument.”

The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 53

“In haste I ordered a copy of The Defense of the Faith . . . and breathed a sign of relief after I read it. I guess I was Van Tillian. There are worse things, I suppose.”

The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 52

“When Jesus cleanses the Temple, He drives out the merchants and moneychangers from the Court of the Gentiles. The Gentiles had a court at the Temple, designated for them to worship the true God, and without becoming Jews first.”

The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 46

“In the Old Testament, Gentiles were under no obligation whatever to become Jews. They could be saved without becoming Jews, and many of them were saved without becoming Jews. The Jews were not the believers of the Old Testament, but were rather the priestly people of the Old Testament. They served in this function for the sake of the Gentile nations.”

The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 45

“I should mention in passing that the entire culture of the Calormenes is obviously a stand-in for Islam. This is most explicit at the beginning of chapter 4 of The Horse and His Boy when Lewis describes Tashbaan as having numerous minarets—and a minaret is a tower attached to a mosque.”

The Light Behind the Sun, p. 42

“If this broad and inclusive approach were true, then Christ died for nothing. With a sorrow deeper than any man has ever experienced, Christ asked His Father to have the cup pass from Him if there were any other way (Matt. 26:39). If the Father could have said something like, ‘Well, the Rig Veda has some promising developments,’ then why did Jesus have to die? Jesus had to die because there was no other way to save us.”

The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 34

“And if we inquire too closely into what would have need to have happened to her [Susan] in order to bring all this about, we can be assured that this would be a sure way to get Aslan to growl at us.”

The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 30

“For Plato, the realm of the Forms would not have been material, tangible, or dense with molecules. Rather, Plato was thinking of an upscale Euclidville.”

The Light Behind the Sun, p. 26

“What is someone to do, if they find their identity in beauty, in a world where beauty fades?”

The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 21