The Secular Frontier

Parmenides said “for the same is apprehending as well as Being.”  Apprehending is a translation of the Greek word noein, to “take” into sight (to look it over or “take” it into consideration).  We operate in this while not normally s ... Read Article

This is my second of two background pieces on Being that will prepare us to follow Heidegger along Parmenides's path. An understanding of Being is necessary for us to “encounter” beings “as such,” for them to make us happy, weigh on us in a tro ... Read Article

I’ve moved beyond Heidegger’s analysis of Anaximander in the lecture course to Parmenides.  Parmenides, of course, is the great philosopher of Being, so let’s gather some preliminary thoughts about Being. When we normally talk about Being, w ... Read Article

I noted previously Anaximander is talking about beings, ta onta, the neuter plural of to on – being, which implies beings in their unity and not just a multiplicity.  Heidegger notes we see this too in Sanskrit. In Sanskrit, the use of the neuter p ... Read Article

Anaximander gave us a word about beings as beings (entities, things that are in some way instead of being nothing) not just about beings of a specific domain like physical beings or anthropological entities, beings in their Being, and one of the elements ... Read Article

“The fragment of Anaximander presents one of the strongest hermeneutic challenges known to modem philology and philosophy.”  (Prof Vassilis Lambropoulos: Stumbling.over the ‘Boundary Stone of Greek Philosophy’ Two Centuries-of Translating th ... Read Article

"The fragment of Anaximander presents one of the strongest hermeneutic challenges known to modem philology and philosophy."  (Prof Vassilis Lambropoulos: Stumbling.over the 'Boundary Stone of Greek Philosophy' Two Centuries-of Translating the Anaximand ... Read Article

“The fragment of Anaximander presents one of the strongest hermeneutic challenges known to modem philology and philosophy.”  (Prof Vassilis Lambropoulos: Stumbling.Over the ‘Boundary Stone of Greek Philosophy’ Two Centuries-of Translating the An ... Read Article

“The fragment of Anaximander presents one of the strongest hermeneutic challenges known to modem philology and philosophy.”  (Prof Vassilis Lambropoulos: Stumbling.Over the ‘Boundary Stone of Greek Philosophy’ Two Centuries-of Translating the An ... Read Article

“The fragment of Anaximander presents one of the strongest hermeneutic challenges known to modem philology and philosophy.”  (Prof Vassilis Lambropoulos: Stumbling.Over the ‘Boundary Stone of Greek Philosophy’ Two Centuries-of Translating the An ... Read Article

After talking to a few people I decided to summarize the previous The Late Date of the Gospels blog post series regarding 2 issues: (i) A Second Century date for Mark and (ii) The theory Luke comes after Matthew. MARK I argued that the traditional d ... Read Article

This volume comprises a lecture course given by Martin Heidegger at the University of Freiburg in 1932.  It’s topic is the beginning of Western philosophy and deals with Being and beings.  What is Being?  The quote from Plato's Sophis ... Read Article

"Aristotle, Plato's disciple, relates at one place (Nicomachean Ethics, Z 7, 1141b 77ff ) the basic conception determining the Greek view on the essence of the thinker: 'It is said they (the thinkers) indeed know things that are excessive, and thus astou ... Read Article

This is my new updated blogging index for this fine book. In 2011, Jesus Mythicism, the idea that Jesus never existed, was at peak popularity on the internet with sites like Neil Godfrey’s Vridar and Project Reason’s forum, and I was searching ... Read Article

The crucifixion of Cleomenes III and his snake that converts the onlookers has been ignored by commenters in large part because a date for Mark has been assigned from the war due to Jesus's supposed prediction (66-74; probably 70). This seems to be mostly ... Read Article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogHqVFbc0qM&t Last time I thought a bit with Robert M Price about a late date for the gospels thinking about topics like Marcion. It seemed that Mark and Matthew alluded to the Jewish revolt (though Mark was a bit ... Read Article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqewC07g4Z4 Price notes that the Gospel of Mark was probably written in Rome.  It contains Latinisms like “centurion” even though it was written in Greek.  It makes sense that it was the venerated gospel ... Read Article

The notion of one's eyes being opened in the bible is an important theme, meaning transformation. Adam and Eve's eyes are opened to their nakedness, as Paul/Saul's were opened to the wrongness of persecuting the early church. We see something similar wi ... Read Article

I was thinking last time about how the Jews thought God brought judgment against them historically through them being conquered. I'd like to apply this to the destruction of the temple in 70CE. This seems to be a big impetus for the gospels, and so Mark i ... Read Article

We often look at the idea of sin from the point of view of an individual’s personal shortcomings.  In light of this modern interpretation of the individual, Jesus’s sacrifice as substitutionary atonement seems to make sense.  But this is not ... Read Article

We thought previously about the pneumatikos or resurrection spiritual body of Jesus that would allow him to simultaneously indwell all believers as "Christ in You" to power you up in your spiritual fight against the tempter. In this conclusion I'll flesh ... Read Article

The interpretation of "Christ in You" being angelic possession as a haggadic midrash of the "excellent spirit" of Daniel 6:3 (being both the character of Daniel and the spirit that guided and empowered him), we noted the connection to the daimonion guidin ... Read Article

And Daniel was clothed in purple and was great and esteemed before king Darius, as he was knowledgeable and intelligent and a holy spirit was in him (Daniel 6:3, Old Greek) And Daniel was above them, because an excellent spirit was in him, and the k ... Read Article

In 2011, Jesus Mythicism, the idea that Jesus never existed, was at peak popularity on the internet with sites like Neil Godfrey's Vridar and Project Reason's forum, and I was searching for scholarship engaging with Christ Myth theorist Earl Doherty, ... Read Article

Last time we looked a bit about Paul’s claim that Jesus was killed by the archons of this aion (rulers of this age), and this reflected the demonic spirits influencing Pilate and the Jews (eg., the crowd, the supreme council) against Jesus.  This f ... Read Article