----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert J. Chassell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <brin-l@mccmedia.com> Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2007 4:25 PM Subject: Re: Was the conversion of John C Wright numinous?
> But again, in Wrights case, how does one explain a person who is > not from a Marian tradition having a visitation from the "Mother > Of God"? It is not something one would expect to hear from > (frex) > a Baptist, much less an athiest raised in a (according to Wright) > non-Marian tradition. > > But he grew up in a Christian culture, even if he personally was > raised in a non-Marian tradition. Perhaps my inability to understand this is because of my own background. Raised in the strongest of Marian traditions yet surrounded by traditions that were mildly to strongly anti-Marian. It would seem to me that if one were to construct a continuum line for Marian belief, Athiests would inhabit a section beyond (frex) the Baptists and Catholics would occupy a space closer to the center than say......Dan Brown<G>. > > Wright is an educated person ... > > I would expect him to interpret his own, personal experience as > telling him the truth. Only if he not only learned but came to live > the notion that criticism from another culture is the best form of > error correction (to vary David Brin's statement slightly) would he > not believe a numinous experience that he himself had ... Funny that you would mention Brin. Some of Wrights rhetoric reminds me of Brin if you overlook the conservative bent. > > "I went to St. John's College in Annapolis ... > > This tells me that he knew about the Marian tradition. I spent a > year > at St. John's daughter college in Santa Fe, NM. Certainly, it is a > good place. But please remember, besides reading Plato and > Aristotle, > Marx and Freud, you read Catholic texts, the best there are. > Certainly I would expect Aquinas to be part of a complete education within such a curriculum at a minimum. But since you likely have a better idea about the things Wright would have learned, perhaps you can give some idea of how Marianism is regarded in higher educational circles. I cannot help but discount cultural influences on an Athiest, at least in the more general ways one may be influenced by what I would expect to be a competing belief. xponent Curiousity Counts! Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
