I think John who wrote of God as the Word can be helpful in relation to
this subject. Peirce was no stranger to the idea that we talk to one within
us. If one surmises that this is not an uncommon phenomenon and is itself
worth investigation one might also surmise that whoever God is remains a
Jon, list:
Jon wrote: "With that in mind, a unique aspect of Christianity is its startling
affirmation that God Himself entered into Actuality--"
I don't think that the concept of 'god entering into actuality' is unique to
Christianity. It's basic to many ancient beliefs [loosely term as
Helmut, List,
Thanks for this, Helmut. When I was studying comparative and inter-religion
for about a decade a couple of decades ago, I found the distinction
'esoteric' vs 'exoteric' of help, for example, in such a discussion as
we're having. Your pointing to what some scholars refer to as the
Dear Gary, list:
Alternatively, I would recommend examining what Peirce thought of Spinoza
before we go down the road you suggest:
Spinoza’s chief work, the “Ethics”, is an exposition of the idea of the
absolute, with a monistic theory of the correspondence between mind and
matter, and
Jon, Edwina, List,
I think that there are in fact several, perhaps many ways of being
Christian, from more exoteric, traditional positions (doctrinaire,
dogmatic, Bible centered, etc.) to those considerably less so, that is,
more esoteric positions (mystical in, for example, the tradition of
Edwina, List:
If we presuppose that all religions are purely human constructs, then your
approach makes perfect sense. On the other hand, if we take seriously the
hypothesis that Jesus is God Himself in human flesh--not a mere "mortal
born of gods"--then we will obviously proceed very
