Virtually everything reflected in your style is 'Enlightenment Rationalism'.
Everything? I certainly admit to being a rational person, and I admit to being heavily influenced by science and teachers who embraced many concepts that might be considered intellectual descendants of the so-called Enlightenment Project of the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, it could hardly be said that everything in my style is Enlightenment Rationalism. In fact, your very criticism of me being too traditional or stuck in a mindset from 50 years ago tends to belie that very point. Perhaps it would be better to talk about ways of thinking that I have adopted from the Enlightenment period, and in what ways I differ.
The Enlightenment opposed traditional powers and beliefs, considering much of what the church believed and taught to be superstition. In some ways I find agreement with this. Certainly the church's ptolemaic model of the universe at the time was more superstitious than rational. But in many ways I would disagree in that I still believe that the true church of Jesus Christ is the pillar and ground of truth. I also believe in the usefulness of authority, and that authority is ordained by God. So while the Enlightenment movement went towards discounting everything spiritual and embracing empirical sciences as the proper avenue of truth, I would not go so far as to consider the Biblical accounts as mythical. I believe in all the miracles of the Bible and in the Creation account as well, so in these ways I am very different from those of the Enlightenment.
The Enlightenment perceived that ideas were subject to the community and hence preferred public debate over authoritative dogma. In many ways, I agree with this, yet not completely. I see a place for authority and for proper dogma, called in the Bible, "Sound Doctrine." Some have argued that the American Revolution itself was really an experiment of the Enlightenment project. The concept of separating church and state stems naturally from the viewpoints of the Enlightenment rationalists. Again, while I find some agreement with this, I'm not sold out completely. I think ultimately the true utopia that everyone wishes for is not one where man simply takes charge, but one whereby man takes charge in submission to God. When the true theocracy is established, with Jesus Christ as head, and many of us appointed as kings and governors of his theocracy, then true peace will rule the earth and people will for once be truly in harmony with their neighbor and their Creator.
In the end, you try to paint with too big of a brush I think to say that virtually everything reflected in my style is 'Enlightenment Rationalism.' It would be better to say that being trained as a scientist, logic and reason permeate my thought processes, and so my acceptance of "logic" being of God and "illogic" and "irrationalism" being of all that is NOT God makes me what I am. Although I am rational and logical, I am not a pure scientist in that I believe in revelation. The difference I have with you is that I believe that revelation of truth is always rational whereas you seem to think that sometimes revelation will be irrational and yet still be considered truth. In the end, I think I pick and choose that which is good from the Enlightenment and spit out the bad. In like manner, I take what is good from other movements and discard the bad. It seems to me that sometimes you think that if you could only stereotype me with some arcane terminology few have a good grip on then you could sleep well at night thinking that you have put me in my place. I don't know. Maybe you have a different motivation. Sometimes I wonder about it, but that and a buck will get you a soda in some places.
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
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