Lexham Survey of Theology - feedback
Comments
-
Doug Mangum said:
Asking for a friend.
Hi Doug. You've got some great suggestions in other posts, let me just complement them with one more book. God and the World by Joseph Ratzinger (https://www.logos.com/product/32881/god-and-the-world-believing-and-living-in-our-time-a-conversation-with-peter-seewald).
This is a book length interview with Peter Seewald, where Seewald asks Ratzinger questions about the Catholic faith in a rather systematic fashion, covering in one way or another most of the topics that would be covered in the Catechism or in a systematic theology, with the advantages and disadvantages typical of an interview. Ratzinger is considered by many to be the greatest Catholic theologian alive, and as a German theology professor was also intimately familiar with Protestant theologians like Luther and Barth.
0 -
Fr Devin Roza said:
Hi Doug. You've got some great suggestions in other posts, let me just complement them with one more book. God and the World by Joseph Ratzinger (https://www.logos.com/product/32881/god-and-the-world-believing-and-living-in-our-time-a-conversation-with-peter-seewald).Doug Mangum said:Asking for a friend.
This is a book length interview with Peter Seewald, where Seewald asks Ratzinger questions about the Catholic faith in a rather systematic fashion, covering in one way or another most of the topics that would be covered in the Catechism or in a systematic theology, with the advantages and disadvantages typical of an interview. Ratzinger is considered by many to be the greatest Catholic theologian alive, and as a German theology professor was also intimately familiar with Protestant theologians like Luther and Barth.
Fantastic suggestion!
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
0 -
Fr Devin Roza said:
Hi Doug. You've got some great suggestions in other posts, let me just complement them with one more book. God and the World by Joseph Ratzinger (https://www.logos.com/product/32881/god-and-the-world-believing-and-living-in-our-time-a-conversation-with-peter-seewald).
Ths is a book length interview with Peter Seewald, where Seewald asks Ratzinger questions about the Catholic faith in a rather systematic fashion, covering in one way or another most of the topics that would be covered in the Catechism or in a systematic theology, with the advantages and disadvantages typical of an interview. Ratzinger is considered by many to be the greatest Catholic theologian alive, and as a German theology professor was also intimately familiar with Protestant theologians like Luther and Barth.
Thanks for all the reading suggestions. Sounds like this one might be the best to start with.
0 -
Damian McGrath said:
Fascinating that "Mariology" is situated under "The Person and Work of Christ".
Is not the Council of Ephesus's declaration that Mary is the "Mother of God" a Christological statement? Does not Ineffabilis Deus give Christological reasons in the center of the definition of Immaculate Conception?
The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann
L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials
L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze
0 -
Fr. Devin:
Thanks for the suggested read.
- Man
- God
- Creation
- Order in Creation
- The Two Testaments
- The Law
- Love
- Revelation
- The Light
- The Way
- The Truth
- Life
- The Mother of God
- The Cross
- The Spirit
- Spiritual Gifts
- The Sacraments
- The Future
A question: In your opinion, why is moral theology left out of the contents? (just curious), and how about social teaching?
Kind regards.
0 -
Hamilton Ramos said:
Fr. Devin:
Thanks for the suggested read.
- Man
- God
- Creation
- Order in Creation
- The Two Testaments
- The Law
- Love
- Revelation
- The Light
- The Way
- The Truth
- Life
- The Mother of God
- The Cross
- The Spirit
- Spiritual Gifts
- The Sacraments
- The Future
A question: In your opinion, why is moral theology left out of the contents? (just curious), and how about social teaching?
Kind regards.
Hi Hamilton. This is an interview, and in this case Peter Seewald wrote and asked the questions he was interested in. Ratzinger did not know the questions ahead of time, and his answers are unprepared. So, we would need to ask Seewald!
That being said, the full table of contents is quite a bit more detailed that what you list above, and there are quite a few specific chapters on moral theology.
Under the section on God, there is a chapter on "Law" with questions about "The Four Laws" (referring to natural law, the law of desire or concupiscence, the Mosaic law, and the New Covenant law), followed by questions on the 10 commandments. This is then followed by a chapter on "Love" with questions on "The Meaning of Life", "How do we learn to love?" and "Aspects of Love."
There are also other chapters related to moral theology, like a chapter on "The Tree of Life", "So-called evil" (which deals with topics like temptation, the fall of the angels, and evil), chapters on Jesus as "The Way", "Power and Possessions", "Mercy", "Judging", "The Two Ways", "True and False Cares", "Guild and Reconciliation", "Marriage", etc.
I don't see any chapters dealing specifically with social teaching as such. However, social topics appear throughout the book at different moments. I did a search for the word "social", and it appears 25 times, and many of these references seem to be dealing with issues of social teaching. Here is an example text that deals with some aspects of social teaching. Texts in italics are Seewald, the rest is Ratzinger.
Let’s pick out one of these works: “Clothing the naked”. That surely doesn’t mean giving away old clothes.
Of course this saying is meant in a more inclusive sense. Certainly the gift of old clothes can be a good thing, if it is done from the heart; we ought not to undervalue little things. But here it’s a matter of more than that. On one hand, it has always to do with real practical help. What matters is that we shouldn’t just hold fine principles and, from time to time, make a donation, but we should be on the lookout to see where people need me in my own life. That is usually uncomfortable and inconvenient. Think about the priest and the Levite who pass by the man who has been attacked and robbed. Each of them probably has an important appointment, or maybe they’re afraid something could happen to them if they stop fox too long in this frightening place. There’s always a reason.
Jesus’ parable of the last judgment, like the list of the works of corporal mercy, says to us, on the contrary, in a practical way: This doesn’t just include mankind as a whole, but right there where I meet someone in need is where I must help, even if it doesn’t suit, even if I have no time right then, or I think I can’t afford it. I have to think about particular cases, not just about general measures.
p 316 That is what distinguishes the Christian exhortation to love from the Marxist one, which refers precisely to general plans and structural modifications and overlooks individual cases. But, on the other hand, it does of course mean that we must also take an interest in systems and structures on the wider scale, must try to undertake not just individual help, however important that may be, but also help to ensure that people in need are offered fundamentally improved opportunities. In the Church this has produced hospitals for the sick, schools for the poor, and much more. In that sense the two things go hand-in-hand: both an eye open for my immediate neighbor, whom I must not overlook on account of my plans for social and structural improvement, and also the overcoming of inequitable structures and systems and structural help for those who need, so to speak, to be clothed.
Besides the corporal works, there are also the seven works of spiritual mercy. These are:
Giving advice to those in despair
Teaching the ignorant
Rebuking sinners
Consoling those in mourning
Forgiving injustices we suffer
Being patient with those who are troublesome
Praying for the living and the dead
What matters is that mercy cannot be concerned only with material things. If we provide only what is materially necessary, we have done too little. In development aid it has therefore always been clear to the far-sighted how important it is to give people training, so that they will be able to see to things for themselves. Only if we help people’s spirit, if we help the whole person, are we really helping. For that reason it is all the more important to bring God to people. Setting moral standards is in fact the most prominent work of mercy.
Let’s pick out one of them again: “Teaching the ignorant”. I think the recipients would, as a rule, hardly experience such teaching as a work of mercy.
Let’s stay with development aid, in Latin America. Here, both the Church and also left-wing groups have made literacy campaigns a major element of their activities. And why? As long as people are ignorant, they remain dependent. They cannot get out of this situation, which is a sort of slavery, by their own efforts. Not until they have access to education are they really being helped, because they are then in a position to get on equal terms with others and properly develop their country and their society. And there, people really have experienced what it means to teach the ignorant, that through this they find access to the world of the spirit, the key to what moves the world today.
Even if we think about earlier, corresponding movements in Europe, Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, for instance, who started the charity schools in France, for the poor, who had lived in a dependent condition for generations, being able to learn was an enormous opportunity. The basic capacity to offer the chance of learning, opening the door to the world of the spirit, that is the basic work of spiritual mercy—always supposing, of course, that you not only teach people to read, but introduce them to a meaningful spiritual context, that is to say, not just pass on an ideology to them, but open up for them the way to faith.0 -
Fr Devin Roza said:
However, it is a realistic goal that Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox all generally feel fairly represented, and can feel like their positions and arguments are fairly and honestly presented, in a way they can identify with.
Fr Devin Roza said:The presentations of the Catholic faith are rarely ones I can identify with as a Catholic
The problem here is that Catholics and Protestants often use the same language in very different ways. 'Grace' is an obvious example, but there are many others. In order to get (for example) an evangelical to correctly understand a Catholic doctrine, you have to explain that in a way that an evangelical would understand, which is not at all the way that a Catholic may explain it. And vice versa too, of course.
So you're with left either with (a) the evangelical doesn't understand the Catholic position (or worse, they think they do, but don't), or (b) the Catholic feels their position isn't being represented fairly.
I'm not saying LST can't be improved, but in my view it's certainly not as simple as is being suggested.
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
0 -
Thank you Fr. Devin for an excellent and illuminating answer.
My bad that I did not check in detail.
From your experience, what do yo consider the best resources (best in L8) about moral theology, and social teaching?
Also Fr. Devin, in the Catholic topical index, I do not see an entry for moral theology, But there is an entry for social teaching.
Do you know how the CTI was made? was it done in a docx document and then compiled with pbb? can I do a similar thing so that I include things like moral theology?
Thanks ahead of time for your kind input.
Blessings.
0 -
Mark Barnes said:
The problem here is that Catholics and Protestants often use the same language in very different ways. 'Grace' is an obvious example, but there are many others. In order to get (for example) an evangelical to correctly understand a Catholic doctrine, you have to explain that in a way that an evangelical would understand, which is not at all the way that a Catholic may explain it. And vice versa too, of course.
So you're with left either with (a) the evangelical doesn't understand the Catholic position (or worse, they think they do, but don't), or (b) the Catholic feels their position isn't being represented fairly.
I'm not saying LST can't be improved, but in my view it's certainly not as simple as is being suggested.
I agree it is a difficult task. But I am convinced it is possible.
When I have had the opportunity to dialogue with evangelical Protestants about the Catholic faith, which has been often, my almost universal experience is that the only thing I need to do to respond to some problem they express about Catholic doctrine is explain what we actually believe. More often than not, when I do that, even without giving any arguments in favor of the Catholic position, I will hear something like, "Oh... well, I didn't know that's what you think. I don't have a problem with that."
I have never yet had the experience of explaining the Catholic faith to an Evangelical and having them not understand me. On the contrary, I've been amazed at how easy it has been to explain what Catholic's really believe to Evangelical Christians. I have found them almost always very receptive and interested. Even in areas such as grace, which informs many of the differences.
Unfortunately I have also found Evangelical Protestants very misinformed about Catholicism. Time and time again I find that they have been presented with straw man arguments refuting a Catholicism no one actually believes in. Catholics who regularly speak with Evangelical Protestants often mention this as their experience.
So, don't underestimate Evangelical Protestants. I have found them to be very capable of understanding Catholic positions, when they are actually presented in a Catholic way.
And for a company like Faithlife, they have a wonderful opportunity, and I would say moral duty, to present different faith traditions in a way that is true and accurate, and that represents in an authentic way each tradition. History has had enough straw men. Let's get some real dialogue, where people can hear the other side in an authentic, intelligent way. I am convinced that the only possible result of such a step can be growth on all sides, and a mutual coming closer to Christ who is the Truth.
0 -
Hamilton Ramos said:
From your experience, what do yo consider the best resources (best in L8) about moral theology, and social teaching?
For social teaching, I would recommend The Compendium of Social Doctrine of the Church (https://www.logos.com/product/31939/the-compendium-of-the-social-doctrine-of-the-church). It's a bit like the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but focused on social doctrine. As a Compendium, it will also send you to other sources for the topic you are interested in.
For moral theology, in L8 you could look at The Way of the Lord Jesus by Grisez (https://www.logos.com/product/34188/the-way-of-the-lord-jesus). But even more than that I would recommend the little book Morality: A Catholic View by Pinckaers (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1890318566/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0), and if you finish that and want to go deeper, The Sources of Christian Ethics by Pinckaers (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813208181/ref=rdr_ext_tmb). Unfortunately it looks like neither of these books by Pinckaers are available from Faithlife.
And, yes, it be possible to make a Personal Book that acted a bit like the Catholic Topical Index, as it is easy to include links and chapter headings in a PBB.
0 -
Fr Devin Roza said:
And, yes, it be possible to make a Personal Book that acted a bit like the Catholic Topical Index, as it is easy to include links and chapter headings in a PBB.
Thanks for your kind answer.
Have you thought of doing a Verbum training where one can learn to do something similar to Catholic topical index, so that one can reference important information from other monographs, and even case experiences for certain activities (e.g. social type innovative initiatives)?
Also a topical index for moral theology and ethics, which would be of high value for Christlike decision making?
I do have the resources you mention in L8, not the offered in amazon. I wish there was a Verbum training about moral theology.
Blessings.
0 -
Hamilton Ramos said:
Have you thought of doing a Verbum training where one can learn to do something similar to Catholic topical index, so that one can reference important information from other monographs, and even case experiences for certain activities (e.g. social type innovative initiatives)?
Also a topical index for moral theology and ethics, which would be of high value for Christlike decision making?
That is an interesting suggestion for the Faithlife team to consider for a future project regarding moral theology and ethics.
Regarding the training video, see the video "Personal Books" from the Verbum 360 series. There I explain all the basic techniques you would need to do what you describe. For more detailed info about advanced tagging in personal books, from there you can check out the Logos Wiki, or ask questions in the forums (not on this post, which is about a different topic).
0 -
Hamilton Ramos said:
Have you thought of doing a Verbum training where one can learn to do something similar to Catholic topical index, so that one can reference important information from other monographs, and even case experiences for certain activities (e.g. social type innovative initiatives)?
I keep waiting and hoping for Logos to do the obvious - expand the Catholic Topical Index to contain 4 more categories: Anglican catechism & creeds, Anglican church documents (think Lambeth), Lutheran catechism & creeds (think Book of Concord) and Lutheran church documents (LCMS has some excellent ones)
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
0 -
Thank you Fr. Devin.
Blessings.
0 -
MJ, it would be a dream come true.
But I do not shortchange power users, if we had the ability of doing topical index type resources, and then share them around, eventually we would get some awesome reference aid.
My own opinion of course.
I was very impressed with the ontologies article that you posted a link to, and want to thank you for doing so. I mentioned it to Sean to see if he can look into some of its underlying structure so multi tradition capabilities in ontology is a topic explored for further development.
I think Logos is moving in the right direction with the Systematic theology comparison capabilities and the theology guide.
Blessings.
0 -
Hamilton Ramos said:
But I do not shortchange power users, if we had the ability of doing topical index type resources, and then share them around, eventually we would get some awesome reference aid.
We can do them although we would probably choose "collection" to display them. I had avoided your earlier question because I did not understand what you wanted that we couldn't already do.
This wasn't Faithlife's first foray into ontologies. From an old reading list
Cultural concepts ontology
- New Resource: Lexham Cultural Ontology Glossary | Jonathan J Watson
- The Lexham Cultural Ontology Glossary
- Lexham Cultural Ontology: Dataset Documentation | Lexham Cultural Ontology Dataset Documentation
- Outline of Cultural Material | Human Relations Area Files Cultural information for education and research
- Logos 6 and Sermon Method (Sermon Method Series 1/7) | David Witthoff
- Context and Cultural Concepts in First Samuel 1:1-2:11 (Sermon Method Series 2/7) | David Witthoff
- Walking Through First Samuel 1:1-2:11 (Sermon Method Series 3/7) | David Witthoff
- A Hermeneutical Method applied to First Samuel 1:1-2:11 (Sermon Method Series 4/7) | David Witthoff
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
0 -
My biggest issue is that the Survey is inconsistant (from a Catholic perspective). For example, in the doctrine of "Creation ex nihilo," recommended resources include: St. Anselm's Monologion, St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae and Summa Contra Gentiles, and Sokolowski's The God of Faith and Reason (a very recent work on Catholic philosophy/theology). Now, I haven't looked at every section in the Survey, but the references to Catholic theologians is largely hit or miss, even though many (particularly St. Thomas) has much to say about the vast majority of topics.
Unlike some on this forum, I was not expecting this to really have any references to Catholic theology, since faithlife is primarily (Evangelical/Reformed) Protestant, but if they are going to refer to Catholic theology in some places, they should do it for every topic rather than an arbitrary selection.
0 -
Hamilton Ramos said:
From your experience, what do yo consider the best resources (best in L8) about moral theology, and social teaching?
Hamilton, I asked one of our moral theology professors whom I highly regard what he would recommend currently for someone wanting to be introduced to moral theology. He recommended Introducing Moral Theology by William Mattison. It turns out that is available in Verbum/Logos: https://www.logos.com/product/6001/introducing-moral-theology-true-happiness-and-the-virtues
0 -
0
-
Francis said:
Mattison is a Thomistic theologian and philosopher.
Note that Catholic theology presupposes a profound rationality in creation (created by God, who is Logos), in such a way that faith and reason do not contradict each other, but complement one another (for more on this, cf. Fides et Ratio by John Paul II). Moral theology builds on ethical philosophy and they complement one another, as faith and reason do. Virtue, happiness, and grace all work together in the Catholic vision, and are all part of God's plan for us (e.g. Mk 10:17-31).
0 -
Correct MJ.
I found innovative the proposal to tag Calvinism in the CalvOn, and then integrate it with TheOn. My dream would be to have all different group / traditions / denominations tagged and added to TheOn, then one can compare, and build own.
Thanks for the list.
0 -
Thanks Fr. Devin.
I do have it, and started to read it. There is where I learned of the Object, motivation, circumstance framework to evaluate situations.
I did find some Moral theology videos in the web in Spanish, but I consider the Mobile ed or Verbum training a better platform, because it ties nicely with the resources I have.
For some reason seems to me that not many Catholics are fully cognizant of the Moral theology field. When Christian Discourse was operative, not many engaged with me in it.
The more knowledgeable that I found in CD were Anglicans, but they had little time to have a good discourse, and seemed that they had other pressing matters competing for their time.
I am just surprised that there seems to lack a guide to take you logically and sequentially into the topics, and with examples. Mobile Ed beats by far just plain textbooks in my opinion.
Blessings.
0 -
Hamilton Ramos said:
For some reason seems to me that not many Catholics are fully cognizant of the Moral theology field. When Christian Discourse was operative, not many engaged with me in it.
I don't believe that Christian Discourse would have had a representative group of Catholics.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
0 -
MJ:
I interacted with some awesome ones. Really sharp in many areas, but for some reason Moral theology was not a topic mastered as others.
There is not even a Moral theology group in FL.
There was a time in which we were taking a course and discussing our views in a FL group. For some reason, a hypothesis was proposed suggesting that Jesus was responsible for His death. Like if He provoked authorities on purpose to bring about His death.
I disagreed. And I used a framework from moral theology to analyze the hypothesis, and found it wanting:
1 Object: Jesus deliberately causes His death.
I disagree with the definition of the situation as above. Jesus came to rescue us, He voluntarily came to die for us, but I do not think He caused it on purpose by challenging the religious authorities of HIs time.
2 Intention: Jesus came to witness what He had seen, experienced, heard, etc. in Heaven. He was all about truth. He came to show us what truth is (merciful God willing to rescue us, forgiving us and adopting us), not to rally trouble to cause HIs death.
He came in all good will, and was blown by the fact that He was not received nor accepted. He said it: "If you were sons of Moses, you would be glad I am here"[paraphrase], so by not being glad He came, anyone with that attitude, was most likely not from Moses.
In stark contrast, children of Abraham, astounded Him with the Faith they had in HIm.
Paradoxical that when Jesus spoke of the truth, the so called "elect ones" could not bear it, while the gentiles were amazed, and willingly accepted the message and the messenger (relative to the original branch).
3 circumstances: my bet is that Jesus did not fully know the details of the plan God had. He probably knew He was going to die, but I think He was not clued in on the rejection of HIs own. Maybe that was part of HIs test: be able to stick with God and His plan, rather than with a group gone wrong.
At the end, true colors show. The first murderer was Cain, and his problem seems to be a spiritual allegiance to evil. So the true colors of the spiritual children of the evil one showed: the deeds of their spiritual father they wanted to do: kill, and all because their true colors were shown.
That Jesus deliberately caused His death by provoking the authorities is not a viable hypothesis in my view.
Jesus came to save what was lost. He came to show the way to God, He proved He was the truth, people not siding with Him are nothing but Tares, and Tares do what they do, they kill the Wheat.
Big difference. And question begs asking: are we tares or wheat, do we side with Jesus Christ (way, truth and life), or with something / someone else?
So I do think that Moral theology is very important:
1 True believers must go a radical moral change (metanoia), in small things and in big things (usually possible only through the action of the Holy Spirit).
2 We must analyze situations in a proper manner to be righteous discerners of the issues at hand, and come to the right conclusions.
3 We must strive to have rational system to decide, and with the aid of the Holy Spirit, conduct ourselves in a way becoming of our citizenship in the Kingdom of Light.
Blessings.
0 -
Hamilton, you are well aware the forums are not for theological discussions. I will not be baited.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
0 -
MJ I am giving an example of a framework for analyzing situations.
I consider is an ok one and comes from Moral theology.
My objective is to eventually have a Verbum training or Mobille ed about Moral theology.
I see most theological discussions as parakeet believers arguing for what they have been indoctrinated in.
I am interested in tools that allow the individual believer to check all and retain what is good in light of the Scripture.
Systematic theology is all about the evaluation, development and communication of doctrine.
When someone proposes a theological construct, I am of the opinion that individual sheep should have tools to analyze what is being proposed to check Scriptures to see if it is so, but an enlarged conceptual framework is needed.
Moral theology offers important tools in my opinion. Critical thinking when analyzing doctrine is key, Noble synagogue Bereans knew it, and that event was recorded for our instruction, are we not to learn?
Kind regards.
0 -
Greetings Hamilton
Hamilton Ramos said:My objective is to eventually have a Verbum training or Mobille ed about Moral theology.
This is a legitimate and laudable aim. However your post above never mentions Logos, how it can be used, nor even a proposal about the 'nuts and bolts' of the way your aim could be implemented.
You might like to consider a rule of thumb being that as soon as you hint that you disagree with another theology in these forums the line is likely to have been crossed. There are plenty of web based places that theology can be argued about or proposed but these forums are not the ones.
Every customer, wise or deluded, is welcome to use the software to study the subjects they wish the aim is to make them welcome here and provide the tools that will give them the greatest opportunity to find the truth for themselves.
Pursuing the objective of having Logos provide the tools and resources to facilitate the study of Moral Theology might end up helping everyone. However telling folk what the outcome of that study should be is not appreciated here.
tootle pip
Mike
How to get logs and post them.(now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs) Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS
0 -
Mike Binks said:
Greetings Hamilton
Hamilton Ramos said:My objective is to eventually have a Verbum training or Mobille ed about Moral theology.
This is a legitimate and laudable aim. However your post above never mentions Logos, how it can be used, nor even a proposal about the 'nuts and bolts' of the way your aim could be implemented.
You might like to consider a rule of thumb being that as soon as you hint that you disagree with another theology in these forums the line is likely to have been crossed. There are plenty of web based places that theology can be argued about or proposed but these forums are not the ones.
Every customer, wise or deluded, is welcome to use the software to study the subjects they wish the aim is to make them welcome here and provide the tools that will give them the greatest opportunity to find the truth for themselves.
Pursuing the objective of having Logos provide the tools and resources to facilitate the study of Moral Theology might end up helping everyone. However telling folk what the outcome of that study should be is not appreciated here.
Thanks Mike for your thoughtful response.
Dell, studio XPS 7100, Ram 8GB, 64 - bit Operating System, AMD Phenom(mt) IIX6 1055T Processor 2.80 GHZ
0 -
Amen!
0 -
If you were offended Mike Binks, I apologize, my intention was not to annoy anyone.
If one cannot show the usefulness for analysis of something, there may not be an appreciation of its potential.
I did not write to start polemics but to show a methodology. The original exercise was done in a Faithlife study. Maybe I should have put a link to it instead.
Anyone can do a similar analysis and come to a very different conclusion.
My interest is to have believers develop skills using tools that allow them to do more critical thinking of suggested constructs taking as base the Bible.
My understanding is that Logos wants to promote Bible study. It is important to have a conceptual framework so that suggested doctrine is analyzed from different angles in light of the Scripture.
Synagogue Bereans did it, we are to learn from them.
At no time I am saying I have the absolute truth down. A conjecture based on the scant evidence is the best we can aim for, and then we can check with the conclusions reached by others in different traditions.
I assume that Logos wants to promote critical thinking, and responsible study of the Bible to see if things are so.
Not all users are sophisticated phds, and many have no clue on how tools can be used.
Check all, retain what is good, seems to be encouraged in the Bible.
If Verbum training or Mobile ed are not Logos, then I do not know what can be, and I clearly said that the interest was precisely that, and the part of moral theology that I see important was illustrated.
And Verbum training or Mobile ed is the context of the answer I was providing for MJ.
Kind regards
0
