I describe these as key for me. Perhaps posts that I want to get back to quickly, topics that have generated significant conversation, etc. This will pick up more or less where my Libertarians and Culture page left off – that page ran its course awhile ago, as I have moved more into integrating Christianity and Natural Law as foundational for liberty.
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Conclusion…: Let’s call this the closing chapter of the first part of my journey, getting me to the point of understanding the necessity for a common culture and tradition if one has liberty in his sights.
A Libertarian Grand Narrative: Hoppe identifies the necessity of narrative, something that libertarians lack yet something that human beings live by and through.
The Search for Liberty: The introduction to my book of the same name.
Thin Christianity: Taken from C. S. Lewis, my summarization of “can’t we all just get along?”
Doing What I Must: An overview of René Girard’s examination of the meaning and purpose of sacrifice, and how the sacrifice of Jesus put an end to the need for that practice.
Reframing the Non-Aggression Principle: If the non-aggression principle is considered not as admonishments against certain behaviors (murder, theft, etc.) but as a criterion for punishment or justified defense in the face of such transgressions, many problematic or contentious issues regarding the NAP are easily clarified.
Telos: Digging further into what is meant by telos, purpose, or final cause.
Aquinas’s Ethics: Further expanding on the above post, Telos.
It’s Greek to Me: Examining in some detail the original Greek words for the seven virtues.
Natural Law Isn’t About Law…: Regardless of what some students of Aquinas would have you believe, natural law isn’t about law; it is about moral living.
Transforming Aristotle: Aquinas would use Aristotle’s framework, conforming it to Christian truth.
Enough With Romans 13: I think the title explains the post.
If Christianity is to Play its Part: Stop looking to politics as the easy way out. Christians don’t need to find the right political leaders in order to act like Christians and bring God’s love into the world (and, as a nice aside, more liberty at the same time).
Frank van Dun’s Natural Law: Just what the title says it is.
Natural Law and Anarcho-Capitalism: Frank van Dun examines this connection; anarcho-capitalism rests on an assumption of natural law.
Understanding Thomas: Another look at Aquinas’s view of the natural law; the purpose was not to use it to legislate morality, but to outline moral living.
What of Natural Rights?: Clearing up the distinction between natural law and natural rights.
No Story, No Liberty: We live in a narrative. Without a narrative, libertarians won’t move the needle toward liberty.
Lost Story, Lost Society: Without an owned story, we are lost – both individually and as a society.
Natural Law, Sola Scriptura: Can one arrive at natural law solely through Scripture? I answer this question.
Finding the Individual: The individual was known to Anselm of Canterbury, around the turn of the eleventh century.
What of Rights?: examining Aquinas’s theory of rights; no, it isn’t merely natural laws converted to natural rights.
Religion and Liberty: Guido Hülsmann examines this relationship.
Floating in the Æther?: According to the Apostle Paul, we wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Is it possible that these powers are acting in a manner other than through human actors? I say no, and name a few names.
My Canned Response: The response I will offer from now on whenever someone says that liberty is possible only absent Christianity. Beware: it is a long reading list.
Virtues Let Loose: G.K. Chesterton offers that our modern world has let not only the vices loose, but also the virtues. It is the Christian virtues gone mad that is the bigger problem.
The Abolition of the Universe: As man has moved toward and embraced a materialistic, scientistic worldview, he has also moved toward a meaningless, nihilistic life.
Philosophers and Ploughmen: One has to know something of working the land if one is to find meaning, and, ultimately, some semblance of meaning. Our modern philosophers and theologians should take note.
A Couple of Items: my version of “those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it,” and “history doesn’t repeat, but it sure rhymes.”
Freedom and Aquinas: As described by Peter Kreeft
Monstrosity as the Basis for Law: society did not form around a social contract; it formed around the Ark. It was the Ark that ordered Hebrew society; it was to be protected, and the Ten Commandments were the rules through which it would be protected.
Two Comments: Christian leaders who don’t want to wade into the culture war. What a mess.
Deliver Us From Evil: What if we are faced with the choice of loving our neighbor or loving our enemy? What do we do in such a conflict?
The Problem of Teaching Ethics: One cannot keep up with teaching ethics if one is always reacting to the latest question. Instead, a proper teaching of natural law offers the skills to act ethically in the face of ever-changing questions.
The Lion and the Lamb: Continuing the discussion of loving our enemy: Christianity offers us the image of the lion and the lamb. Chesterton addresses this point best: “Can the lion lie down with the lamb and still retain his royal ferocity? THAT is the problem the Church attempted; THAT is the miracle she achieved.”
Living By The Sword: One more post on the topic of Christianity and defense. Are we to be pacifists? Does Christianity require us to submit always to death? What of defending others: the poor, the weak?
The Utopia of Hell on Earth: We see the evidence of bringing hell on earth when some try to force their vision of heaven. Why must this be so?
The Atheism of the West: Through the lens of Augusto del Noce, a look at the utter collapse of the Christian West.
Separating the Men from the Boys: libertarianism based on natural law is for the men; all other forms are juvenile and are – and will remain – ineffective and impotent.
Truth Comes First: The Apostle Paul offers that the first defense in the armor of God is truth. This is our responsibility, and it is something sorely lacking in this world.
Aquinas and Human Action: understanding the Thomistic concept of free will.
Choosing Free Will: what does this mean, exactly?
Following are a series of posts addressing a question raised by Ira Katz: Is it inherent in the nature of free market capitalism for the wealthiest individuals and/or corporations to capture government power?
- One Answer to An Important Social / Political / Economic Question of Our Time
- Free Market Capitalism as the Highest Value (Part Two)
- The Way Out and the Way To (Part Three)
Christian Morality: the contrast from Greek and Roman morality when compared to the Christian could not be more stark. For those who believe Christianity is not necessary for liberty – or even a hindrance to liberty – consider the world you will inherit.
What’s Your Alternative?: Don’t like the idea of the necessity of a Christian ethic as foundational for liberty? Propose an alternative.
According to the Flesh: Christian leaders have failed Christ, Christians, and liberty, especially evident during 2020 and 2021.
Following are a series of posts on the topic of Protestants and natural law:
- A Protestant Look at Aquinas
- Protestants, Nominalism, and Natural Law
What to Conserve: what is it that conservatives hope to conserve? What separates conservatives from liberals or progressives?
Why They Hate Natural Law: because it stands in the way of everything that drives the modern West – the culture, the economics, and the political.
The Sons of Disobedience: Our world is ruled by these, and overtly obviously so since March, 2020.
Following are a series of posts on the topic of Orthodoxy and natural law:
- An Orthodox Take on Scholasticism
- Universals, Nominalism, and the Church
Body and Soul: do not fear those who can only kill the body….
Does God Ordain Evil Men?: Another look at Romans 13, via a book authored by Chuck and Timothy Baldwin.
Countering the Abuse of Power: Hans Hoppe examines, through the work of Karl Ludwig von Haller, the social contract theory of the state, and finds it wanting.
Random comments: a few comments addressing the tyranny and culture of our time.
Why Smart People Are Stupid: specifically through the lens of covidiocy
Why Smart People Are Stupid, Part II: more on the above
Blasphemy in the Name of Science: a look at Francis Collins, the faux-Christian who is the Director of the National Institutes of Health and the founder of BioLogos, an ends-justify-the-means faux Christian institute.
A series on the splintering of the Church:
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