Friday, November 25, 2011
Philosophy and Theology in Seminaries
I WAS the one who imagined, guessed "Introduction to Phil. 101" but it might very well be simply a history of philosophy. I was startled that Euthyphro was covered BUT no mention was made of the famous, mind-boggling "Euthyphro Problem" namely, does God love "The Good" because of it's intrinsic nature or is "The Good" simply good by FIAT because God arbitrarily chooses to like it.
This morning I awoke with the question in my mind "what is the inception and history of academic corporate effort for learning?" It struck me that military and religion are two ancient sources of group learning TRADITION (in the sense of something handed down or passed along) .. I was reading Gibbon Decline and Fall of Roman Empire and he describes how the military were like constant school boot camps even in time of peace and the soldiers used instruments TWICE as heavy as what is necessary so as to be strong in times of real battle. Then I was thinking of secret societies like the Pythagoreans, Eleusinian Mysteries, etc as an organization which passes on learning, theories, methods, liturgics, etc.
To this VERY DAY there are very conservative old calendarist Greek monastic groups (and Russians) who train their own priests and bishops outside of any formal academic environment and without benefit of certification or degrees.
Even the ancient original oath of Hippocrates FORBIDS a physician to do bone setting since that is a skill taught upon the battlefield through experience to a technician/artisan bone-setter.
