Simple Gifts

One of the great works of American poetry, without doubt, Longfellow's HIAWATHA gets into one's bloodstream with its trochaic tetrameter, sounding the drums of the native warriors of a bygone era. Enjoy this tribute to Native Americans along with us!

Longfellow: The Song of Hiawatha, The Song of Hiawatha (hwlongfellow.org)

If you enjoy our content, why not buy us a cup of coffee? via https://ko-fi.com/thechristianatheist

Check out our first book, THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: THE IMPLODING OF AN ATHEIST PROFESSOR'S WORLDVIEW

#hiawatha #ayenwatha #aiionwatha #iroquois #onondaga #mowhawk #dekanawidah #thegreatpeacemaker #hiawathabelt #ojibway #manabozho #nativeamerica #nativeamerican #thesongofhiawatha #longfellow #henrywadsworthlongfellow

As an elementary school student, I remember reading for the first time Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. I was captivated by Crusoe's solitary ingenuity on the island, his trips back and forth to the foundered ship, his reconstruction of civilized life from the fundaments. It awakened in me a lifetime love of survival narratives, and a fascination with survival strategies and skills. If today I can forage for wild foods, start a bow-drill fire, build a deadfall, construct a survival shelter and know a great deal more about our natural environment than most people do, it is in no small part a result of reading this book, which has been called the first English novel. It well-rewards the time spent in its reading. Enjoy!

If you enjoy our content, consider donating through PayPal via https://ko-fi.com/thechristianatheist    / thechristianatheist   https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.word...

For more great content, check out our other podcasts: The Christian Atheist: where faith and reason fuse in the incarnation …https://pod.link/1553077203 and No Compromise: where faith and reason fuse in conversation …    • No Compromise wit...   #robinsoncrusoe #crusoe #dafoe #danieldafoe #castaway #realisticfiction #poem #poetry #verse #literature #aestheticliterature #aesthetic #history #historical #philosophy #religion #christianity #bible #god #jesus #science #culture #society #humanities #wisdomofthepast #wisdom #classics #faith

In my Introduction to Philosophy course I introduce Descartes in this way:

Almost 2000 years after Socrates’ death in 399 B.C., the study of philosophy underwent a radical change. Epistemology became the central concern of philosophers beginning with the Frenchman, René Descartes (1596-1650), often called the “Father of modern philosophy.” Descartes, frustrated that 2000 years of speculative metaphysics yielded nothing he could confidently accept as certain, sought to discover a secure foundation upon which to base the emerging scientific outlook. His procedure, outlined in his Discourse on Method (1637) and Meditations on First Philosophy (1641), became known as methodical doubt. Descartes resolved to set aside as untrustworthy everything that admitted of the slightest doubt. As the senses often deceive us, we should not trust them. In fact, there is not even a certain procedure to differentiate waking experience from dreams. Mathematics and knowledge of general objects seems, however, to remain the same whether we dream or not, but even mathematical conclusions are susceptible to error if the supreme being of my universe is not a supremely good God, but an evil demon, seeking at all times to lead me astray. What remains of my experience that is not subject to doubt in such a scenario? Nothing, Descartes declares, except the fact of my own existence. No matter how deceptive may be the content of my thought, I cannot doubt my own existence so long as I am thinking – doubting, questioning, feeling, being deceived, experiencing. This conclusion, then, becomes the certain foundation upon which Descartes will resurrect the structures of knowledge demolished by his radical doubt. Cogito ergo sum, “I think, therefore I am” is Descartes’ foundational innate idea.

Thus, truth/knowledge is discovered, not through the senses, which remain subject to error, but rationally. Descartes and his followers (the Continental (i.e. European) tradition in philosophy) become known as rationalists.

If you enjoy our content, why not buy us a cup of coffee? via https://ko-fi.com/thechristianatheist

Check out our first book, THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: THE IMPLODING OF AN ATHEIST PROFESSOR'S WORLDVIEW

#rene #descartes #renedescartes #discourse #discourseonmethod #epistemology #cogito #cogitoergosum #ithinkthereforeiam #firstphilosophy #materialthings #existence #evidence #senses #will #judgment #socrates #plato #philosophy #philosopher #frenchphilosophy #frenchphilosopher #skeptical #skeptic #faith

Authored by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay to appear anonymously in New York papers under the pseudonym "Publius" in 1787 and 1788, the Federalist Papers aimed to rally public support for the proposed Constitution of the United States. As such, it is one of the most important sources for understanding the original intent of the US Constitution by those who participated in its construction.

In Federalist number one Alexander Hamilton sets forth the ambition of arguing the following positions in favor of the adoption of the Constitution:

"I propose, in a series of papers, to discuss the following interesting particulars:

THE UTILITY OF THE UNION TO YOUR POLITICAL PROSPERITY

THE INSUFFICIENCY OF THE PRESENT CONFEDERATION TO PRESERVE THAT UNION

THE NECESSITY OF A GOVERNMENT AT LEAST EQUALLY ENERGETIC WITH THE ONE PROPOSED, TO THE ATTAINMENT OF THIS OBJECT

THE CONFORMITY OF THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION TO THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT

ITS ANALOGY TO YOUR OWN STATE CONSTITUTION and lastly,

THE ADDITIONAL SECURITY WHICH ITS ADOPTION WILL AFFORD TO THE PRESERVATION OF THAT SPECIES OF GOVERNMENT, TO LIBERTY, AND TO PROPERTY."

Articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States.

If you enjoy our content, why not buy us a cup of coffee? via https://ko-fi.com/thechristianatheist

#thefederalistpapers #federalist #alexanderhamilton #hamilton #jamesmadison #madison #johnjay #publius #ratification #constitution #unitedstates #thefederalist #independentjournal #newyorkpacket #dailyadvertiser #poem #poetry #verse #literature #aestheticliterature #aesthetic #history #historical #philosophy #religion #christianity #bible #god #jesus #science #culture #society #humanities #wisdomofthepast #wisdom #classics #faith

THE EVERLASTING MAN by Gilbert Kyle Chesterton

Part One: On The Creature Called Man

Chapter Four: God and Comparative Religion

Gilbert Kyle Chesterton remains one of the great voices of Christian faith in the last century, and it is a tragedy that more Christians are not familiar with his work. C. S. Lewis credits Chesterton, and in particular The Everlasting Man, with displaying the rationality of the Christian worldview par excellence, though it was not one work alone, but a progressive development away from atheism and toward God, that Lewis discusses.

I was at this time living, like so many Atheists or Antitheists, in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with Him for creating a world.

It was while in the army in WWI that Lewis said:

It was here that I first read a volume of Chesterton's essays. I had never heard of him and had no idea of what he stood for; nor can I quite understand why he made such an immediate conquest of me. It might have been expected that my pessimism, my atheism, and my hatred of sentiment would have made him to me the least congenial of all authors. It would almost seem that Providence, or some "second cause" of a very obscure kind, quite over-rules our previous tastes when It decides to bring two minds together. Liking an author may be as involuntary and improbable as falling in love. I was by now a sufficiently experienced reader to distinguish liking from agreement. I did not need to accept what Chesterton said in order to enjoy it.... For the critics who think Chesterton frivolous or "paradoxical" I have to work hard to feel even pity; sympathy is out of the question. Moreover, strange as it may seem, I liked him for his goodness. I can attribute this taste to myself freely (even at that age) because it was a liking for goodness which had nothing to do with any attempt to be good myself. I have never felt the dislike of goodness which seems to be quite common in better men than me.... It was a matter of taste: I felt the "charm" of goodness as a man feels the charm of a woman he has no intention of marrying. It is, indeed, at that distance that its "charm" is most apparent.

It seems as though Lewis himself took up this "charm" when he wrote the Chronicles of Narnia years later, introducing the real-world content of the Gospel message in a digestible form for those who might not wish to taste it full strength, and thus avoiding the censor.

In reading Chesterton, as in reading MacDonald, I did not know what I was letting myself in for. A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere--"Bibles laid open, millions of surprises," as Herbert says, "fine nets and stratagems." God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.

This is a point that motivates ALL of our work here on Simple Gifts ... ALL of God's creation, and thus all of man's best creative efforts, when properly understood point us to the Creator. For Lewis, one work in particular was the proverbial "straw":

Then I read Chesterton's Everlasting Man and for the first time saw the whole Christian outline of history set out in a form that seemed to me to make sense. Somehow I contrived not to be too badly shaken. You will remember that I already thought Chesterton the most sensible man alive "apart from his Christianity". Now, I veritably believe, I thought--I didn't of course say; words would have revealed the nonsense--that Christianity itself was very sensible "apart from its Christianity".

We present here this text with the hope that the effect might be reproduced in others, too.

Enjoy!

#christianapologetics #gkchesterton #chesterton #orthodoxy #westerncivilisation #theeverlastingman #poem #poetry #verse #literature #aestheticliterature #aesthetic #history #historical #philosophy #religion #christianity #bible #god #jesus #science #culture #society #humanities #wisdomofthepast #wisdom #classics #faith

One of the great works of American poetry, without doubt, Longfellow's HIAWATHA gets into one's bloodstream with its trochaic tetrameter, sounding the drums of the native warriors of a bygone era. Enjoy this tribute to Native Americans along with us!

Longfellow: The Song of Hiawatha, The Song of Hiawatha (hwlongfellow.org)

If you enjoy our content, why not buy us a cup of coffee? via https://ko-fi.com/thechristianatheist

Check out our first book, THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: THE IMPLODING OF AN ATHEIST PROFESSOR'S WORLDVIEW

#hiawatha #ayenwatha #aiionwatha #iroquois #onondaga #mowhawk #dekanawidah #thegreatpeacemaker #hiawathabelt #ojibway #manabozho #nativeamerica #nativeamerican #thesongofhiawatha #longfellow #henrywadsworthlongfellow

As an elementary school student, I remember reading for the first time Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. I was captivated by Crusoe's solitary ingenuity on the island, his trips back and forth to the foundered ship, his reconstruction of civilized life from the fundaments. It awakened in me a lifetime love of survival narratives, and a fascination with survival strategies and skills. If today I can forage for wild foods, start a bow-drill fire, build a deadfall, construct a survival shelter and know a great deal more about our natural environment than most people do, it is in no small part a result of reading this book, which has been called the first English novel. It well-rewards the time spent in its reading. Enjoy!

If you enjoy our content, consider donating through PayPal via https://ko-fi.com/thechristianatheist    / thechristianatheist   https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.word...

For more great content, check out our other podcasts: The Christian Atheist: where faith and reason fuse in the incarnation …https://pod.link/1553077203 and No Compromise: where faith and reason fuse in conversation …    • No Compromise wit...   #robinsoncrusoe #crusoe #dafoe #danieldafoe #castaway #realisticfiction #poem #poetry #verse #literature #aestheticliterature #aesthetic #history #historical #philosophy #religion #christianity #bible #god #jesus #science #culture #society #humanities #wisdomofthepast #wisdom #classics #faith

In my Introduction to Philosophy course I introduce Descartes in this way:

Almost 2000 years after Socrates’ death in 399 B.C., the study of philosophy underwent a radical change. Epistemology became the central concern of philosophers beginning with the Frenchman, René Descartes (1596-1650), often called the “Father of modern philosophy.” Descartes, frustrated that 2000 years of speculative metaphysics yielded nothing he could confidently accept as certain, sought to discover a secure foundation upon which to base the emerging scientific outlook. His procedure, outlined in his Discourse on Method (1637) and Meditations on First Philosophy (1641), became known as methodical doubt. Descartes resolved to set aside as untrustworthy everything that admitted of the slightest doubt. As the senses often deceive us, we should not trust them. In fact, there is not even a certain procedure to differentiate waking experience from dreams. Mathematics and knowledge of general objects seems, however, to remain the same whether we dream or not, but even mathematical conclusions are susceptible to error if the supreme being of my universe is not a supremely good God, but an evil demon, seeking at all times to lead me astray. What remains of my experience that is not subject to doubt in such a scenario? Nothing, Descartes declares, except the fact of my own existence. No matter how deceptive may be the content of my thought, I cannot doubt my own existence so long as I am thinking – doubting, questioning, feeling, being deceived, experiencing. This conclusion, then, becomes the certain foundation upon which Descartes will resurrect the structures of knowledge demolished by his radical doubt. Cogito ergo sum, “I think, therefore I am” is Descartes’ foundational innate idea.

Thus, truth/knowledge is discovered, not through the senses, which remain subject to error, but rationally. Descartes and his followers (the Continental (i.e. European) tradition in philosophy) become known as rationalists.

If you enjoy our content, why not buy us a cup of coffee? via https://ko-fi.com/thechristianatheist

Check out our first book, THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: THE IMPLODING OF AN ATHEIST PROFESSOR'S WORLDVIEW

#rene #descartes #renedescartes #discourse #discourseonmethod #epistemology #cogito #cogitoergosum #ithinkthereforeiam #firstphilosophy #materialthings #existence #evidence #senses #will #judgment #socrates #plato #philosophy #philosopher #frenchphilosophy #frenchphilosopher #skeptical #skeptic #faith

Authored by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay to appear anonymously in New York papers under the pseudonym "Publius" in 1787 and 1788, the Federalist Papers aimed to rally public support for the proposed Constitution of the United States. As such, it is one of the most important sources for understanding the original intent of the US Constitution by those who participated in its construction.

In Federalist number one Alexander Hamilton sets forth the ambition of arguing the following positions in favor of the adoption of the Constitution:

"I propose, in a series of papers, to discuss the following interesting particulars:

THE UTILITY OF THE UNION TO YOUR POLITICAL PROSPERITY

THE INSUFFICIENCY OF THE PRESENT CONFEDERATION TO PRESERVE THAT UNION

THE NECESSITY OF A GOVERNMENT AT LEAST EQUALLY ENERGETIC WITH THE ONE PROPOSED, TO THE ATTAINMENT OF THIS OBJECT

THE CONFORMITY OF THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION TO THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT

ITS ANALOGY TO YOUR OWN STATE CONSTITUTION and lastly,

THE ADDITIONAL SECURITY WHICH ITS ADOPTION WILL AFFORD TO THE PRESERVATION OF THAT SPECIES OF GOVERNMENT, TO LIBERTY, AND TO PROPERTY."

Articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States.

If you enjoy our content, why not buy us a cup of coffee? via https://ko-fi.com/thechristianatheist

#thefederalistpapers #federalist #alexanderhamilton #hamilton #jamesmadison #madison #johnjay #publius #ratification #constitution #unitedstates #thefederalist #independentjournal #newyorkpacket #dailyadvertiser #poem #poetry #verse #literature #aestheticliterature #aesthetic #history #historical #philosophy #religion #christianity #bible #god #jesus #science #culture #society #humanities #wisdomofthepast #wisdom #classics #faith

THE EVERLASTING MAN by Gilbert Kyle Chesterton

Part One: On The Creature Called Man

Chapter Three: The Antiquity of Civilization

Gilbert Kyle Chesterton remains one of the great voices of Christian faith in the last century, and it is a tragedy that more Christians are not familiar with his work. C. S. Lewis credits Chesterton, and in particular The Everlasting Man, with displaying the rationality of the Christian worldview par excellence, though it was not one work alone, but a progressive development away from atheism and toward God, that Lewis discusses.

I was at this time living, like so many Atheists or Antitheists, in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with Him for creating a world.

It was while in the army in WWI that Lewis said:

It was here that I first read a volume of Chesterton's essays. I had never heard of him and had no idea of what he stood for; nor can I quite understand why he made such an immediate conquest of me. It might have been expected that my pessimism, my atheism, and my hatred of sentiment would have made him to me the least congenial of all authors. It would almost seem that Providence, or some "second cause" of a very obscure kind, quite over-rules our previous tastes when It decides to bring two minds together. Liking an author may be as involuntary and improbable as falling in love. I was by now a sufficiently experienced reader to distinguish liking from agreement. I did not need to accept what Chesterton said in order to enjoy it.... For the critics who think Chesterton frivolous or "paradoxical" I have to work hard to feel even pity; sympathy is out of the question. Moreover, strange as it may seem, I liked him for his goodness. I can attribute this taste to myself freely (even at that age) because it was a liking for goodness which had nothing to do with any attempt to be good myself. I have never felt the dislike of goodness which seems to be quite common in better men than me.... It was a matter of taste: I felt the "charm" of goodness as a man feels the charm of a woman he has no intention of marrying. It is, indeed, at that distance that its "charm" is most apparent.

It seems as though Lewis himself took up this "charm" when he wrote the Chronicles of Narnia years later, introducing the real-world content of the Gospel message in a digestible form for those who might not wish to taste it full strength, and thus avoiding the censor.

In reading Chesterton, as in reading MacDonald, I did not know what I was letting myself in for. A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere--"Bibles laid open, millions of surprises," as Herbert says, "fine nets and stratagems." God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.

This is a point that motivates ALL of our work here on Simple Gifts ... ALL of God's creation, and thus all of man's best creative efforts, when properly understood point us to the Creator. For Lewis, one work in particular was the proverbial "straw":

Then I read Chesterton's Everlasting Man and for the first time saw the whole Christian outline of history set out in a form that seemed to me to make sense. Somehow I contrived not to be too badly shaken. You will remember that I already thought Chesterton the most sensible man alive "apart from his Christianity". Now, I veritably believe, I thought--I didn't of course say; words would have revealed the nonsense--that Christianity itself was very sensible "apart from its Christianity".

We present here this text with the hope that the effect might be reproduced in others, too.

Enjoy!

#christianapologetics #gkchesterton #chesterton #orthodoxy #westerncivilisation #theeverlastingman #poem #poetry #verse #literature #aestheticliterature #aesthetic #history #historical #philosophy #religion #christianity #bible #god #jesus #science #culture #society #humanities #wisdomofthepast #wisdom #classics #faith