tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post794954387822861864..comments2024-03-28T15:39:28.239-04:00Comments on Vital Remnants: Is St. Thomas a Theological Bad Guy? More Francis Schaeffer's criticism of AquinasMartin Cothranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16452612266051351726noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-14095421324240242052020-05-04T23:32:08.437-04:002020-05-04T23:32:08.437-04:00This is a very old post and no idea if you will se...This is a very old post and no idea if you will see this, but I am reading Schaeffer's Esacape from Reason for the first time and found myself searching to see if anyone else had noticed how completely wrong he is about Aquinas. I appreciated this thoughtful post very much!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-85209464302472361052011-01-19T20:19:35.255-05:002011-01-19T20:19:35.255-05:00Martin,
You’ve requested my authoritative sourc...Martin, <br /> <br />You’ve requested my authoritative source for the statement that <i>Aquinas told the philosophers to base their truths on reason alone and never to prove a truth by resorting to Scripture.</i><br /> <br />My authoritative source is you. That is, I referenced your acknowledged authoritative source, the Thomist philosopher Etienne Gilson whose book <i>The Unity of PhilosophicalUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14279813829473668314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-7222313555059401922011-01-19T10:54:07.948-05:002011-01-19T10:54:07.948-05:00Dan,
Aquinas told the philosophers to base their ...Dan,<br /><br /><i>Aquinas told the philosophers to base their truths on reason alone and never to prove a truth by resorting to Scripture, he made man's reason autonomous from Scripture.</i><br /><br />Where did he say this? Have you read Aquinas? Can you give me an example of a single article in the entire Summa that does not quote the Scriptures?Martin Cothranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16452612266051351726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-81000957620188722732011-01-18T22:49:48.000-05:002011-01-18T22:49:48.000-05:00SCHAEFFER WAS RIGHT
Let's start from where Ma...SCHAEFFER WAS RIGHT<br /><br />Let's start from where Martin Cothran and I agree:<br /><br />(a) We agree that Aquinas affirmed, as Mr. Cothran wrote in his 2009 posting, that "there are things we know about God independently of direct divine revelation" and "there are truths, some of them even about God himself, that we can learn from God's creation."<br /><br />(b)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14279813829473668314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-63206768276066423622011-01-10T18:35:19.359-05:002011-01-10T18:35:19.359-05:00It wasn't an accusation, just an observation. ...It wasn't an accusation, just an observation. The fact that I'm a Presbyterian does not mean I can have no respect for the Catholic Church.<br /><br />In practical terms, it probably looks pretty much the same. If a bunch of heretics try to set themselves up within the church, we run them out of town on a rail, figuratively speaking, Catholic or Presbyterian. But there is at least a Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12974887002402743628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-90380848260805001142011-01-10T18:16:50.323-05:002011-01-10T18:16:50.323-05:00It's easier for a Reformed minister (at least ...<i>It's easier for a Reformed minister (at least in the PCA) to be removed than you might think. </i><br /><br />Sorry if I was unclear. I was completely certain such a minister would be removed, even though said minister was following the Bible to the best of the minister's understanding. Ultimately, when you say you would uphjold or remove him on "Biblical grounds", you set One Browhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11938816242512563561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-42393292992590272502011-01-10T17:10:56.944-05:002011-01-10T17:10:56.944-05:00I just watched my last post get removed magically ...I just watched my last post get removed magically somehow. I'll try to answer OneBrow one more time.<br /><br />It's easier for a Reformed minister (at least in the PCA) to be removed than you might think. The difference is this: the Bible is authoritative, and not what we say about it. Hopefully, we say the right things about it. But if one argued otherwise and makes a strong Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12974887002402743628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-22583746116482186402011-01-10T17:00:57.096-05:002011-01-10T17:00:57.096-05:00I didn't say that, OneBrow. What I said was t...I didn't say that, OneBrow. What I said was that the judgment of the Presbytery is not authoritative, and I meant (and perhaps should have added) in any absolute sense. The Bible is authoritative. They have to interpret the Bible, obviously, but there is no dogma to insist their interpretation is authoritative by definition. We Reformed folks, in other words, can get it wrong and are wellLeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12974887002402743628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-1643885081312290482011-01-10T16:14:51.553-05:002011-01-10T16:14:51.553-05:00... then effectively the Church hierarchy is the u...<i>... then effectively the Church hierarchy is the ultimate authority. At the end of the day, there is only one authority.<br /><br />The Reformed faith sees the Bible as the ultimate authority. If the pastor ... gets the interpretation wrong, ... then it is on them to get right with the scriptures, not with the scriptures to get right with their interpreters.</i><br /><br />So, in contrast to One Browhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11938816242512563561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-9347713375697988992011-01-10T13:35:54.178-05:002011-01-10T13:35:54.178-05:00As a Reformed Christian myself, I'm perhaps a ...As a Reformed Christian myself, I'm perhaps a bit more sympathetic to Van Til than you are.<br /><br />If, however, Schaeffer misrepresented Aquinas' thoughts on the place of reason in religion, then that is a serious matter, and it's serious enough that no Reformed Christian who is a Schaeffer fan should sit still until it is sorted out.<br /><br />As I see it, the essence of the Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12974887002402743628noreply@blogger.com