The Bibliovore's Wife

Up till about two years ago, I hadn't even heard of the term "Christian Platonism." Then, I was exposed to it a few times in the context of the Surprised by Hope book discussion class the Bibliovore and I co-led at a previous congregation. We didn't have time to get into the details at all, but named one of our children after an early Christian Platonist, so I figured that now is a good time for me to learn more about the concept with you. Definitions In order to define Christian Platonism, we need to have a sense of what its predecessors were/are. These are, mainly, Platonism, Aristotelianism, and Christianity. (Sources are, respectively,  Britannica , Britannica , and World History Encyclopedia .) Platonism developed out of Socrates' influence, because Plato was a pupil of Socrates. Both were Greek philosophers who thought, taught, and wrote about "the good life." Plato's surviving works are usually taken to summarize his views, but as the Bibliovo...

A few years ago, at a friend's recommendation, I obtained a copy of Hillary Moran Ferrer's Mama Bear Apologetics to supplement my more academic forays into the subject. After re-reading it last year, I found that it made the cut of what to write a book reflection on, this year. Now, here it is! As a reminder, here's the general outline of this post: I will . . . Contextualize the author's writings as a whole (bibliography) Bring the author's major ideas to the present day Comment on major sections of the book, or important chapters, depending on organization Bibliography Technically, this encompasses three women's bibliographies, since Ferrer edited the book while Teasi Cannon and Alisa Childers took turns writing chapters. Ferrer's The book that started things came out in 2019. Besides books, Hillary has written blog posts over at Mama Bear Apologetics' website . From her Amazon page , books she has written center around the popular-level apologetics b...

I hope you enjoyed last week's post  that pairs well with this one. The background research and thinking ideas over for my upcoming book is continuing to go slowly but surely. This post is the second one specifically addressing my target audience, neurodiverse Christian homeschoolers. The fundamental question I am asking and (hopefully) answering: what should a mother read to prepare for this venture? Neurodiversity in Women Compared to men, women are diagnosed  with ADHD or autism spectrum disorders later in life and often initially with mental health conditions. Many symptoms present differently, and possible differences in masking due to neurobiology and socialization mean that women might not suspect a neurodiverse condition until later. While I don't have a diagnosed case of autism, all the signs point that way. How did I come to suspect that's the case? The Bibliovore had long known of one neurodiverse diagnosis and suspected autism as a second. Most of the traits tha...

As of the writing of this post (about a month in advance of publication), I've just completed the "book" prereading I've set myself for the upcoming book! There's a lot more research and thought to be done, but the foundation is there. This post is the first one dealing specifically with my target audience, neurodiverse Christian homeschoolers. The fundamental question I am asking and (hopefully) answering: what should a father read to prepare for this venture? Neurovidersity in Adulthood One key term in this discussion is neurodiversity--originated in the 1990s or a bit earlier by high-functioning autistics (think Asperger syndrome as an approximation). The intent was to de-stigmatize autism and enable those in society to be more aware of the strengths of an autistic brain. A more recent term, intended to be both broader and more accommodating of the possibility that autism may be much more common than previously thought, is neurominority. According to  Ortega 20...

If you're trying to get into philosophy of education, specifically Christian philosophy of education, there are a couple of "big" authors to read. Charlotte Mason is one of them. Another is Nicholas Wolterstorff. The latter is less familiar to me, and probably many of you. One recent Christmas present of mine was his book of essays, Educating for Shalom . Because this book was so compatible (in my mind) with my noetic structure on Christian educational philosophy, I'd love to take you through this book in hopes of inspiring you to read it yourself! As a reminder, here's the general outline of this post: I will . . . Contextualize the author's writings as a whole (bibliography) Bring the author's major ideas to the present day Comment on major sections of the book, or important chapters, depending on organization Bibliography Wolterstorff , a long-retired Reformed philosopher, has focused his writings on articles and books. What books has he written? Relig...

Last year, a group in adult Sunday school at church went through Peter Scazzero's book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Because that book differed in several key philosophical aspects from Surprised by Hope (which Bibliovore and I led a discussion on) and Strange New World (our discussion class before that), we did not attend all the sessions. I'm addressing philosophy a lot on the blog this year, so I wanted to revisit Scazzero's book in that light. As a reminder, here's the general outline of this post: I will . . . Contextualize the author's writings as a whole (bibliography) Bring the author's major ideas to the present day Comment on major sections of the book, or important chapters, depending on organization Scazzero's Bibliography From  Goodreads , one can find a list of 11 unique books, plus workbooks, video lessons, and translated versions for some. These center around one theme: emotional health/intelligence (as we'll see in the later sections...

If you've read my blog for any part of the last year or so, you've probably noticed that I talk about fundamental or "core" Christian doctrines quite a lot, from a magisterial Protestant stance. This week, I'm going to try to tie a couple of those ideas together, using as my anchors a book we've recently finished at church, the Ecumenical Creeds, and the commonly accepted Ecumenical Councils. If you'd like, come along for a mini-book reflection on this ride! How do we Define a Core Doctrine? As the saying goes, the one who defines the terms is most likely to win the argument or debate. Between traditions, I get the strong impression that The List of core doctrinal positions of Christianity is still lively debated, so here are the parts of my definition as a reasonably well-educated lay Anglican. Sine qua non  for Being a Christian As an apple tree cannot grow except from (ultimately) an apple seed, a Christian cannot grow except from the "seed" d...