Many within the more voluntarist strain of Christianity like to use slogans about conversion like “God dragged me kicking and screaming.” This is usually meant to emphasize the person’s Calvinistic orthodoxy over the heterodoxy of those Arminian devils. This is an extreme position. Vermigli demonstrates the medium: God doesn’t just idly propose that sinful man change his [...]
Archive for January, 2009
The Perfection of the Will: Another Example of Vermigli’s Thomism
Posted in Ethics, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Philosophy, Thomas Aquinas on January 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Magistrate Should Encourage Virtue
Posted in Economics, Ethics, Freedom, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Philosophy, Politics, tagged civil magistrate, government, Ron Paul, vice, virtue on January 10, 2009 | 4 Comments »
(I’ll preface this post by saying that my knowledge of political science is meager. I also must admit complete ignorance about the economic workings of the stock market. Just thinking about it intimidates me and reduces my being to the level of a primate – much like those in 2001: A Space Odyssey who when [...]
God’s Will as Moral First Principle
Posted in Doctrine of God, Philosophy, Thomas Aquinas, tagged divine law, Ethics, faith, grace, Medieval Philosophy, Reason/Revelation, Reformation on January 7, 2009 | 1 Comment »
John Donnelly, in his book on Peter Martyr, refers to the Reformers’ moral theology as a system of “thou-shalt-nots” contrasted with Thomas’s system of moral virtue. Others have referred to the former theory of morals as divine command ethics. This view is way too simplistic. Sure, Calvin believed the ten commandments to have Christian pedagogical [...]