Subj : Bible
To   : CURTIS JOHNSON
From : RALPH ZETTER
Date : Tue Oct 31 2000 11:53 pm

>  CJ> As any professional philosopher well knows, it doesn't take
>  CJ> much slippage in clarity to introduce confusion.
> 
>  FM> Quite true; that is the reason I attempt to be very careful
>  FM> to read "professional" philosophers just as I read and listen to all
>  FM> other thinkers - with as much criticism as I can bring to bear.  As
> 
>  As you probably know, the analytic school of philosophy was
> much concerned with this very issue.  It makes for rather dry reading,
> but it is important work for the philosophical entreprise.  One should
> always be aware, of course, that what a particular term means to one
> philosopher may be quite different from what it means to another.
> "God" is but one notorious example.
> 
>  FM> you well know, my first introduction and still my guide in the world
>  FM> of critical thought is Eric Voegelin who was not a "professional"
>  FM> philosopher but a "professional" political scientist.  The myriad of
>  FM> his students (a growing body) are thankful that he was not impressed
>  FM> by academic titles - even his own!
> 
>  His peculiar usage of "gnostic" is another example--but we've
> already been through that, haven't we?


Didn't the gnostics believe that we were pieces of God that become trapped
in the world, and 
that through their teachings we could regain our divinity?
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