Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

• Psalm 46:10

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

• Philippians 3:12-15

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

• Jeremiah 29:13

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

• Matthew 7:7

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

• 1 Peter 2:2-3

“Duns Scotus, a Franciscan friar, was among the most influential of the medieval philosophers. Born in Scotland, he taught at Oxford University and later in Paris. Duns Scotus’s arguments were noted for their rigor and intricacy. He argued against Thomas Aquinas that attributes, when applied to God, retain the same meaning as when used of ordinary objects. On the issue of universals, he stated that we can perceive particulars directly, without the assistance of general concepts. He also claimed that knowledge can be acquired by the proper use of the senses, without the need for divine ‘illumination.’ ”

• Sam Atkinson (senior editor), The Philosophy Book, Big Ideas Simply Explained

John Duns Scotus (1265-1308) was a Franciscan Friar.  He was a leading philosopher in the thought that Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, was immaculate, without sin, from birth.  Odd that the Catholic church followed his thinking when the previous philosophers (Anselm, Bernard, Thomas Aquinas, and Bonaventure) all had the idea that she was made immaculate at some point after birth.  … Some of Duns’ contemporaries felt his philosophy to fall short, even creating the word “dunce” from his name.

If the previous paragraph looks familiar, I copied it from the first time I introduced John Duns Scotus, Does God Have Free Choice?

While Meister Eckhart’s ideas led some of his writings to be considered heretical, John Duns Scotus is labeled a dunce, not for being one, just introducing ideas that bucked the system.

Eckhart, last week’s philosopher, was among many in his day that insisted that you could not achieve an understanding of God without delving into mysticism, Duns Scotus went against the grain.  He stated that we can see the attributes of God, hear them, smell them, touch them.

Indeed, I have watched television shows about how God is whimsical and a brilliant artist.  When you think of the narwhal whale, the duckbilled platypus, the aardvark, and even the giraffe, you have to think that God had a sense of humor, along with a unique sense of design.  While there is some function to attract the female of the species, many birds have vivid, vibrant colors.

We can explain why grass and leaves are green and why they change color, but we did not design them to do that.  Seeing the fall colors is a special treat.  In the South, most of the leaves simply turn brown, but when you see a single tree with leaves ranging from green to red, orange, and yellow, it is breathtaking to see.

From what I have read, it seems that some of the mysticism that was prevalent in the times of Duns Scotus was a deep meditation where with prayer and fasting, you get closer to God.  Mysticism today branches into the occult and rarely touches anything related to God or Scripture.  In fact, much of it is prohibited by Levitical Law.  It is a good thing to get in touch with God through prayer and fasting, but let’s not go further.  We can see God in everything around us.  In that respect, John Duns Scotus was far from being a dunce.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.