I like the way you women think. And I like the discussions. And judging by the synopsis your output is ok. Alas, somehow I fell off the ping list last winter.
In order to give a complete and proper place to Newton it should be understood that he was the chief promulgator in the modern era of what was known in the 3rd century AD as the Arian Heresy. (According to this heresy Jesus is fully Man but not fully God.) Its effect was so profound that today the view of christ by the Church of England is not much different from that of Muhammidism. Indeed, its said that Muhammids view of christianity was formed Arian Church.
To get a grip on how profoundly The Arian Heresy gripped the western imagination, its helpful to understand that the deepest reason that Melville began Moby Dick with the words "call me ismael" is that Melville was not a trinitarian. His view of Jesus as being just a righteous wise man is in line with Islam. To be sure, the clockwork universe envisioned by elightenment thinkers is more in line islam than with christianity.
But atheism, arianism and the clockwork universe are ideas which in the modern world are doing a slow fade.
"To get a grip on how profoundly The Arian Heresy gripped the western imagination, its helpful to understand that the deepest reason that Melville began Moby Dick with the words "call me ismael" is that Melville was not a trinitarian."
You don't happen to have a scintilla of proof to substantiate this claim do you?
I tried Googling this, to see if anybody else has come to this bizarre conclusion -- and no. All the hits lead straight back to you. This seems to be an obsession with you.
Funny none of the Melville scholars ever heard of it.
Thank you so very much for your encouragemetns and for this fascinating sidebar you are having with Sam Hill!