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To: NYer
A Calvinist historian made an interesting point in his book Who Owns the Family? The Jewish folks encouraged their "best and brightest" to become rabbis. They then matched their sharpest young men with the best available young wives, taking up collections if necessary to provide the dowry. Rather than squeezing maximum use out of one life, they opted to amortize that ministry across multiple generations.

In our experience, God's glory is magnified by projects that might take generations to fulfill. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, for example, was a seventh-generation Baptist preacher. My beloved mentor, Calvinist scholar/writer Rousas John Rushdoony, came from a pulpit dynasty 1,500 years old. Ever since the Gospel came to Armenia, a Rushdoony had seen to it that a son or nephew was trained to take his place in the chain of witness. (both of his grandfathers, BTW, were martyrs.)

Something about normal robust human sexuality images God's nature in a way that singleness doesn't. "In the image of God created He them. Male and female created He them." The affectionate interplay of familial relationships derives from the interactions of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity.

Some have the extraordinary vocation of living single. However, clerical celibacy also owes a great deal to the neoplatonic disdain for the created order.

6 posted on 12/11/2008 7:10:20 AM PST by RJR_fan (Winners and lovers shape the future. Whiners and losers TRY TO PREDICT IT.)
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To: RJR_fan; NYer
Some have the extraordinary vocation of living single. However, clerical celibacy also owes a great deal to the neoplatonic disdain for the created order.

That statement misrepresents both Neoplatonism and its relation to Christianity. Platonists had as many views of the value of the natural world as there were Platonists. That is a very Platonist thing to do. There was no central authority to impose uniform doctrine upon anyone who might be labeled a Neoplatonist. The first step in the ascent to the world of pure forms and truth and goodness and beauty always begins in this world which is an imperfect reflection of perfection. A Platonist could look back at that first step with derision, or he could look back with love and gratitude, or any combination of these two attitudes. This varies from one Platonist to the next.

As for the relation between Christianity and Neoplatonism, the influence flowed mostly from Christianity to the Platonists. If Christian theologians borrowed some vocabulary from the province of the philosopers, it was so those theologians could conquer that terrain for Christ.

41 posted on 12/11/2008 2:17:09 PM PST by stripes1776 ("That if gold rust, what shall iron do?" --Chaucer)
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To: RJR_fan

You wrote:

“However, clerical celibacy also owes a great deal to the neoplatonic disdain for the created order.”

Neither Christ nor St. Paul were neoplatonists.


50 posted on 12/12/2008 2:54:32 AM PST by vladimir998 (Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. St. Jerome)
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