11Nov 2016 by Paul Williams 6 Comments

Classifying All Human Knowledge

Epistemology
When I first created this site, I wanted to create a category structure that would enable me to classify any post I might publish.  It seemed to be a logical step given the name of the website.  I don't recall how long it took me, but I spent some time looking through various ways of classifying knowledge and eventually came up with a version that suited my interests and seemed to make sense to me. I had fifteen broad categories when I was finished. Recently, I was thinking about how I could combine some of these to fit into a system similar to the Dewey Decimal Classification.  My structure is slightly different, but in many ways it mirrors the DDC.  Here's what I settled on (the numbers are just to…
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07Dec 2013 by Paul Williams

The Purpose of the Spiritual Disciplines

Christianity
All these things establish purity of heart; and it is for this that we should do everything, scorning possessions, enduring fasts and vigils gladly, engaging in spiritual reading and psalmody. If, however, some necessary task pleasing to God should keep us from our normal fasting and reading, we should not on this account neglect purity of heart. For what we gain by fasting is not so great as the damage done by anger; nor is the profit from reading as great as the harm done when we scorn or grieve a brother. 'Fasts and vigils, the study of Scripture, renouncing possessions and everything worldly are not in themselves perfection, as we have said; they are its tools. For perfection is not to be found in them; it is acquired through…
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23May 2013 by Paul Williams

Humankind’s Unique Role As Priest and King of Creation and In Defense of Icons

Christianity
Through heaven and earth and sea, through wood and stone and relics and temples and the cross, through angels and men, and through all creation visible and invisible, I offer adoration and worship to the only Creator, Maker, and Lord of all things. For the creation does not adore the Creator by itself, but it is through me that the heavens declare the glory of God, and through me the moon worships God, and through me the stars glorify God, and through me the waters, storms, dews, and all created things worship and glorify God. - St. Leontios of Cyprus, my translation from Latin (which was translated from Greek) as found in Patrologia Graeca 93:1604AB
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