tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post8806761075215657582..comments2024-03-28T09:52:15.415-04:00Comments on Common Denominator: Happy Independence Day!Ken Schenckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09745548537303356655noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-43875842363938731972009-07-06T10:47:10.974-04:002009-07-06T10:47:10.974-04:00But Ken, you are rarely wrong:)But Ken, you are rarely wrong:)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-59039461407450495292009-07-05T12:09:19.558-04:002009-07-05T12:09:19.558-04:00Oh, to have such a mediocre mind then...Oh, to have such a mediocre mind then...Mark Schnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00521939849864426818noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-48904373619051450472009-07-04T21:43:41.263-04:002009-07-04T21:43:41.263-04:00Thanks Jared for solid thoughts. I welcome correc...Thanks Jared for solid thoughts. I welcome correction when I am in error or even potentially in error (even from you, Craig).<br /><br />Angie, isn't Tubingen a lovely city, if you were able to go down by the river and church. I covet the leisurely life of the brilliant, but God has instead chosen to give me a mediocre mind, with which I may torture and entertain those who surf the web.<br /><br />:-)Ken Schenckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09745548537303356655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-74754919826191047002009-07-04T19:38:50.982-04:002009-07-04T19:38:50.982-04:00Morality is defined within a context. And our soci...Morality is defined within a context. And our society allows that to be defined liberally, as we do not define behavior, other than criminal.<br /><br />Therefore, religious traditions define certain lifestyles as "moral or immoral".<br /><br />BTW, Wim and I drove through Tubbingen on our way back through Germany. I wanted to see where you and Angie were.Angie Van De Merwehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12617299120618867829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-62235798488254447932009-07-04T17:05:56.975-04:002009-07-04T17:05:56.975-04:00I would never claim Franklin as Christian (he was ...I would never claim Franklin as Christian (he was clearly a Deist), but I studied him closely as an undergrad (because he just fascinates me), reading his collected writings (there were 36 volumes, I think, then, and they were still being edited) and multiple biographies and articles, etc. And the only solid evidence I found of escapades with other women (other than his wife) is before he was married and after his wife died. While she was still alive, all you can find are rumors by his political enemies, and political slander/libel was worse back then than today (we are rather tame in fact). It is possible that some of this is based upon truth, but a lot of it seems to be based upon his earlier behavior that led to his bastard son (whose mother, by the way, later became Franklin's nearly life-long wife by common law marriage). At the very least, the historical evidence is more debatable than most people realize on that score.<br /><br />On Franklin and religion, he is also interesting. He was a Deist, but he was not so vociferous as Voltaire, for example. He made some strange liaisons in this sphere. Franklin had an interesting ongoing friendship with George Whitfield, but Franklin admired Whitfield for his oratorical abilities (and perhaps his helping of the orphans) than his message. <br /><br />There is also a nice story of when a young minister came to Philadelphia. Evidently, this young man gave fantastic sermons on universal morals (much like the ones Franklin and European enlightenment figures espoused), and so Franklin went to hear him speak, and found his sermons to be impressive. So he started going to this church. It leaked that this young man was cribbing his sermons and was not writing them himself (something, I think, most ministers do today, but was taboo in 18th century Philadelphia), and the parishioners were furious at this. Franklin defended the young man, saying he would rather hear his plagiarized good sermons than anyone else's bad sermons. <br /><br />I wrote my senior thesis (which I still intend on publishing) on Franklin's female pseudonyms, and they are very critical of the (New England) church. But it seems he is more critical of church structure and established religious forms more than what he would see as the universal qualities of the sermon on the mount (much like Jefferson in this respect) and love your neighbor as yourself.<br /><br />happy fourth!Jared Calawayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09380681998833566514noreply@blogger.com