tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post7630920723264382805..comments2023-11-03T11:37:04.473+00:00Comments on nothing new under the sun: Hart on costly comfortbyron smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-76392505698193090392007-07-06T15:46:00.000+01:002007-07-06T15:46:00.000+01:00Many apologies Marty! You were of course precisely...Many apologies Marty! You were of course precisely correct. Have <A HREF="http://nothing-new-under-the-sun.blogspot.com/2006/09/pics-and-points.html" REL="nofollow">twelve points</A>.<BR/><BR/>Moffitt - you were a month and a half after Marty and considerably more vague. I'll give you two.byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-48277469984030635672007-07-06T05:35:00.000+01:002007-07-06T05:35:00.000+01:00Location: Northern Hemisphere.Probably ScotlandLocation: Northern Hemisphere.<BR/><BR/>Probably ScotlandMatthew Moffitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00546422699620482793noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-30858378967504382652007-05-23T06:01:00.000+01:002007-05-23T06:01:00.000+01:00It's the tower from the abbey which was situated o...It's the tower from the abbey which was situated out the back of the old St Andrew's Cathedral at St Andrew's Scotland.Martin Kemphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17908454108625787731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-64858564698325699332007-05-22T04:52:00.000+01:002007-05-22T04:52:00.000+01:00No offence taken. I really do like this book and ...No offence taken. I really do like this book and I think the appeoach that Hart takes is a valuable corrective ... I'm actually hoping that he will write a longer and more comprehensive treatment of this subject.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-6990737762814555692007-05-22T04:37:00.000+01:002007-05-22T04:37:00.000+01:00I would only wish to add that it is perfectly poss...<I>I would only wish to add that it is perfectly possible to be a major theologian and rely heavily on rhetoric from time to time! </I><BR/>That is certainly true. Apologies if I over-reacted to your comment.byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-38329259441787625222007-05-22T04:14:00.000+01:002007-05-22T04:14:00.000+01:00Thanks Byron, I was aware of those two points and ...Thanks Byron, I was aware of those two points and I didn't intend to imply that Hart was a "lightweight" rhetorician, nor do I dispute that he is increasingly recognised as an important contemporary theologian.<BR/><BR/>I would only wish to add that it is perfectly possible to be a major theologian and rely heavily on rhetoric from time to time! <BR/><BR/>I'm about to start The Beauty of the Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-70094450837022979472007-05-22T00:44:00.000+01:002007-05-22T00:44:00.000+01:00Bruce - yes, perhaps I overstated Hart. I do not t...Bruce - yes, perhaps I overstated Hart. I do not think he is saying that the grieving are to the judge of the appropriateness of all discourse. There is certainly a place for medical discussion and for some words being in or out of season. Yet he is pointing, helpfully I think, to a disconnect in our thinking about evil in which the good news of God's <I>defeat</I> of evil can be obscured by the byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-33175787181399739562007-05-21T14:30:00.000+01:002007-05-21T14:30:00.000+01:00I'm in accord with the sentiment from Hart that yo...I'm in accord with the <EM>sentiment</EM> from Hart that you quote here, but the statement <BR/><BR/><EM>For if we would think it shamefully foolish and cruel to say such things in the moment when another's sorrow is most real and irresistibly painful, then we ought never to say them.</EM><BR/><BR/>seems to go too far. This would outlaw other kinds of specialist discourse, for example in medicineBruce Yabsleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10091471695711534450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-51761309132489583602007-05-21T09:16:00.000+01:002007-05-21T09:16:00.000+01:00It troubles me that from what you've quoted of Har...It troubles me that from what you've quoted of Hart (and I am yet to read the book, apologies for that!), evil remains undefined.<BR/><BR/>When bad things happen that disturb our sensibilities is it appropriate to immediately call that evil and so suggest that God should have stopped it.<BR/><BR/>When the thousands of Egyptian firstborns were slain in an act of God's judgement upon the gods of Philip Brittonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00314234659985057457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-73103875333941216562007-05-21T09:01:00.000+01:002007-05-21T09:01:00.000+01:00There is much in this book that is refreshing and ...There is much in this book that is refreshing and admirable, but there are times (such as in the passage you have quoted) where it seems that Hart relies more on the rhetoric of outrage than on a careful synthesis of all of the relevant biblical data. Specifically, he seems to use the suffering of children as a trump card a number of times. This appeals to me because I have lost a child and a Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com