----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 8:16
AM
Subject: [TruthTalk] POLYANI AND THE HOLY
SPIRIT
Lance. Thank you. Finally some clarity.
What is the problem with admiring another's
contribution?
jt: Contribution to what?
Philosophy, art, myth, and religion? What does this have
to do with life and truth?
The man did not know Jesus and he was not led by the
Holy Spirit.
Guaranteed.
I don't get it. Were certain ones among us born
under a rock (read pebble)?
Were they not influenced by someone, anyone along
the way, maybe a mother or
a dad? And what if ma and pa have passed away,
are they not part of the history
from which sons and daughters draw when
determining right from wrong and good
from evil?
jt: It all depends; if they were
not believers then we inherited generational iniquity and
vain conversation from
them for which we need to repent and be
delivered from in
Christ. Polyani would be in
this category.
Were they not authorities as well, right along
with the God and Scripture?
jt: God and His Word tell us to
honor our parents, even unbelieving parents but
once we come to the light we do not
follow their example which would lead us back
into darkness.
Is there any among us who confuses dear ol' mom
with the Holy Ghost?
It seems to me that that distinction is a tougher
one to draw than the one many
times removed between a deceased Chemist and
little old me living in the Twenty
First century. That is, if we are aware of the
Chemist's contribution and not just
gulping up his gooze without discernment.
Bill
jt: Why elevate the writings of a deceased
Chemist? the Holy Spirit always
points to Jesus. Polyani was Jewish and he
did not. Where had discernment
gone?
judyt
From Deepsight.org articles on the internet:
By far, the most extensive discussion of religion in
Polanyi's writing comes in his final book Meaning, written, as
his health declined, with the help of the American philosopher Harry Prosch.
In this book, Polanyi tries to extend his epistemological model to describe the nature of human knowledge found in art, myth and
religion. It is the kinship between metaphor, symbol, and ritual that
interests Polanyi and he uses his theory of tacit knowing to describe
this relationship and show the differences between ordinary perceptual and
conceptual knowledge and that found in the class of
special artefacts available in art and religion; he argues for the importance
of human meaning in art, myth and religion in the contemporary world.
While theologians and religious thinkers were
among the first to appreciate Polanyi's philosophical
ideas, it is also the case that Polanyi's late writing in which he tried more directly to discuss religion and religious
knowledge has generated much scholarly debate. Although it is not
possible to provide details here, it is fair to say that the discussion has
focused in two related areas: Some scholars have asked if the perspective
outlined in Meaning indeed fits with the mature philosophical outlook
of Personal Knowledge and The Tacit Dimension. The second issue
is concerned with discerning what Polanyi intended to
affirm regarding the metaphysical status of religious and artistic
realities. These issues were debated in meetings of the Polanyi Society in the early eighties; the discussion of
both issues was the topic of articles in a special issue of Zygon: The
Journal of Religion and Science (17:1[1982]; see especially the articles
by Gelwick and Prosch) devoted to Polanyi. Intermittently, the discussion has
continued in articles and reviews found in the issues of Tradition and
Discovery: The Polanyi Society Periodical published since the Zygon
issue (see the reference below to the Polanyi Society home page where there is
a listing of authors and article titles).
