Jordan B. Peterson, philosophy, and the Cloud of Unknowing

Submitted by Martin J. Malliet (Belgium), Sep 6, 2018 at 05:00

Just to make sure there is no vexation at all (and also because I don't think that our conversation is entirely devoid of interest for other readers):

Did you look it up, the Cloud of Unknowing? It's a 14th century book by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite that you may like, from what I can tell. (I never read it, but probably will some time.)

Still, I couldn't do without philosophy. I mean, you quote Bible texts and assume that their meaning is self-evident, for you and for everybody else. Is that a tenable assumption? That was the reason for my question in the beginning: "How do you know what God's word is? Or how it is to be understood?" You never answered it. And we could also go back to E.A. Poe, who pointed out that there is no such thing as self-evidence: no truth or meaning is ever self-evident. We can only fall back on reason and philosophy to understand our faith.

You only heard about Jordan B. Peterson now? I thought he was widely known, and that I myself was late in catching up with the buzz. And yes, I meant the Holy Spirit, if you want, although I think simply writing 'spirit' was quite enough.

All the best to you, too.

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