Bacon's "The New Atlantis" reconsidered
Updated: 2009-10-19 23:25:29
I found myself with nothing to read and 45 minutes to wait. Momentarily panicked, I was relieved to discover, in the glove compartment of my car, an old copy of The New Atlantis, from Fall 2005.
I settled on a long essay entitled, “Francis Bacon’s God,” adapted from a book by a Gator political philosopher named Stephen A. McKnight. In it he performs a riveting exegesis of Bacon’s mythological work from which this fine journal takes its name. The burden of his subtle argument is that the current consensus about Bacon and Christianity presents him in a far too cynical light; presents him, indeed, as a full-on subversive of the Christian faith. McKnight does not deny that Bacon opposed with great firmness the Aristotelian-Thomist philosophical tradition, which so often formed the foil for various project of modern extravagance, but he does dispute that this opposition to antiquity extended into theology or scriptural authority. Well worth a read.

- Scott Miller
I’m sorry, but the contrast can not be more clear.
The brave troops pictured to the left are now all dead. Killed in a Taliban attack on their Afghanistan outpost, while Obama weights the political implications of General McChrystal’s request for at least another 40,000 troops… a request that has been sitting on Obama’s desk [...]
- Scott Miller
Personal Note: As I mentioned in earlier posts, what started as a normal end of August summer vacation at the Outer Banks of NC quickly turned into an event that has turned our lives upside down for a bit. While it is all good, we are about 3/4 through the relocation process. While the sale [...]