Did Plato read Moses? - 2 November 2009 |
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Here are some of the questions for week 4 of the Guided Reading Course.
Peter J. Leithart, ‘Did Plato Read Moses? Middle grace and moral consensus’
1. What is the key question Leithart addresses (p. 1)?
2. What is his initial response (p. 1)?
3. Why is ‘the notion of a universal moral consensus’ (p. 3) important?
4. What is Leithart’s substantive response to the initial question (pp. 4-5)?
5. How cogent do you find the evidence adduced on pp. 6-16? Compare Leithart’s appraisal (p. 16).
6. How persuasive is the evidence adduced from the biblical data (pp. 16-19)?
7. Is Leithart’s conclusion justified (pp. 19-20)?
8. If Leithart is right, what will happen in the non-Christian Western world in the coming decades? What implications does his argument have for how the church should attempt to engage in the public square?
Peter J. Leithart, ‘Natural Law: A Reformed critique’
1. What is ‘natural law’ (pp. 3-4)? Why, according to Myers, might it be a useful concept (p. 4-5)?
2. What are your initial reactions to Leithart’s ‘denials and affirmations’ (pp. 6-7)?
3. What biblical texts might be adduced to support natural law theory (pp. 14ff.)? What do you make of Leithart’s exegesis of them?
4. ‘Recent advocates’ (p. 19) of natural law theory have, in Leithart’s view, simultaneously claimed too much and too little (pp. 19-20). What, precisely, is his argument here? Do you agree?
5. How does Leithart’s argument here relate to that found in his ‘Did Plato read Moses?’
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Guided Reading Course, Minister's Blog