Episode Details

Listen as Robert Lyon joins David Schrock and Stephen Wellum to discuss his two-part longform essay "What is Christian Platonism?"

Timestamps

• 00:46 – Intro
• 04:08 – Robert Lyon’s Background
• 05:06 – The Lay of the Land of Christian Platonism in the Academic World
• 11:34 – Who are the Main Advocates of Christian Platonism?
• 13:04 – What is a Metaphysic and How Do We Understand It?
• 14:16 – Other Terms Important to Understand in This Conversation
• 18:42 – What is Platonism as a System of Thought?
• 25:26 – What is the ‘Great Tradition’ that Craig Carter is Speaking of?
• 29:53 – The Doctrine of ‘Ur Platonism’
• 35:15 – ‘Ur Platonism’ is a Reduced Form of Platonism
• 39:32 – The Idea of Sacramental Ontology
• 41:17 – The Loss of Creator and Creature Distinction & Participatory Language
• 43:58 – Do Christian Platonists Pick Up More Catholic Ways of Reading the Bible?
• 47:40 – What is a Positive Construction of Ontology that We Can Begin to Mine From the Biblical Canon?
• 52:07 – How the Protestant Reformers Were Eclectic When Looking Toward the Early Church
• 56:09 – Final Thoughts from Robert Lyon & Dr. Wellum
• 1:00:35 - Outro

Resources to Click

• “What is Christian Platonism? (Part 2): A Preliminary Critique”– Robert Lyon
• “What is Christian Platonism? (Part 1): An Introduction in Three Steps” – Robert Lyon
• “False Equivalence: The Problem with Unreasonable Comparisons” – Itamar Shatz
• “False Dilemmas and False Dichotomies: What They Are and How to Respond to Them” – Itamar Shatz
• “Why Should We Affirm Christian Platonism? Historical and Systemic Reasons” – Craig A. Carter
• ““Christian Platonism” and Christological Interpretation: A Response to Craig A. Carter, Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition” – Daniel J. Treier
• “On Classical Christian Platonism: A Philosopher’s Reply to Carter” – Paul M. Gould
• “Which Plato? Whose Platonism? Summarizing the Christian Platonism Symposium” – Jordan Steffaniak
• “First Principles” – Matthew Barrett
• The Trinitarian Theology of Thomas Aquinas – Lane Tipton
• Theme of the Month: Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts
• Give to Support the Work

Books to Read

• Plato (Great Thinkers) – David Talcott

• Listen Now