On this December 27th – which is the Third Day of Christmas here where I am – when the Incarnation of the Sun in Time (i.e. of the Great Luminary of the Spiritual Realm, Plato’s Only-Begotten «Child» of the Father, who never began to be, but simply is) still appears to be struggling against the…
Kategori: Religion
Reflections on the Spiritual Significance of the Winter Solstice
Today is December 21, a highly significant date here in Scandinavia and in other places in the world far to the north. The reason is, of course, that this is the date of the Winter Solstice, or of “Vinter-sol-verv”, as it is called in Norwegian, and of all the ancient traditions and celebrations associated with…
Porphyry’s revealing tribute to Plotinus
Have you ever read Porphyry’s beautiful tribute to his Master and Guru, the wonderful Plotinus; the Platonic Philosopher-Mystic of whom the famous ancient literary critic Longinus admiringly said «set the principles of Pythagoras and of Plato in a clearer light than anyone before him» (and who may have been a close friend of Origen)? You…
On my thesis research into the thought of St. Augustine of Hippo
As I am going through my master’s thesis, four years after its completion, in order to make some minor corrections, and recalling the for me momentous, and at times almost ecstatic experience the process of composing it was, I would reiterate that some of the most striking discoveries I made when doing the research on…
Creation out of Nothing as Ineffable Emanations from a Divine «No-Thing»
Is this (please see below) one of the greatest descriptions of the mysterious process of continual “Creation” by way of an ongoing process of Emanation ever composed by a Christian? I would say it is. I have been reading and analyzing John Scotus Eriugena’s magnum opus, the dialogue that is his Periphyseon, on and off…
The enigmatic Huqoq Mosaic – whom does it really depict?
Discovered in the ruins of an ancient synagogue in Galilee in 2012/2013, this stunning scene, part of a series of unusually well-preserved mosaics adorning the floors of a synagogue dated to the 400s A.D., has been surmised to depict a meeting between Alexander the Great and the High Priest of Jerusalem, many centuries before, but…
How the «Hebrew» Alphabet is actually a version of the Aramaic alphabet, and not the ancient «Hebrew» one
Regarding the topics of the true origins and purposes and messages of the collection of texts now commonly styled the Old Testament or the Tanakh, categories which include the so-called Five Books of Moses, I would assert that we cannot even begin to arrive at a viable conclusion until we have familiarized ourselves with and…
An update on some of my recent academic work dealing with Platonic Philosophy, religion and ancient history
Dear Readers: It has been a while since this home page and blog of mine was last refreshed with new content, but, as my followers on Academia.edu are aware of, I have not been (entirely) idle, and since the beginning of 2022, I have actually composed several new papers and e-books. I have also produced…
Dagens vedvarende tanke / Today’s persistent thought
20 March 2024: Like most other people, I have made many mistakes, been entranced by many a popular misconception, and been stiff-necked in my naiveté and ignorance at times, but, unlike many of the incarnated beings of this present Age, I will be able to say, when I meet my Pilot Face to Face (as…
Et nytt platonsk akademi for en ny og vanskelig tid
Av Edmund Schilvold (M.Th.) Oktober 2023 Kan antikkens platonske akademi, som i århundrer spilte en sentral rolle i det gamle Hellas’ og i Europas kulturelle og religiøse liv, men som på 500-tallet ble tvangsnedlagt av den østromerske keiseren, gjenopplives i vår tid, her i det høye nord? Det er et spørsmål jeg har stilt meg…
Plato was no «totalitarian», and the «Republic» is primarily an allegory
This article on Plato’s «Republic», by the very insightful Prof. John Ubersax, makes a point which cannot be repeated frequently enough, considering how often Plato’s greatest dialogue is misunderstood and misconstrued, even by scholars, namely that the Politeia (the ancient Greek title of this work) is in fact an extended metaphor, dealing with the life…
The misconstrual of Plato’s Republic, that St. Augustine quotes Socrates, and other discoveries
Below are some examples of what my master’s thesis in theology and philosophy (which you may download for free, as a PDF, by clicking on this link) achieves in terms of research and discoveries: 1. Introduction: St. Augustine of Hippo (the famous church father) quotes directly from Plato’s Republic (arguably one of the greatest literary…
Why Christian theology studies and a decade of reading ancient texts made me a (Christian) Platonist
In the following, I shall attempt to briefly explain why I am applying for admittance to a doctoral program in philosophy. It may, I freely acknowledge, seem a little odd that someone who has essentially been preparing to become a priest since 2015 would make this decision, at the very time when he is on…
Christmas Musings on the Origin and Future of True Christianity
Was Plato, by virtue of supernatural insight, or some other paranormal power, a “Christian” nearly four centuries before the Incarnation of the Word? That is what some, when confronted with the exceptionally lofty doctrines of Platonism, and the great similarity between some of them and Christianity, have claimed. I do not entirely reject that as…
Gledelig jul! (Med noen tanker om hva julen egentlig handler om)
I skrivende stund er det enda en gang julaften, og en gledelig jul ønskes alle venner, kunder og kontakter! Jeg har alltid vært, og er fortsatt, svært, svært glad i julen, og jeg husker spesielt julene da jeg var gutt og etterhvert tenåring som noen av de største og fineste opplevelsene livet hadde å tilby!…
Visions of the Suprarational: A Study of the Concept of Nous in the Works of Plato and St. Augustine of Hippo
My recently completed master’s thesis, which one could say is the culmination of more than ten years of research into the nature of Platonism and Christianity, mysticism and religion, as well as of a very long personal, spiritual journey, is now available for download as an e-book/PDF-file. This is the longest and most significant literary…
Edmund Schilvold: Skribent, fotograf, filosof, friluftsentusiast 