stoics

Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Jewish Bibles, Commentaries, and Cultural Backgrounds
Biblical Interpretation

Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Jewish Bible Translations, Commentaries, and Cultural Backgrounds

10/15/2026 Bruce Strom 0

The eternal spiritual battle is this struggle: Who is going to influence whom? Will the culture influence the church, or will the church influence the culture? If you prefer that the culture would influence your morality, then you can ask Merriam-Webster Dictionary for the cultural definition of Biblical words. If you would rather that the church would influence your morality, then you should ask the Vines Expository Dictionary for the Biblical definition of Biblical words.
Although Vines is a Protestant resource, all Christians can consult its definitions, since it quotes the Scriptures that support their definitions. Another resource is Strong’s Concordance, which tracks where each Greek and Hebrew word appears in the Bible. If necessary, you can discover the Greek word for each word in each verse using an Interlinear Bible.
What is the meaning of the central Christian word for love? Agape and Eros by the Lutheran Theologian Anders Nygren, written between the two World Wars, traces how the Greek words LOVE, agape and eros, evolved from the ancient Greek philosophers and the New Testament until modern days. […]

Biblical Interpretation: How the Ancient World and Modern World Differ
Biblical Interpretation

Biblical Interpretation: How the Ancient World and Modern World Differ

10/15/2026 Bruce Strom 0

St Augustine did not believe that the Bible was always literally true. He teaches: “It is a wretched slavery which takes the figurative expressions of Scripture in a literal sense,” because the Bible exhorts: “the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.” What does St Augustine mean by figurative? When the Word of God in Scripture does not, “when taken literally, refer either to purity of life or soundness of doctrine, it can be seen as figurative.” St Augustine continues, “Purity of life refers to the Love of God and our love for our neighbor, whereas soundness of doctrine refers to the knowledge of God and our neighbor.”
St Augustine agrees with Origen and many other Church Fathers, that whenever the literal reading of Scriptures, particularly the Old Testament, appears to violate the two-fold Love of God and neighbor, then it must be read allegorically. […]

Should Morality Trump Theology? Why We Are Not Reflections in Theology and Philosophy
Biblical Interpretation

Does Morality Trump Theology? Why My Channel Is Not Named Reflections in Theology and Philosophy

09/16/2026 Bruce Strom 1

The main reason why I prefer the word Morality over Theology is that today most people use theology to prove why their denomination is the true religion; and is thus superior to all other denominations, especially if they are converts. However, I am reluctant to condemn this: doesn’t everyone want to cheer their chosen football team? Don’t all fans see their chosen team in the best light, while judging all others who hopefully will be on the losing teams this next season?
Mine is the Mere Christianity of CS Lewis. As an Episcopalian, you can be as Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant as you want to be, it is the most ecumenical and tolerant of all the denominations, in my experience. […]

Stoic Quotes from Paul Harris, Founder of Rotary International
Philosophy

Stoic Quotes from Paul Harris, Founder of Rotary International

05/04/2026 Bruce Strom 0

Early in its history, the Rotary Clubs adopted the Four-Way Test. The Rotary website states that “the Four-Way Test is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships.
Of the things we think, say, or do:
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?”
The Four-Way Test is a restatement of the Golden Rule that is the core teaching of all Judeo-Christian traditions, encouraging fellowship among Rotarians.[3] The Four Way Test is a restatement of the Golden Rule that is the core teaching of all Judeo-Christian traditions, with an emphasis on developing fellowship with fellow Rotarians. […]

Heraclitus, Pre-Socratic Philosopher, Inspiration for Stoics and Clement of Alexandria
Philosophy

Heraclitus, Pre-Socratic Philosopher, Inspiration for Stoics and Church Fathers

08/19/2023 Bruce Strom 1

What can we learn from reflecting on the surviving fragments of Heraclitus, the Pre-Socratic Philosopher? Many of his pithy sayings inspired the later Cynic and Stoic Philosophers, and the Church Fathers, including Clement of Alexandria and Hippolytus of Rome. These sayings by Heraclitus include: “God is day and night, winter […]

Summary of St Augustine’s Confessions of Faith and Repentance
Morality

Summary of St Augustine’s Confessions of Faith and Repentance

07/21/2023 Bruce Strom 6

The Confessions are both a testimonial and a prayer. St Augustine tells us how he embraced Christianity after he was active in the Manichean sect, a New Age dualistic system where good and evil competed more or less evenly, and where Jesus was totally divine without a trace of mortality. St Augustine had many of the same questions that we hear atheists and agnostics raise today, such as: How can intelligent and sophisticated men believe in superstitions about an Almighty God? How can God be Almighty when sin has such a hold in the world? What is the nature of evil? […]

St Augustine Confessions Book 10
Morality

St Augustine’s Confessions: On Soul, Mind, Memory, Stoicism, Salvation, and True Happiness, Book 10

06/09/2023 Bruce Strom 0

St Augustine is my favorite Catholic saint because in every major work he explicitly states that the foundation of the Christian faith is the two-fold Love of God, and love of neighbor, where we love our neighbors as ourselves. In Book 10 St Augustine prays to God that “you want us not only to Love you, but also to love our neighbor,” and he repeats this in other books of the Confessions. St Augustine prays to God: “Give me the grace to do as you command, and command me to do as you will!” […]

St Augustine’s Confessions, His Conversion, Baptism, St Monica’s Death, and Philosophy, Books 8 & 9
Morality

St Augustine’s Confessions, His Conversion, Baptism, St Monica’s Death, and Philosophy, Books 8 & 9

04/21/2023 Bruce Strom 4

Baptism and confession in ancient Rome were very viewed much more seriously in the ancient world than they are today, as the Christian persecutions were in living memory. St Augustine was baptized in the year 387 while the former Emperor Constantine the Great started favoring Christianity in the year 312, putting to an end the vicious persecution of Christians under the preceding Emperor Diocletian, which was only seventy-five years ago.

Although the severe Diocletian persecutions were fading into history, many Christians had parents or grandparents who suffered and martyred for their Christian faith. There was a strong feeling among the Christians that they needed to be serious about baptism, that committing mortal sins after baptism could endanger their immortal soul. Constantine was baptized on his deathbed since he feared damnation for those enemies that were killed on the battlefield. Monica had delayed her son’s baptism because she was not sure he could repent of the inevitable sins teenagers with raging hormones would commit, and he declined to be baptized until he left the Manichean heresy in his middle age. Many Christians in the time of St Augustine desired to be as serious about their faith as the martyrs were about the faith that they sacrificed their life for.

This explains Augustine’s anxieties as he prepares himself for the challenge of living as perfect a Christian life as possible after his baptism. His anxiety was that he could not control his passions, a common concern in a Roman world so deeply influenced by Stoic philosophy. St Augustine tells us several conversion stories that were shared with him before his own conversion story. […]

Morality

St Augustine’s Confessions: Mother Monica, Concubine, Marriage, and Philosophy, Books 6 & 7

04/14/2023 Bruce Strom 6

The Confessions were written soon after St Augustine was drafted to be the co-bishop of Hippo, near Carthage. The Confessions are not only a confession of faith and a confession of sin and sinful longings, but also a mirror into his soul, exploring his innermost motivations. The style is unique, Bishop Augustine addresses his Confessions as a prayer to God, addressing God directly, imbedding verses of Scripture and the Psalms directly into his Confessions as he writes these words on his soul. […]

St Augustine Confessions Books 345
Morality

St Augustine’s Confessions: Manichaeism, NeoPlatonic Philosophy, and Monica’s Prayers, Books 3, 4, and 5

03/31/2023 Bruce Strom 8

The Confessions were written soon after St Augustine was drafted to be the co-bishop of Hippo, near Carthage. The Confessions are not only a confession of faith and a confession of sin and sinful longings, but also a mirror into his soul, exploring his innermost motivations, and thus are included in many introductory psychology courses as one of the first explorations of our subconscious drives. The style is unique, Bishop Augustine addresses his Confessions as a prayer to God, addressing God directly, imbedding verses of Scripture and the Psalms directly into his Confessions as he writes these words on his soul. […]