Welcome Fr. Moses McPherson, the newest member and contributor to the Patristic Faith team, as he discusses the Orthodox view concerning Halloween. Fr. Moses is the Rector of Holy Mother of God Orthodox Church (ROCOR) in Georgetown, Texas, just north of Austin. He has been a priest for over 10 years. Fr. Moses holds a bachelors from Redeemer College, with a double major in philosophy and religion, and an M.Div from St. Tikhon's Theological Seminary. His sermons emphasize the lives of the saints, hesychia, and the application of the Orthodox ethos to living the family life. You can find his YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@UCAu1DpqF65ZXfsi5ZzzEFMw Donations for this stream can be made here: https://streamlabs.com/esorem/tip You can find our Patristic Faith website here: https://www.patristicfaith.com Patristic Faith's other social media accounts: https://twitter.com/patristic_faith https://www.instagram.com/patristicfaith/ https://t.me/patristic_faith If you like our project at Patristic Faith and want to see it grow, please considering supporting our ministry here through our website: https://www.patristicfaith.com/donate/ or you can donate to Patristic Faith through PayPal here: https://www.paypal.me/patristicfaith ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvYFOp1sC-s

Join Jay Dyer and I as we interview Jim Jatras on the current Rusha-YouCraine conflict. Jim Jatras is a Washington, DC-based attorney, political analyst, and media & government affairs specialist. He formerly served as a senior foreign policy adviser to the US Senate Republican leadership, and before that served as a diplomat in Mexico, the Office of Soviet Union affairs, and the Office of the Under Secretary for Political Affairs. Donations and Superchats for this stream can be made here: https://streamlabs.com/esorem/tip You can find our Patristic Faith website here: https://www.patristicfaith.com Patristic Faith's other social media accounts: https://twitter.com/patristic_faith https://www.instagram.com/patristicfaith/ https://t.me/patristic_faith If you like our project at Patristic Faith and want to see it grow, please considering supporting our ministry here through our website: https://www.patristicfaith.com/senior-contributors/patristic-faith/ or you can donate to Patristic Faith through PayPal here: https://www.paypal.me/patristicfaith ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDc2V60Fxvg

Fr. John Whiteford joins David Erhan to discuss the theology of baptism and the Orthodox approach to receiving newcomers to Orthodoxy. We shall address this topic not by simply repeating and quoting the Saints, but by synthesizing their perspectives and the doctrinal paradigm of receiving converts as established in the Council of Trullo and in the canons of Saints such as St. Basil the Great. Donations for this stream can be made here: https://streamlabs.com/esorem/tip You can find our Patristic Faith website here: https://www.patristicfaith.com Patristic Faith's other social media accounts: https://twitter.com/patristic_faith https://www.instagram.com/patristicfaith/ https://t.me/patristic_faith If you like our project at Patristic Faith and want to see it grow, please considering supporting our ministry here through our website: https://www.patristicfaith.com/senior-contributors/patristic-faith/ or you can donate to Patristic Faith through PayPal here: https://www.paypal.me/patristicfaith ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwVC1l4Cw0o

Join me as I discuss my paper, "An Orthodox Critique of Natural Theology," which I will be presenting at the 2023 IOTA Conference in Volos, Greece. My paper provides a philosophical critique of natural theology as it is commonly understood in the West. I begin by discussing what is meant by natural theology and argue how this is different from the Eastern Orthodox conception of natural theology (i.e., natural revelation). I define natural theology as “a program of inquiry into the existence and attributes of God without referring or appealing to any divine revelation. Consequently, natural theology can be said to be what the human mind, by the “light of natural reason alone,” as Aquinas himself puts it, can know about God apart from revelation. The critique of natural theology, however, does not amount to abandoning reason in favor of fideism by simply presupposing God and His Divine Revelation. As I will discuss, this critique of natural theology is an epistemological analysis and attempt to establish a proper foundation for knowledge and reasoning that doesn’t rely on unjustified or arbitrary assumptions by showing that the natural theology is a philosophical project committed to several fundamental errors. I identify several epistemological errors within the natural theology project: 1. Natural Theology assumes that there is a "greatest common denominator" among the “monotheistic” religions, and therefore, because it does not identify with any particular religion, maintaining that theistic arguments establish an “essential core” of monotheistic religious beliefs, the natural theological program can argue for the existence of a transcendent personal god who is creator and governor of the world. Consequently, natural theology believes that it can justify those shared essential religious tents as rational, consistent, and logically provable. 2. Natural Theology assumes that the monotheistic religions all worship the same god. 3. Natural Theology assumes that the term “god” is a rigid designator and therefore the term “god” can be replaced in epistemic arguments salva veritate. 4. Natural Theology fails to acknowledge the special semantic and logical behavior of its central terms and claims (e.g., “belief sentences,” and the term “god”). As a result, natural theology commits what is called the “theistic fallacy,” which is a consequence of the non-substitutability of indenticals in belief contexts. 5. Natural Theology commits itself to what I call an autonomous epistemology (as opposed to theonomous epistemology), asserting that the human mind by the “light of natural reason alone” can possess knowledge. The assertion that one can or does possess knowledge (a second order reflexive statement about knowledge), but without actually obtaining that justification, inevitably leads either to epistemic bootstrapping or arbitrariness, making any claims about knowledge (including claims about the existence of God, e.g., theistic arguments) unjustified. Donations and Superchats can be made here: https://streamlabs.com/esorem/tip You can find our Patristic Faith website here: https://www.patristicfaith.com Patristic Faith's other social media accounts: https://twitter.com/patristic_faith https://www.instagram.com/patristicfaith/ https://t.me/patristic_faith If you like our project at Patristic Faith and want to see it grow, please considering supporting our ministry here through our website: https://www.patristicfaith.com/senior-contributors/patristic-faith/ or you can donate to Patristic Faith through PayPal here: https://www.paypal.me/patristicfaith ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcojdKtW3TY