The Practical Divinity of Universal Learning: John Durie’s Educational Pansophism By George M. Ella Preface What awaits the reader of a book on John Durie’s pansophism? “Pansophism” – that sounds like an esoteric secret science, like special occult teachings, like “Theosophy” and “Anthroposophy”. In fact, the opposite is true. Not an exclusive secret knowledge for the few, but free access to the entire knowledge of mankind for all, regardless of race, social class, age and gender, is what a correctly understood pansophism aspires. It does not look for an exclusive knowledge of God, man or the cosmos, but rather for an integration and connection of all knowledge and its free distribution. Pansophism is not… Full Article
Articles
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658): Rebel, Republican and Reformer Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658): Rebel, Republican and Reformer Part Two Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658): Rebel, Republican and Reformer Part Three Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658): Rebel, Republican and Reformer Part Four Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658): Rebel, Republican and Reformer Part Four Post-enthronement problems After Cromwell’s enthronement, his time was much taken up by the wars with Roman Catholic Spain, but his elevation, as Queen Christina of Sweden foretold, began to earn respect for him abroad. Thurloe’s State Papers include a letter from the English ambassador in Spain now informing Cromwell that Spain was eager for a treatise between the ‘King of… Full Article
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658): Rebel, Republican and Reformer Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658): Rebel, Republican and Reformer Part Two Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658): Rebel, Republican and Reformer Part Three Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658): Rebel, Republican and Reformer Part Four Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658): Rebel, Republican and Reformer Part Three The New Babel Confusion. Before Charles was placed in his coffin at Whitehall, it became clear that a number of the judges, now faced with punishment, had refused to sign the death warrant and others had been compelled to sign by force. Cromwell is said to have examined the head of the King at Whitehall to make sure it was totally severed and he was really dead, before saying, ‘If… Full Article
The Practical Divinity of Universal Learning: John Durie’s Educational Pansophism By George M. Ella O.St.R. (Land NRW); I. Staatsprüfung Sek. I und II (Duisburg); II. Staatsprüfung Sek. I und II (Essen); Översiktskurs in Theologie (Uppsala); fil. kand. (Uppsala); BD (London); PGCE (Hull); Dr. phil. (Duisburg); Dr. theol. (Marburg). ‘I highly recommend Dr. George Ella’s insightful work The Practical Divinity of Universal Learning. Dr. Ella sheds new light on the pioneering work of John Durie (1596-1680) in early attempts at universal education and Protestant church unity. Dr. Ella convincingly proves that Durie’s contributions to Europe’s educational and political reforms in the late 17th and early 18th… Full Article
On a web-site run by a Brother Galyon, my name has been repeatedly dropped in association with alleged Hyper-Calvinists. However, Brother Galyon has now produced a list of what he considers Hyper-Calvinism and I find I disagree with every point. This should be sufficient proof for my brethren to stop calling me a Hyper-Calvinist and an Antinomian but when I protest against such slander, my protests are ignored. I thus sent the following explanation of my views to Brother Galyon’s blog-site a number of weeks ago but it has still not been passed by the moderator. Before dealing with Galyon’s points I must stress that I certainly do not strive to exceed Calvinism, indeed, I have argued for over forty years that Calvin was never… Full Article
Recently, I have been soundly scolded in a lengthy article on Peter Ditzel’s website both for my beliefs and for allegedly misrepresenting those of the web-master with ‘sarcasm’ and ‘verbal violence’. This article was chiefly, it appears, a reaction to my refutation of Ditzel’s criticism of my doctrine of justification. Several years after writing this rebuttal, Ditzel sent me two personal letters demanding an apology from my refusing to accept his version of what I believe on the grounds that he held his severe criticisms to be just. Indeed, he described my defense of my views in the most depreciating language. Now brother Ditzel has published, without prior notification, some of our correspondence, including a letter… Full Article
Ditzel’s Last Stand
Apr 26
Several weeks ago, I received a surprising letter from the NCT website The Word of His Grace, signed by Peter Ditzel. We had last corresponded personally, Peter informed me, in 2007 when I was very ill. So now, in April 2012, five years later Peter was writing to hear if I were now, once again, on my feet. That was the nicest bit about the letter. Then Peter mentioned that he had written some six essays a number of years ago on his site attacking my doctrine of Justification and he had since been informed by a third party that I had responded, though I only discovered the essays some time later when surfing the web for information on Justification. It appears that Peter now wanted a larger public than a mere… Full Article
God’s Word, the Bible, teaches clearly that all that is necessary for a sinner’s salvation is worked out in eternity and reserved in Heaven for whoever is placed in Christ from eternity. This teaching starts at the first page of Genesis and continues to the last page of Revelation, revealing more and more of the Father’s covenanted way for mankind worked out in eternity with His Son. Thus, Christ, in eternity, secured the salvation of all in and for eternity irrespective of that elect person’s historical or geographical position. This was also the teaching of our Reformers. However, nowadays, a number of Christians are following the old heretic Marcion’s ‘criticism with a penknife’ and, calling themselves… Full Article
Dear Brother Shane
Mar 19
Dear Brethren, I have recently found the following letter on a web-site named The Lifted Veil. I replied immediately but, as so often on these sites, I was not accepted as a subscriber and my letter and personal data just disappeared after clicking on the comments button. I am thus presenting the original ‘open letter’ which I never received myself with my reply, trusting that someone will link me up with the writer so that a most necessary dialogue might take place. Dear brothers in Christ, I have a few queries about George Ella’s remark regarding New Covenant Theology. 1. Has he actually read Wells and Zaspel’s book or is he basing his criticisms on material written by others? If he has not read the… Full Article
Reading through the Predestinarian Network blog-site again today, I came across a most surprising accusation. The page began with a writer apparently accusing me of believing that Christ was made sin merely figuratively and not actually. This was taken to be by other contributors because I used the words ‘as if’. My surprise increased as I read Brandan Kraft’s comment to this unfounded allegation on the blog-site, ‘‘Yeah, he and Fortner were close and both actively promoted this heresy in New Focus mag. I stopped my subscription because of it.’ The name ‘Fortner is a reference to Don Fortner, a fellow contributor to the New Focus Magazine. It would have been helpful if Brandon Kraft, who has often written very… Full Article
