New Site Design
It has been approximately one year since Jeremy and I began this website in earnest. We have not tinkered with the design since its inception. We felt it was time. Part of this redesign has to do with new goals for further ministry. At the top of our home page are two paintings from renaissance masters, “The Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo Buonarroti and “The School of Athens” by Raphael Sanzio.
“The Creation of Adam”, painted in 1510, is, of course, the focal point of the ceiling of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. This past summer I was privileged to stand in the Chapel and gaze upon this masterpiece. The ceiling contains nine narrative scenes from Genesis. It is the fourth scene that contains the creation of Adam. Adam is clearly made in God’s image. At the brink of creation, God’s outstretched finger reaches toward Adam’s passive finger, infusing him with life and intellect.
“The School of Athens” was painted by Raphael in 1509. This fresco is found in a room of the Vatican called The Stanza of the Signatura. It represents an assembly of the greatest philosophers of antiguity. The central two figures are Plato and Aristotle. Others include Socrates, Epicurus, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Euclid, Zoroaster, and Ptolemy. A self-portrait of Raphael is also contained within the painting, as are the faces of Leonardo DiVinci (as Plato) and Michelangelo (as Heraclitus). In this fresco, Raphael reminds us of the great value of reason and philosophy in one’s life.
These two masterpieces were chosen for this website to serve as symbols of our two great sources of truth, namely, revelation (special revelation) and reason (natural revelation). God’s specially revealed truth (the scriptures) and God’s naturally revealed truth which we access by reason are not in contradiction, but both point us toward the God of the Universe. Our website focuses far more on the reason and philosophy side of the equation, and this is by design. Our readers understand we place great value on the revealed Word of God, however we quote few scriptures in our posts. This is because we hope to engage and challenge those who do not accept God’s word as authoritative, and help others to do the same.