User:Tbutler

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Timothy R. Butler is editor-in-chief of Open for Business and an information technologies consultant. Tim is a graduate student at Covenant Theological Seminary, pursuing an M.Div. He is a recent graduate of Lindenwood University with a BA in Religion, English Literature and Philosophy. He is a Neo-Orthodox Reformed Christian and a philosophical realist, following the thought of Aristotle.

[edit] Points of View

Tim is an amateur literary critic with a old historical-formalist-mimeticist style of criticism that draws significantly from Existentialist thought and the archetypal psychology of C.G. Jung. He primarily prefers pre-Enlightment literature, particularly classical and Renaissance literature, although Tim happily gives a nod to some modernist and post-modernist literature from the likes of T.S. Eliot and Tom Stoppard.

In theology, Tim's most significant influence comes from Neo-Orthodox theologian Karl Barth, along with Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin. As he puts it, he is "Evangelical in spirit, Reformed in theology, Presbyterian in governance." Most of Tim's views would be considered Evangelical, but his academic approach to religion sometimes causes people to think otherwise. He supports the integration of philosophy and theology into a cohesive worldview as in Scholasticism but does so bearing in mind Barth's general concern that philosophy should not overrule God's revelation.

Tim, following the example of the Neo-Orthodox movement, supports the use of higher criticism on the Bible, as well as the application of other academic methods to the study of religion and theology. He does so not out of a general skepticism toward faith, but out of a belief that the truth can withstand unbiased investigation and such an investigation helps to cultivate a stronger faith; moreover, he believes investigating one's faith helps to put non-essentials in perspective so that they do not inadvertently become too important.