🏛️ Apologetics Fact

Starlight from galaxies billions of lightyears away is sometimes cited as evidence for an old earth. There are a host of plausible explanations for this, ranging from the intuitive: God created the light already on the way to earth, to the surprisingly legitimate but bizarre: light travels faster in one direction than the other. It is also worth noting that old earth big-bang models also suffer from a light issue. We are able to see light from galaxies 10+ billion lightyears away in both directions. By big bang models, that would imply these galaxies were never close enough to exchange energy via radiation. However, without that proximity there is no mechanism to lead to the uniform cosmic microwave background radiation we see in the world today. This problem, called the horizon problem is unsolved in big bang models.

🗣️ Quote

"As, then, righteousness itself is the reward of the righteous, so wickedness itself is the punishment of the unrighteous." — Boethius

🏅 Person: Anicius Boethius (480-524)

Anicius Boethius, widely known as just Boethius, was a Roman senator, consul, magister officiorum and personal advisor to Theodoric the Great of the Ostrogothic Kingdom--which was one of the Germanic successor empires of the Roman Empire. Boethius was born in Rome circa AD 480 to a notable patrician family, but was adopted into the Symmachus family when his own fell into disrepute. In his youth, Boethius dedicated himself to the mastery of Greek, including the full translation of the works of Plato and Aristotle. Apparently taking inspiration from Plato's Republic, Boethius left the life of a scholar to engage in the realm of politics. He attained the rank of senator by age 25 and ascended to the consulship five years later. Boethius found such favor with the emperor, Theodoric, that in 522 he was made magister officiorum--the head of all government and palatial affairs--and both of his sons were made consuls. As magister officiorum, Boethius confronted the rampant corruption in the Roman court, making many enemies and seemingly sowing the seeds of his eventual downfall. In 523, Boethius was accused of treason, while defending an ex-consul from the very same accusations. He adamantly maintained that the charges were false, and the general consensus among historians is that his execution was likely the result of political rivalries (perhaps stemming from his time as magister officiorum) rather than actual treason. It was while awaiting his execution that Boethius penned his culminating work, 'On the Consolation of Philosophy.'

📕 Book: On the Consolation of Philosophy

On the Consolation of Philosophy is the culminating work of Boethius' life and career, written while he was imprisoned and awaiting execution. In the book, Boethius is visited by Lady Philosophy and engages her in discussions on many weighty subjects, including the problem of evil, human nature, predestination vs. free will, and chance. Boethius attempts to provide answers to these ever-relevant motifs using natural philosophy and the classical Greek tradition, believing that the truths found in the Bible should correspond with the truths discoverable by human reason. On the Consolation of Philosophy is often regarded as the last great work of the Classical Period and had a major influence on the philosophy and theology of the Medieval and Renaissance eras.