Summary

This website provides a central reference for, and explanation of, my writing.

The Pages on the menu bar above:

• “About” explains my Christian perspective and motivation
• “Blog” accesses comment regarding more personal concerns which nevertheless have broader significance, most notably the philosophy, direction and management of the University of Oxford whose motto Dominus illuminatio mea requires substantial restoration
• “Historiography” recounts my personal thoughts about the discipline of History – its use and abuse
• “Simplicity” concerns the abuse of Complexity by the practitioners of complexity, the “experts”
• “ABC” flags up the critical role played by our minds, highlighting the vital need to be self aware and responsible
• “Holy” explains the vital but much neglected doctrine and practice
• this “Summary” page lists below other my other blogsites dedicated to particular themes, namely:

  “Expat for Brexit” at WordPress.com

“Expat for Brexit” began in early 2016 as a contribution to the Brexit Referendum debate. I took there a more historical and philosophical approach to Brexit. Despite being a British expat living in France, I saw no reason to fear Brexit. Indeed my view was that Brexit should be embraced in order to restore the English/British constitutional and legal tradition which I regard as superior to the Continental version derived from the French statist, dirigiste, deductive approach. The reality of Brexit has proved my confidence and view correct – so far. The UK has yet to eradicate the entire EU culture and the associated corpus of law from its constitutional and legal thinking, as well as from the culture which informs the administration of government.

Christianity.name

Later in 2016, Christianity.name was launched under another title but remains an explanation of the faith elaborated by the New Testament of the Bible. My explanation is distinct from the often tangential theological,  denominational or sectarian interpretations and traditions. As far as I can see,  the Bible describes a living faith in a living God. So, the only way to understand and appreciate the Bible is on that spiritual basis, not as a theological or academic treatise dismissed by people who fail to understand its very practical role. [Note in this regard the entire theme of Paul’s letter to the Colossians]. The French website version reflects the perspective expressed on my website for Philotheos/philotheism – see below – where I take “I AM” as the core conception of God. Notice, “I AM” translates into French as “JE SUiS” !

Conservatism.Institute

Conservatism Institute was originally launched in 2018 under the name of “Right Wing Institute” before being renamed and modified in August 2021. Its purpose is to promote the principled philosophy of the right wing tradition of the English speaking peoples. As such it is to be distinguished from the often prejudiced predisposition of much right wing comment. My thinking spontaneously aligns quite closely with that of Edmund Burke as elaborated in his classic text: Reflections on the Revolution in France.

CORE CONSERVATISM: Edmund Burke’s Landmark Definition

Published in March 2020, my edition of Edmund Burke’s classic statement of Conservatism in his Reflections on the Revolution in France flowed naturally on from my Rightwing.Institute website on Conservatism. It has the same purpose, but in particular makes available a far more user friendly edition of Burke’s classic text. My edition was conceived and designed to promote Edmund Burke’s political philosophy to both ‘believers’ and to students of politics and of history.  It is the first edition to number the paragraphs of the text and the first to distil Burke’s Conservative thinking to 3 Principles and 10 Tenets. For decades now, British academia has excluded one of the most important political thinkers of the modern age. Indeed, in his 2014 biography of Edmund Burke, Dr Jesse Norman, goes so far as to call Edmund Burke, “both the greatest and the most underrated political thinker of the last 300 years.”

Philotheos.org

Philotheos/ism is Theocentric Philosophy. It was precipitated by the abuses practised by western governments in response to Covid. Such abuse in defiance of our manifest history of liberty, I attribute to the triumph today of Materialist thinking over the traditional Christian perspective and paradigm of the western world. I believe that I am the first person to use accurately and coherently the words “philotheos” and “philotheism” to describe the thoroughly theocentric philosophy I define. It is consistent with the apostle Paul’s usage in 2Timothy chapter 3, verse 4.

Exodus 3.14 has identified the central conception of God as “I AM”. “Philotheos” describes this central concept and “Philotheism” the consequent paradigm arising.  This distinguishes a faithful, God-centred study of God from the man-centred philosophical discipline called “Theology”.

Finally, the latest Blog posts on this site are listed below. 

Graham R. Catlin