Primum movens (Latin), usually referred to as the Prime mover or first cause in English, is a term used in the philosophy of Aristotle, in the theological cosmological argument for the existence of God, and in cosmogony, the source of the cosmos or "all-being".

Aristotle's ontology[link]

In book 12 of his Metaphysics, Aristotle used the phrase τι ὃ οὐ κινούμενον κινεῖ ("something which moves [other things] without [itself] being moved [by anything]")^[1] -- i.e., the unmoved mover. When applied in his physics, this led to the view that all natural motions are uncaused and therefore self-explanatory.^[2] Causality is linear^[ambiguous], so causality or motion must be finally attributed to a first cause, which logically cannot itself be moved, i.e. the unmoved mover. To Aristotle the first cause is energy or energeia (in Greek) or actus (in Latin): energy causes motion. This is the foundation for the theory of actualism, a non-idealist philosophy of nature, science, logic, and mathematics.^[3] Aristotle's actualistic ontology is a denial of "potential ontology" - that Being is the first cause of the cosmos.

See also[link]

• Actus et potentia
• Causa sui
• Syllogism
• Hypotheses non fingo

References[link]

1. ^ Aristotle. Metaphysics. 1072a ff.. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0051:book=12:section=1072a. 
2. ^ Zev Bechler, Aristotle's Theory of Actuality, State University of New York Press (August 1995) Language: English ISBN 0-7914-2240-2 ISBN 978-0791422403 [1]
3. ^ Zev Bechler, Aristotle's Theory of Actuality, State University of New York Press (August 1995) Language: English ISBN 0-7914-2240-2 ISBN 978-0791422403 [2]

Bibliography[link]

• Louis Pasteur, cf. f. i. René Dubos, "Louis Pasteur - Free Lance of Science", 1986, s. pg. 113
• Andreä, Die chymische Hochzeit. Christiani Rosenkreutz", 1616

William Lane Craig

Born	(1949-08-23) August 23, 1949 (age 62)[1] East Peoria, Illinois[citation needed]
Era	21st-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Analytic philosophy
Main interests	Philosophy of religion, natural theology, philosophy of time, Christian apologetics
Influenced by Alvin Plantinga, Francis Schaeffer, Edward John Carnell, Stuart Hackett, John Hick, Wolfhart Pannenberg
Influenced J. P. Moreland, Francis Beckwith
Website	reasonablefaith.org

William Lane Craig (born August 23, 1949)^[1] is an American analytic philosopher, philosophical theologian, and Christian apologist.^[2] He is known for his work in the philosophy of religion, philosophy of time, and the defense of Christian theism.^[3] One of his most notable contributions to the philosophy of religion is his defense of the Kalām cosmological argument, which is the most widely discussed argument for the existence of God in contemporary Western philosophy.^[2][4] In theology, he has also defended Molinism and the belief that God is, since Creation, subject to time.^[2][5][6]

Craig has authored or edited over 30 books, including The Kalām Cosmological Argument (1979), The Cosmological Argument from Plato to Leibniz (1980), Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology (with Quentin Smith, 1993), Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview (with J.P. Moreland, 2003) and Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics (3d edition, 2008).

Academic background[link]

Craig received a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Wheaton College, Illinois, in 1971 and two summa cum laude master's degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, in 1975, in philosophy of religion and ecclesiastical history.^[1] He earned a Ph.D. in philosophy under John Hick at the University of Birmingham, England in 1977 and a Th.D. under Wolfhart Pannenberg at the University of Munich in 1984.^[7]

From 1980 to 1986 he was an assistant professor of philosophy at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He briefly held the position of associate professor of religious studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, from 1986 to 1987. From 1987 to 1994 Craig pursued further research at the University of Louvain, Belgium. Since 1996 he has held the position of research professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University in La Mirada, California.^[7]

Work[link]

Philosophy of religion[link]

Craig's primary contribution to philosophy of religion is his revival of the Kalām cosmological argument. In The Kalam Cosmological Argument, he formulates the argument in the following manner:

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence.
2. The universe began to exist.
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause of its existence.^[8]

He defends the second premise by arguing that actual infinities and the formation of an actual infinite through continual addition are metaphysically impossible. Although he recognizes that axiomatized infinite set theory is logically consistent he maintains that the existence of actual infinities in the real world would lead to absurdities. For example, David Hilbert's famous "Hilbert's Hotel" thought experiment demonstrates how a fully occupied hotel would still be able to accommodate an infinite number of guests. Craig modifies the thought experiment by introducing operations such as subtraction and shows that subtracting identical quantities from identical quantities would have non-identical remainders.^[9] Since we have no evidence of such things in the actual world, Craig maintains that actual infinities are, for all intents and purposes, metaphysically impossible. Craig also argues that the thermodynamic properties of the universe and its expansion provide more evidence in support of premise two.^[10]

Craig also develops an a posteriori argument against actual infinities which rests on the A-theory of time. He gives Bertrand Russell's example of Tristam Shandy, who writes his autobiography so slowly that it takes him one year to write down the events of one day. A similar temporal sequence would have occurred in an eternal universe. No matter how long it takes, an eternal universe would still not be 'actually infinite' and must have begun to exist.

Craig has also contributed to the problem of divine foreknowledge (the compatibility of God's omniscience with human freedom). He analyzes current discussions of time travel, retrocausality, special relativity, and Newcomb's Paradox and brings them to bear on theological fatalism (most often supported by strongly Augustinian theologies, particularly Calvinism).^[11] Rejecting fatalism^[12] he defends the middle knowledge view (also known as Molinism).^[13] According to this solution, prior to actualizing a possible world, God knows everything that does or will happen as well as how free creatures would act if placed in any particular circumstance. Craig considers that this also provides the answer to the question of how God foreknows future contingents.^[14]

Philosophy of time[link]

Craig is a presentist and defends the A-series of time. He rejects J. M. E. McTaggart's famous argument against it, describing it as "an engaging and recalcitrant brain teaser that no one takes seriously," but also argues against hybrid A-B theorists because they are all refuted by McTaggart's paradox.^[15] He argues that McTaggart's objection does not succeed as it employs an incoherent combination of a B-theoretical ontology with A-theoretical temporal becoming.^[16] According to Craig, if one adopts a neo-Lorentzian interpretation of special relativity, the A-theory can be reconciled with the theory of relativity.^[17]

In terms of God's relationship to time, Craig argues that God must exist in time if he is to be regarded as a causal agent. He rejects the view that God could exist timelessly with creation as he did sans creation on the grounds that nothing outside time could have temporal interactions with the world. Critics such as Paul Helm maintain that Craig’s objections against divine timelessness is itself incoherent because "There can be no temporal 'and then' for a timelessly eternal God."^[18] Craig responds to this charge by arguing that God's timeless and temporal phases are not related to each other as "earlier" and "later."^[19]

Apologetics[link]

Craig has written a number of works of Christian apologetics.^[20] Fellow Evangelical apologist Robert M. Bowman, Jr. (writing with Kenneth D. Boa) described his Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics as "one of the best recent textbook introductions to the subject of apologetics."^[21] Catholic Cardinal Avery Dulles has described Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview (with J.P. Moreland, 2003) as "monumental," but pointed out that Catholics will not necessarily agree with it.^[20]

Craig's work as a New Testament historian focuses on a defense of central Christian doctrines, specifically Jesus' resurrection from the dead.^[20] In books such as The Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus, he reviews the historical debate and provides a critical analysis of David Hume's arguments against testimony of miracles, examines New Testament material dealing with the resurrection, and concludes that the resurrection is the most plausible explanation of the historical data.^[22][23] Craig uses the Shroud of Turin as part of his case.^[20]

Other views[link]

Craig is a critic of metaphysical naturalism^[24] and New Atheism^[25] as well as a defender of Reformed epistemology.^[26] He believes that scripture does not condemn homosexuals per se but does prohibit all homosexual acts, which he considers as “sacrilegious” as well as “self-destructive” to the same degree as heroin addiction or chain smoking whether engaged in by a homosexual or a heterosexual person.^[27] Craig maintains that the theory of evolution is compatible with Christianity.^{[28][page needed]} Although he does not fully endorse intelligent design,^[29] he thinks it may be a viable alternative to evolution.^[30] He is a fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture^[31] and a fellow of the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design (ISCID).^[32]

Debates[link]

Craig has publicly debated atheists Richard Carrier, Robert M. Price, Sam Harris, Antony Flew,^[33][34] A. C. Grayling,^[35] Lawrence Krauss,^[36][37] Victor Stenger,^[38] Peter Atkins,^[39] Walter Sinnott-Armstrong,^[40] and Christopher Hitchens,^[41] as well as liberal theologian Gerd Lüdemann,^[42] and prominent Muslims such as Shabir Ally and Jawal Badawi.^[43] Prominent atheist Richard Dawkins has refused a rigorous debate with Craig (accusing him of self-promotion and of being an “apologist for genocide"),^[44] although Dawkins participated in a six-person discussion which included Craig.^[45]

The debates with Antony Flew, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, and Gerd Lüdemann have been published in book form.^{[40][42][46][47]}

Bibliography[link]

• The Kalām Cosmological Argument. London: MacMillan. 1979. ISBN 1-57910-438-X / ISBN 978-1-57910-438-2
• The Cosmological Argument from Plato to Leibniz. London: MacMillan. 1980. ISBN 1-57910-787-7 / ISBN 978-1-57910-787-1
• The Son Rises: Historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. Chicago: Moody Press. 1981. ISBN 978-1-57910-464-1 / ISBN 978-1-57910-464-1
• Apologetics: An Introduction. Chicago: Moody Press. 1984. ISBN 0-8024-0405-7
• The Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus during the Deist Controversy. Toronto: Edwin Mellen. 1985. ISBN 0-88946-811-7
• The Only Wise God: The Compatibility of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom. Grand Rapids: Baker Bookhouse. 1987. ISBN 1-57910-316-2 / ISBN 978-1-57910-316-3
• The Problem of Divine Foreknowledge and Future Contingents from Aristotle to Suarez. Leiden: E.J. Brill. 1988. ISBN 90-04-08516-5 / ISBN 978-90-04-08516-9
• Knowing the Truth About the Resurrection. Ann Arbor: Servant. 1988. ISBN 0-89283-384-X / ISBN 978-0-89283-384-9
• Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus. Toronto: Edwin Mellen Press. 1989. ISBN 0889466165/ ISBN 978-0-88946-616-6
• Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom: The Coherence of Theism I: Omniscience. Leiden: E.J. Brill. 1990. ISBN 90-04-09250-1 / ISBN 978-90-04-09250-1
• No Easy Answers. Chicago: Moody Press. 1990. ISBN 0-8024-2283-7 / ISBN 978-0-8024-2283-5
• Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology (with Quentin Smith). Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1993. ISBN 978-0-19-826383-8
• The Tensed Theory of Time: A Critical Examination. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN 0-7923-6634-4 / ISBN 978-0-7923-6634-8
• Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? A Debate Between William Lane Craig and John Dominic Crossan. Grand Rapids: Baker Bookhouse. 1998.
• God, Are You There?. Atlanta: RZIM. 1999. ISBN 1-930107-00-5 / ISBN 978-1-930107-00-7
• The Tenseless Theory of Time: A Critical Examination. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2000. ISBN 978-0-7923-6635-5 / ISBN 978-0-7923-6635-5
• God, Time and Eternity. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2001. ISBN 978-1-58134-241-3 / ISBN 978-1-58134-241-3
• Time and The Metaphysics of Relativity. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2001. ISBN 0-7923-6668-9
• Time and Eternity: Exploring God's Relationship to Time. Wheaton: Crossway. 2001. ISBN 978-1-58134-241-3 / ISBN 978-1-58134-241-3
• What Does God Know? Atlanta: RZIM. 2002. ISBN 978-1-930107-05-2
• Hard Questions, Real Answers. Wheaton: Crossway Books. 2003. ISBN 978-1-58134-487-5 / ISBN 978-1-58134-487-5
• God?: A Debate Between a Christian and an Atheist(with Walter Sinnot-Armstrong). New York: Oxford University Press. 2003.
• Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview (with J.P. Moreland). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press. 2003.
• Creation out of Nothing: A Biblical, Philosophical, and Scientific Exploration (with Paul Copan). Grand Rapids: Baker Bookhouse. 2004. ISBN 0-8010-2733-0
• Reasonable Faith. Wheaton: Crossway. 1994. rev. 3rd ed. 2008. ISBN 0-89107-764-2 / ISBN 978-0-89107-764-0
• Einstein, relativity and absolute simultaneity. London New York: Routledge. 2008. ISBN 0-415-59166-X. 
• On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook. 2010. ISBN 1-4347-6488-5 / ISBN 978-1-4347-6488-1

See also[link]

Biography portal

• List of American philosophers

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: William Lane Craig

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: William Lane Craig

• Reasonable Faith William Lane Craig's personal website
• Faculty webpage
• Comprehensive Debate list
• Interviews from the program Closer to Truth
• Works by or about William Lane Craig in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Audio files at bethinking.org

William Lane

William Lane (6 September 1861 – 26 August 1917) was a journalist, advocate of Australian labour politics and a utopian.^[1]

Early life[link]

Lane was born in Bristol, England, eldest son of James Lane, from Ireland a Protestant Master Gardener, and his English wife Caroline, née Hall.^[1] When Lane was born his father was earning a miserable wage, but later his circumstances improved and he became an employer. The boy was educated at Bristol Grammar School and showed ability, but he was sent early to work as an office boy. Lane's mother died when he was 14 years of age, and at age 16 he migrated to Canada, then to the United States, where he worked first as a printer, then as a reporter for the Detroit Free Press (1881), there meeting his future wife Ann MacGuire. In 1885 they migrated to Brisbane, Australia, where Lane immediately got work as a feature writer for the weekly newspaper Queensland Figaro, then as a columnist for the newspapers Brisbane Courier and Evening Telegraph, using a number of pseudonyms ("Lucinda Sharpe", which some consider to be the work of Annie Lane, William Wilcher and "Sketcher").

A life-long abstainer from alcohol, in 1886 he created an Australia-wide sensation by spending a night in the Brisbane lock-up disguised as a drunk, and subsequently reporting the conditions of the cells as "Henry Harris". Lane's father was a drunk who impoverished the family.^[1]

With the growth of the 7-2 labour movement, "Sketcher"'s columns, especially his "Labour Notes" in the Evening Telegraph, increasingly promoted labourist philosophy, and Lane himself attended meetings supporting all manner of popular causes, speaking with his "American twang" against repressive laws and practices and Chinese immigrants.

After becoming the de facto editor of the Courier, Lane departed during November 1887 to found the weekly The Boomerang, "a live newspaper, racy, of the soil", in which pro-worker themes and lurid racism were brought to a fever-pitch by both "Sketcher" and "Lucinda Sharpe". He became a powerful supporter of Emma Miller and Women's suffrage. A strong proponent of Henry George's Single Tax Movement, Lane became increasingly committed to a radically alternative society, and ended his relationship with the Boomerang due to its private ownership.

In May 1890 he began the community-funded Brisbane weekly The Worker, the rhetoric of which became increasingly threatening towards the employers, the government, and the British Empire itself. The defeat of the 1891 Australian shearers' strike convinced Lane that there would be no real social change without a completely new society, and The Worker became increasingly devoted to his New Australia utopian idea.

The Workingman's Paradise, an allegorical novel written in sympathy with the shearers involved in the 1891 Shearer's Strike, was published under his pseudonym John Miller in early 1892. In the novel Lane articulated the belief that anarchism is the noblest social philosophy of all. Through the novel's philosopher and main protagonist he relates his belief that society may have to experience a period of State socialism to achieve the ideal of Communist anarchism. Mary Gilmore, later a celebrated Australian writer, said in one of her letters "the whole book is true and of historical value as Lane transcribed our conversations as well as those of others".

New Australia Colony[link]

Contriving a division among Australian labour activists between the permanently disaffected and those who later formed the Australian Labor Party, Lane refused the Queensland Government's offer of a grant of land on which to create a utopian settlement, and began an Australia-wide campaign for the creation of a new society elsewhere on the globe, peopled by rugged and sober Australian bushmen and their proud wives.

Eventually Paraguay was decided upon, and Lane and his family and several hundred acolytes from New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia departed Mort Bay in Sydney in the ship Royal Tar on 1 July 1893.

New Australia soon had its crisis, brought on by the issues of inter-racial relationships (Lane singled out the Guarani as racially taboo) and alcohol. Lane's dictatorial manner soon alienated many in the community, and by the time the second boat-load of utopians arrived from Adelaide a year later, Lane had left with a core of devotees to form a new colony nearby named 7-2.

Eventually Lane became disillusioned with the process, and returned to Australia in 1899.

Later life[link]

Lane then went with his family to New Zealand. After initial melancholia, he soon refound his old verve as a pseudonymous feature-writer from 1900 for the newspaper New Zealand Herald ("Tohunga"), only this time as ultra-conservative and pro-Empire. He had strong racial antipathy toward East Asians, and during World War I he developed extreme anti-German sentiments. He died on 26 August 1917 in Auckland, New Zealand, having been editor of the Herald from 1913 to 1917, much admired, having lost one son Charles at a cricket match in Cosme in Paraguay, and another Donald on the first day of the ANZAC landings (25 April 1915) on the beaches of Gallipoli.

References[link]

This article cites its sources but does not provide page references. You can help to improve it by introducing citations that are more precise.

• Gavin Souter's account of Lane and New Australia in his A Peculiar People
• Peter Bruce's thesis (Univ Sydney) The Journalistic Career of William Lane.
• Larry Petrie (1859-1901) - Australian Revolutionist? by Bob James
• Whitehead, Anne (1997) Paradise Mislaid — in Search of the Australian Tribe of Paraguay University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia
• Serle, Percival (1949). "Lane, William". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogL.html#lane1. Retrieved 7 September 2009. 

External links[link]

• Workingman's Paradise at Project Gutenberg
• Workingman's Paradise, Pdf at University of Sydney

Peter John Kreeft (born 1937) is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and The King's College. He is the author of numerous books as well as a popular writer of Christian philosophy, theology and apologetics. He also formulated, together with Ronald K. Tacelli, SJ, "Twenty Arguments for the Existence of God".^[1]

Academic career[link]

Kreeft took his A.B. at Calvin College (1959), and an M.A. at Fordham University (1961). In the same university he completed his doctoral studies in 1965. He briefly did post graduate studies at Yale University.

Kreeft has received several honors for achievements in philosophical reasoning. They include the following: Woodrow Wilson, Yale-Sterling Fellowship, Newman Alumni Scholarship, Danforth Asian Religions Fellowship, and Weathersfield Homeland Foundation Fellowship.

He joined the Philosophy faculty of the Department of Philosophy of Boston College in 1965. His intellectual reputation stems from his strengths in debating and summarizing the philosophical arguments of the major Western philosophers. He has debated several academics in issues related to God's existence. Shortly after he began teaching at Boston College he was challenged to a debate on the existence of God between himself and Paul Breines, an atheist history professor, which was attended by a majority of undergraduate students. Kreeft later used many of the arguments in this debate to create the Handbook of Christian Apologetics with then undergraduate student Ronald K. Tacelli, S.J..

In 1994, he was a signer of the document Evangelicals and Catholics Together.

Conversion story[link]

A Calvinist, Kreeft regarded the Catholic Church "with the utmost suspicion."^[2] A key turning point was when he was asked by a Calvinist professor to investigate the claims of the Catholic Church that it traced itself to the early Church. He said that on his own, he "discovered in the early Church such Catholic elements as the centrality of the Eucharist, the Real Presence, prayers to saints, devotion to Mary, an insistence on visible unity, and apostolic succession."^[2] The Church fathers such as Augustine and Jerome were clearly Catholic and not Protestant, he stated.

The "central and deciding" factor for his conversion was "the Church's claim to be the one Church historically founded by Christ."^[2] For he applies C. S. Lewis's trilemma -- either Jesus is a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord to the Church: "either that this is the most arrogant, blasphemous and wicked claim imaginable, if it is not true, or else that He is just what He claims to be."

On the Bible issue, he refers to the church preaching that forms the basis for writing the Bible and the approval needed from the church to ascertain the contents of the Bible. To this he applied the axiom: "a cause can never be less than its effect. You can't give what you don't have. If the Church has no divine inspiration and no infallibility, no divine authority, then neither can the New Testament."^[2]

His conversion took place as he asked God for help, praying that "God would decide for me, for I am good at thinking but bad at acting, like Hamlet."^[2] It was then that he says he "seemed to sense" the call of saints and his favorite heroes, to which he assented.

According to Kreeft's personal account, his conversion to Catholicism was influenced by things such as:^[2]

• the thought of the relatively small number of Calvinists vis-a-vis God's willingness to save many - because if the Bible tells us that God is going to save many, then it seems that he must be intending to do so.
• a simple way of understanding God's demands in terms of asking God what he wants us to do, and then doing it
• the logic of asking saints to pray for us as we ask friends to pray for us
• medieval art and philosophy (Gothic architecture, Thomistic philosophy)
• reading St. John of the Cross whose writings he viewed as really "something as massive and positive as a mountain range"
• a visit to St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York when he was twelve years old, "feeling like I was in heaven... and wondering why, if Catholics got everything else wrong, as I had been taught, they got beauty so right. How could falsehood and evil be so beautiful?"^[3]

Quotes[link]

• Let's get very, very basic and very, very practical about prayer. The single most important piece of advice I know about prayer is also the simplest: Just do it! The major obstacle in most of our lives to just saying yes to prayer, the most popular and powerful excuse we give for not praying, or not praying more, or not praying regularly, is that we have no time. The only effective answer to that excuse, I find, is a kind of murder. You have to kill something, you have to say no to something else, in order to make time to pray.^[4]
• Without qualification, without ifs, ands, or buts, God's word tells us, straight as a left jab, that love is the greatest thing there is (1 Cor 13: 13). Scripture never says God is justice or beauty or righteousness, though he is just and beautiful and righteous. But "God is love" (1 Jn 4:8). Love is God's essence, his whole being. Everything in him is love. Even his justice is love. Paul identifies "the justice of God" in Romans 1:17 with the most unjust event in all history, deicide, the crucifixion, for that was God's great act of love.^[5]
• Ideas are more precious than diamonds. The three most precious ideas I have ever discovered all concern the love of God.^[6]
• What is God's Answer to Human Suffering? The answer must be someone, not just something. For the problem (suffering) is about someone (God—why does he... why doesn't he ...?) rather than just something. To question God's goodness is not just an intellectual experiment. It is rebellion or tears. It is a little child with tears in its eyes looking up at Daddy and weeping, "Why?" The hurt child needs not so much explanations as reassurances. And that is what we get: the reassurance of the Father in the person of Jesus, "he who has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9).^[7]
• Saints are not freaks or exceptions, they are the standard operating model for human beings. Because, as Charles Péguy put it, “life holds only one tragedy, ultimately: not to have been a saint.” In fact, in the biblical sense of the word, all believers are saints. Saints are not the opposite of sinners. There are no opposites of sinners in this world. There are only saved sinners and unsaved sinners. Thus holy does not mean “sinless” but “set-apart:” called out of the world to the destiny of eternal ecstasy with God.

He also formulated together with R. Tacelli, SJ, Twenty Arguments for the Existence of God, what he calls a "cumulative case", and thus "all twenty taken together, like twined rope, make a very strong case," he states.^[8] In 1971 Kreeft published an article entitled "Zen In Heidegger's 'Gelassenheit'" in the peer-reviewed journal International Philosophical Quarterly, the philosophy journal published by Kreeft's alma mater, Fordham University.

Bibliography[link]

• Love Is Stronger Than Death (1979) — On the meaning of death and life
• Between Heaven and Hell: (1982) — A Dialog with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis, and Aldous Huxley
• The Unaborted Socrates (1983) — Socratic dialogue on abortion
• The Best Things in Life: (1984) — Twelve Socratic dialogues on modern life
• Yes or No? (1984) — Straight Answers to Tough Questions about Christianity
• Making Sense Out of Suffering (1986) — On the meaning of suffering
• Fundamentals of the Faith, Essays in Christian Apologetics (1988)
• Heaven, the Heart's Deepest Longing (1989)
• Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Heaven... But Never Dreamed of Asking (1990)
• Summa of the Summa (1990) — Summa Theologica edited and explained for beginners
• Three Philosophies of Life (1990) - Ecclesiastes (life as vanity), Job (life as suffering), Song of Songs (life as love)
• Back to Virtue (1992) — Traditional moral wisdom for modern moral confusion
• Shorter Summa (1993) — Shorter version of Kreeft's Summa of the Summa
• Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal's Pensees (1993) — Blaise Pascal's surprisingly modern insights
• Handbook of Christian Apologetics (with Ronald K. Tacelli) (1994)
• C. S. Lewis for the Third Millennium (1994) — Six essays on Lewis' Abolition of Man
• Shadow-Lands of C.S. Lewis : The Man Behind the Movie (1994)
• Angels (and Demons): What Do We Really Know About Them? (1995)
• The Journey A Spiritual Roadmap For Modern Pilgrims (1996)
• The Snakebite Letters Devious Secrets for Subverting Society (1998)
• Refutation of Moral Relativism — Dialogues between a relativist and absolutist (1999)
• Prayer for Beginners (2000)
• Catholic Christianity (2001)
• Socrates Meets Jesus (1987/2002)— Socratic dialogue with students of Harvard University's Divinity School
• Three Approaches to Abortion (2002) — A thoughtful and compassionate guide *How to Win the Culture War (2002)
• Philosophy 101 by Socrates (2002) — An introduction to philosophy via Plato's Apology
• Socrates Meets Machiavelli (2003) — Socratic dialogue between Socrates and Machiavelli
• Socrates Meets Marx (2003) — Socratic dialogue between Socrates and Karl Marx
• Socratic Logic (2005) — A textbook on classical logic.
• Socrates Meets Sartre : Father Of Philosophy Meets The Founder of Existentialism (2005) — Socrates and Jean Paul Sartre
• The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind "The Lord of the Rings" (2005)
• The Sea Within (2006)
• The Philosophy of Jesus (2007) — On the wisdom of Jesus
• Because God Is Real : Sixteen Questions, One Answer (2008)
• Socrates Meets Kant (2009) — The Father of Philosophy Meets His Most Influential Modern Child
• Between Allah & Jesus: what Christians Can Learn from Muslims (2010)

Audio Lectures[link]

• "Beauty" — The branch of philosophy dealing with aesthetics.
• "C. S. Lewis and Mere Christianity" — C.S. Lewis' masterpiece
• "Christianity in Lord of the Rings" — The cleverly disguised role of God in Tolkien's classic
• "Culture War" — A call to arms, mapping key enemies and battlefields
• "Existence of God" — A magnificent overview of the arguments
• "Good, True, Beautiful" — C.S. Lewis on three great transcendentals
• "Happiness" — How do you get it? Christ's version vs. the world's
• "Heaven" — The heart's deepest longing
• "Hollywood Screenwriting" — Encouragement to film's creative storytellers
• "If Einstein Had Been a Surfer" — Rediscovering intuitive thinking
• "Lord, Liar, or Lunatic" — The famous argument for Christ's identity
• "Problem of Pain" — C.S. Lewis's brilliant exposition on suffering and evil
• "Sex in Heaven" — Imaging the fire of God's love
• "Sexual Reconnection" — Healing the link between sex & love
• "Shocking Beauty" — The live character of Christ

COURSEWARE

• "What Would Socrates Do?: The History of Moral Thought and Ethics" — University-level course in a Barnes & Noble Audio Book
• "What Would Socrates Do?: Faith and Reason" — University-level course in a Barnes & Noble Audio Book
• "The Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas" — University-level course in a Barnes & Noble Audio Book

See also[link]

• American philosophy
• Christian apologetics
• Christian ethics
• Christian philosophy
• Christian theology
• List of American Catholics
• List of American philosophers

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website http://www.peterkreeft.com
• Writings at Catholic Educator's Resource

Steve Coleman
Steve Coleman in Paris, July 2004
Background information
Born	(1956-09-20) September 20, 1956 (age 55)
Origin	Chicago, IL, USA
Genres	Jazz, M-Base
Occupations	Saxophonist, composer, bandleader
Instruments	Saxaphone
Labels	JMT, Pangaea, Novus, BMG, Label Bleu, Pi
Associated acts	Steve Coleman and Five Elements, M-Base Collective, Strata Institute
Website	http://www.m-base.com/

Steve Coleman, born (1956-09-20) September 20, 1956 (age 55), is an African American saxophone player, spontaneous composer, composer and band leader. His music and concepts have been a heavy influence on contemporary jazz.^[1]

Background, influences, and activities[link]

Chicago[link]

Steve Coleman grew up in one of the large African American neighbourhoods of the northern American big cities, the South Side of Chicago, where music (African American music) was "around all the time", just "part of the community" and "the sound of everything else".^[2] As a child, he was "in these little singing groups, imitating the Jackson 5, singing in church or something like that"^[2] and he started playing Alto-saxophone at the age of 14. About three years later he began to study the music of Charlie Parker (of whom his father was a fan), Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and other masters of this music tradition. After spending two years at Illinois Wesleyan University, Coleman transferred to Roosevelt University (Chicago Music College) in downtown Chicago in order to concentrate on Chicago's musical nightlife. Specifically Coleman had been introduced to Chicago premier saxophonists Von Freeman, Bunky Green and others from whom he learned. He told: "When I was growing up and playing in Von Freeman's sessions, there were certain things that were important: Your sound, your groove, and how you express yourself. … There was always this criticism for not having a sound, not having a good groove, a lot of criticism on rhythm: This cat can't swing, he has no feel, etc. So, it's … a matter of learning this particular idiom from these masters who came before you. You have to get with what it is they're good at expressing. How to make it feel a certain way, how to blend, how to swing? You get cats talking about floating the rhythm, swinging the rhythm, and all these different terms".^[3] - Steve Coleman also was in contact with Sonny Stitt whom he regards as one of the "cats like Sonny Rollins, Coltrane, Bird [Charlie Parker] … on that same level".^[3] In addition to Freeman and others, Stitt was Coleman’s connection to the era of great players like Charlie Parker.^[3]

New York[link]

In order to open up new opportunities for further developments, Coleman moved to New York in 1978 where he got, among other things, the experience of playing in big bands (in Thad Jones/Mel Lewis big band, Slide Hampton's big band, Sam Rivers’ Studio Rivbea Orchestra, briefly in Cecil Taylor's big band, and in several other big bands).^[4] He found out that "there is a certain discipline that you get, especially a phrasing thing and learning how to play with large groups of people in a group. That carries over to what you do with a smaller group".^[4] Soon he began cutting records as a sideman with well known figures like David Murray, Doug Hammond, Dave Holland, Mike Brecker, and Abbey Lincoln. For the first four years in New York Coleman spent a good deal of time playing in the streets and in tiny clubs with a band that he put together with trumpeter Graham Haynes, the group that would evolve into the ensemble Steve Coleman and Five Elements that would serve as the main ensemble for Coleman's activities. In this group, he developed his concept of improvisation within nested looping structures. Coleman joined some other young African American musicians like Cassandra Wilson and Greg Osby and they found the so-called M-Base movement.

Influences[link]

Steve Coleman said that Charlie Parker has been "probably my biggest influence".^[4] John Coltrane became a prototype to him too, in terms of his music as well as his approach and his further development. Coleman explained: “Charlie Parker, for me, was a extremely sophisticated blues player. He had a very sophisticated way of expressing the blues. It was like a … ‘space blues’ … very high science. And John Coltrane, for me, carried this more foreword into … I want to use the word “world music” but [not in terms of music from “third world countries”]. … John Coltrane wanted to do a kind of universal music, a music of all the people. And this idea influenced me a lot.”^[5] - Among the living musicians in Coleman’s early days, Von Freeman influenced him most as an improviser, Sam Rivers influenced him most compositionally, and Doug Hammond was especially important to his conceptual thinking. But many other musicians influenced him too. – West African music (from Guinea coast; with its complex interlocked patterns) has been another huge influence on him since the late 1970s. This interest brought him in contact with ways of thinking in traditional non-western cultures which he began to study in the 1980s. - Coleman was also inspired by natural things like flight patterns of bees^[6] and certainly there was the influence from the African American popular music Coleman heard in his youth, especially from James Brown.^[7] – In the course of his career, many more influences have been added.

Recordings and tours[link]

In 1985 Steve Coleman got the chance for his first recording as a leader (released by the German label JMT) and from then on he has recorded extensively (until 2003, since then less frequently). He also had a rather tight touring schedule that included mainly tours through Europe (e.g. averagely about 50 concerts per year in Europe in the time from 1995 to 1999).^[8]

Research trips[link]

Coleman regards the music tradition he is coming from as African Diasporan culture with essential African retentions, especially a certain kind of sensibility. He searched for these roots and their connections of contemporary African American music. For that purpose, he travelled to Ghana at the end of 1993 and came in contact with (among others) the Dagomba (Dagbon) people whose traditional drum music uses very complex polyrhythm and a drum language that allows sophisticated speaking through music (described and recorded by John Miller Chernoff^[9]). Thus, Coleman was animated to think about the role of music and the transmission of information in non-western cultures. He wanted to collaborate with musicians who were involved in traditions which come out of West Africa. One of his main interests was the Yoruba tradition (predominantly out of western Nigeria) which is one of the Ancient African Religions underlying Santeria (Cuba and Puerto Rico), Candomble (Bahia, Brazil) and Vodun (Haiti). In Cuba, Coleman found the group Afrocuba de Matanzas who specialized in preserving various styles of Rumba as well as all in Cuba persisting African traditions which are mixed together under the general title of Santeria (Abakua, Arara, Congo, Yoruba). In 1996 Coleman along with a group of 10 musicians as well as dancers and the group Afrocuba de Matanzas worked together for 12 days, performed at the Havana Jazz Festival, and recorded the CD The Sign and The Seal. In 1997 Coleman took a group of musicians from America and Cuba to Senegal to collaborate and participate in musical and cultural exchanges with the musicians of the local Senegalese group Sing Sing Rhythm. He also led his group Five Elements to the south of India in 1998 to participate in a cultural exchange with different musicians in the Karnatic music tradition.

Computer-music[link]

The French computer-music research centre IRCAM offered Coleman to further develop his ideas in the form of interactive computer software at the IRCAM facilities in Paris with the aid of programmers and IRCAM technology. A concert in June 1999 featuring Coleman’s group interacting with what he calls his Rameses 2000 computer software program was the public result of this commission. However, there are no official recordings of this singular project available.

More research trips, professorship and workshops[link]

In 2000 Steve Coleman withdrew from performing and recording in order to travel extensively to India, Indonesia, Cuba and Brazil and he continued his research as an associate professor at the University of California at Berkeley in the years 2000 to 2002. He has conducted a lot of workshops^[10] and he thinks of himself like a West African Griot, like a person that’s “documenting something in music, telling a story and passing information down” (Steve Coleman).^[11] Trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson said about Coleman: “He’s a born teacher … he’s absolutely full of information.”^[11]

Music[link]

Characteristics[link]

[edit] Overlapping Cycles

The rhythms of Coleman's music of the 1990s were described in the literature as "circular and highly complex polymetric patterns which preserve their danceable character of popular funk rhythms despite their internal complexity and asymmetries. … On the scale of things, this is a very intelligent … music, a music which is hipper than any other music has been in a long time, a music which processes manifold stylistically experiences without abandoning its African American identity."^[12] These rhythms are generated by overlapping rhythmic(-tonal) cycles of various, often “odd” (5, 7, 9 … beats) lengths interlocking like gear wheels in a very complex way.^[13] The cycles are so long and their interaction is so complex that they appear unpredictable nevertheless well organized and grooving to the listener.^[14] In order to communicate freely and expressively within these textures, the musicians must be able to hear these contrasting rhythms simultaneously^[15] and that is challenging.^[16] But the multilayered rhythmic-tonal textures heighten the possibilities for improvised interactivity^[15] and their “odd” character is effective in the sense of the following statement of drummer Elvin Jones: „Some parts of Latin music are very rigid, as are some aspects of African rhythms. The flexibility comes from the number of people that are playing the rhythm. It is not always synchronized, so that gives it a certain movement that makes it more fluid. When I applied it, I opted for the fluidity rather than the static portion of the rhythms.”^[17] Steve Coleman’s overlapping cycles of various, often “odd” lengths provide a very fluid (multilayered) basis for improvisation.

[edit] Timbre, structure

Trumpeter Graham Haynes said about Steve Coleman: “He ‘sings’ (on the saxophone) in his way. He’s got his own sound. He’s got a very particular kind of vibrato”.^[18] Coleman prefers a subtle expression of timbre and concentrates more on the rhythmic, melodic, structural aspects of music versus timbral considerations using timbral elements as aids for expressing sophisticated rhythm-melodies. He wrote: “I feel strongly that the younger generation that is involved in creative music today are foregoing the detailed rhythmic and melodic developments demonstrated by the older masters (which take an incredible amount of concentration to develop) in favour of more ‘effects’. These trends tend to pendulum back and forth, as each generation reacts to the excesses of the previous generation by moving in the opposite direction.”^[19]

[edit] Balance, symmetry, change

One of the main principles at work in Coleman’s music is “balance and form”.^[20] As an obvious kind of balance, he realizes symmetry through melody, rhythm, tonality, form, harmony and instrumentation. However, he works with these structures from a dynamic point of view, i.e. as they progress through time.^[21] The process represented by the change between the various musical structures is a central aspect of his music.^[22]

[edit] Intellect, intuition, embodiment

Though Coleman’s music is a highly structured, complex, “very intelligent music”^[12] it is performed in a spontaneous, groove based way similar to dance and sports. Coleman wrote about these similarities between improvising in music and sports in an essay.^[23] Among other things, there he described the art of varying the rhythms in subtle ways and seamlessly flowing from one rhythmic form to the next without any break in the forms as “can be observed in the most forms of dance of the people of the African Diaspora as well as sports like boxing, basketball, football, Capoeira, etc. where there is a smoothness to the shifts of direction that is based on timing”. He mentioned the necessity of a lot of specific preparation: “The various 'paths of possibilities' have been studied, worked out, analyzed and internalized, after which the mind and body have been trained to respond by reflex to the dynamic configurations as they develop in real time. … A finely tuned and constantly adjusting balance needs to be developed where one can respond in reflex to the changing musical conditions. … In the African Diaspora this balancing act is as much about style (i.e. how it is done) as it is about what is being done.”

[edit] Tonalities, further development

Already in his first recordings, Coleman’s solos sounded somehow “other-worldly and yet familiar at the same time” due to the use of unconventional tones as “belonging to an alternate tonality”.^[24] Since the second half of the 1990s he has used complex sounds based on an expanded, nevertheless not “free” but elaborated^[25] tonality in his music. Coleman has constantly developed his music further. In 2009 he said: “What we (he with his band members) work on is the language itself. How things fit together, how to answer. It's just like church. … It's call and response, which has been going on since Africa, since forever. It's just that we have our own call and response patterns."^[26]

Categorizations[link]

Coleman has stated that he does not agree with “using categories to describe music today, in particular I don’t use the term Jazz. Preferring a more organic approach to music I use the term Spontaneous Composition.”^[22] “I have never considered the music of people like Duke Ellington, Don Byas, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, John Coltrane, Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill – I have never considered this creative tradition ‘Jazz’.”^[27]

Inspirations and the Music's Meaning[link]

Steve Coleman has been described as an indefatigable person who “constantly learns, studies, observes”, searches to “learn from others, from the world, from nature, and to transmit that knowledge, share his discoveries, his quest”, with an “incredible vitality that he generates on the music scene”.^[28] – Coleman said: “The main thing that I consciously try to follow is things I find in nature, in universe. Basically I see the universe as sort of giant palette of forms within forms. So there are forms within forms, within forms, within forms … infinitely - apparent forms because these things are really continuums that approach something definable but never quite exactly become that (like an amoeba where there is an approximate shape with things like dropping and changing). … To me the beauty is the interaction of these forms. … I try to imitate that in my music pretty much. In trying to go for that I think a lot of different things from a lot of different perspectives. There is spiritual stuff, dreams, logic, figure-stuff … I use everything at my disposal … wild analogy whatever.”^[29] “I listen to music all over the world and everywhere inside of my world … I use all these tools, imagination, feeling, dreams, intellect ….”^[5]

Furthermore, Steve Coleman has stated that his main concern is the “use of music as a language of sonic symbols used to express the nature of man's existence. There extends back into ancient times musicians who have attempted to express through music the various visions and realities that they perceive, and for me this is the driving force behind many of the ‘so-called’ innovations in music (and indeed in other fields as well). I feel that the various tools and fields of inquiry that people have used (physics and metaphysics, number, language, music, dance, astronomy, etc.) are all related and present one holistic body of work. The various forms that my music assumes are not only intuitively inspired by but intuitively and logically determined by the human perception of ‘The Great Work’ (i.e. the creation of all Nature by the Universal Mind).

“One of the primary methods that I use to create my music is linked to two concepts: Sacred Geometry (the use of shapes to symbolically express natural principles), and Energy (the potential for change and change itself in physical, metaphysical and psychic phenomena, including Life, Growth, etc.). I use various kinds of musical structures to symbolize the Sacred Geometry and specific kinds of musical movement to reference the various states of Energy. In any event the concept of Change is central to my theory. It is the Change between the various musical structures that represents process, with the structures themselves being symbolic of various principles. I believe that it is through the Spontaneous Composition of forms that these ideas can be most readily expressed, regardless of external stylistic appearances. It is the movement that is important.

“These ideas, although rare, are not new in music. There have been musicians from virtually every culture that have worked in this areas as is documented in the earliest writings on music. Musicians as diverse as Johann Sebastian Bach, Bela Bartok and John Coltrane have stated similar ideas.”^[22]

Reception[link]

Already at the beginning of the 1990s Clarinettist and composer Don Byron regarded Steve Coleman as an exceptional personality of American music history.^[30] In 2010 pianist Vijay Iyer (who was chosen as "Jazz Musician of the Year 2010" by the Jazz Journalists Association) said: “To me, Steve [Coleman] is as important as [John] Coltrane. He has contributed an equal amount to the history of the music. He deserves to be placed in the pantheon of pioneering artists.”^[11] "It's hard to overstate Steve’s influence. He's affected more than one generation, as much as anyone since John Coltrane. It's not just that you can connect the dots by playing seven or 11 beats. What sits behind his influence is this global perspective on music and life. He has a point of view of what he does and why he does it."^[31]

Recordings, free downloads[link]

Many older CDs can be downloaded for free from Steve Coleman’s web site. There are also a lot of private concert-recordings distributed among aficionados.

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Motherland Pulse (JMT, 1985) Debut as a leader and first recording of Cassandra Wilson
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: On the Edge of Tomorrow (JMT, 1986) There was a 7" EP lifted with "Little One, I'll Miss You" and "I'm Going Home"
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: World Expansion (JMT, 1986)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Sine Die (Pangaea, 1987)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Rhythm People (Novus/BMG, 1990)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Black Science (Novus/BMG, 1991)
• Steve Coleman:^[32] Rhythm in Mind (Novus/BMG, 1991) among others with Von Freeman and Tommy Flanagan
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Drop Kick (Novus/BMG, 1992)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Tao of Mad Phat <Fringe Zones> (Novus/BMG, 1993) With Roy Hargrove on one track
• Steve Coleman and Metrics: A Tale of 3 Cities (The EP) (Novus/BMG, 1994) With rappers Kokayi, Shahliek, Utasi, Sub Zero, Black Thought and Najma Akhtar
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Def Trance Beat (Novus/BMG, 1994)
• Steve Coleman and the Mystic Rhythm Society: Myths, Modes and Means (Live at the Hot Brass, Paris) (Novus/BMG, 1995) Forms a trilogy with the following two recordings and released as 3 cd set in 1996
• Steve Coleman and Metrics: The Way of the Cipher (Live at the Hot Brass) (Novus/BMG, 1995)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Curves of Life (Live at the Hot Brass)(Novus/BMG, 1995) With David Murray on two tracks
• Steve Coleman and the Mystic Rhythm Society in collaboration with AfroCuba de Mantanzas: The Sign and the Seal (BMG, 1996)
• Steve Coleman and the Council of Balance: Genesis (BMG, 1997) Large ensemble with strings; released together with the following
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Opening of the Way (BMG, 1997)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Sonic Language of Myth (BMG, 1998) Large ensemble with strings and vocals
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Ascension to Light (BMG France, 2001)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Resistance Is Futile (Label Bleu, 2001)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Alternate Dimension Series I (Free download, 2002)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: On the Rising of the 64 Paths (Label Bleu, 2002)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Lucidarium (Label Bleu, 2003) Large ensemble with vocals and percussion, among others with Gregoire Maret, Mat Maneri and introducing Jen Shyu
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Weaving Symbolics (Double CD with DVD) (2006)
• Steve Coleman: Invisible Paths: First Scattering (Tzadik, 2007) Solo album
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Harvesting Semblances and Affinities (Pi, 2010)
• Steve Coleman and Five Elements: The Mancy of Sound (Pi, 2011)

Collaborations[link]

• Strata Institute (Double Trio with Greg Osby): Cipher Syntax (JMT/Polydor Japan, 1989)
• Strata Institute: Transmigration (Rebel-X/Columbia, 1991) With Von Freeman
• Steve Coleman & Dave Holland Duo: Phase-Space (Rebel-X/DIW, 1991)
• M-Base Collective: Anatomy of a Groove (Rebel-X/DIW/Columbia, 1992)

As sideman[link]

With Sam Rivers

• Colours (Black Saint, 1982)
• Rivbea All-Star Orchestra: Inspiration (BMG France, 1999)
• Rivbea All-Star Orchestra: Culmination (BMG France, 1999)

With Doug Hammond

• Perspicuity (L+R Records, 1991, rec. 1981/82)
• Spaces (Idibib, 1982; Rebel-X, 1991)

With Abbey Lincoln

• Talking to the Sun (Enja, 1984)
• Who Used to Dance (Gitanes/Verve, 1997)

With Dave Holland

• Jumpin' In (ECM, 1984)
• Seeds of Time (ECM, 1985)
• The Razor's Edge (ECM, 1987)
• Triplicate (ECM, 1988)
• Extensions (ECM, 1990)

With Chico Freeman

• Tangents (Elektra Musician, 1984)

With Billy Hart

• Oshumare (Gramavision, 1985)

With The Errol Parker Tentet

• Live at the Wollman Auditorium (Sahara Records, 1985)

With David Murray

• David Murray Big Band Live at "Sweet Basil" Vol. 1 (Black Saint, 1985)
• David Murray Big Band Live at "Sweet Basil" Vol. 2 (Black Saint, 1986)

With Cassandra Wilson

• Point of View (JMT, 1986)
• Days Aweigh (JMT, 1987)
• Jump World (JMT, 1990)

With Geri Allen

• Open on All Sides in the Middle (Minor Music, 1987)

With Michele Rosewoman

• Quintessence (Enja, 1987)

With Lonnie Plaxico

• Plaxico (Muse, 1990)

With The Roots

• Do You Want More?!!!??! (DGC/Geffen, 1995)
• Illadelph Halflife (DGC/Geffen, 1996)

With Ravi Coltrane

• Moving Pictures (BMG France, 1998)

With Anthony Tidd’s Quite Sane

• Child of Troubled Times (CoolHunter Music, 2002)

Documentary film[link]

The DVD „Elements of One“ by Eve-Marie Breglia shows Steve Coleman (and his band) in the years from 1996 to 2003 encountering: Von Freeman, Afro-Cuban musicians in Cuba, West-African and Afro-Cuban musicians in Senegal, rappers in the United States, Indian musicians in India, ancient Egyptian philosophy in Egypt, and a computer-music research centre in Paris. The DVD contains the 98 minutes long documentary and additional scenes (60 minutes).

Writings[link]

The Dozens: Steve Coleman on Charlie Parker and several other essays can be found on Coleman’s web site.

References[link]