Bishop of Winchester 705 – 744

Daniel of Winchester

Worth knowing

Bishop of Winchester in England from 705, and the bishop who sent Boniface out as a missionary.
Around 723 he wrote to Boniface on how to speak with pagans: ask them calmly where their gods came from and what held the world together before the gods were born, until their own answers show the problem.
The letter survives because it was kept among Boniface's correspondence.

In Scholar’s Dream, Daniel of Winchester has one book

Daniel’s LetterDaniel of Winchester, Letter to Boniface on Persuading the HeathenPresuppositionNatural Theology

Daniel of Winchester’s quotes in the game

Every quotation from Daniel of Winchester that a player meets in Scholar’s Dream, attached to the move that says it. Or see them as a plain list →

In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other, and each thing a book can do in a debate is called a move. Every quote below is spoken by one of those moves. Open “How it works in the game” under a quote to see the move, which books learn it, and which arguments it answers best.

“thou shouldst propose to them in no irritating or offensive manner, but with the greatest calmness and moderation… so that the heathen more out of confusion than exasperation may blush for their absurd opinions”
Daniel of Winchester, Letter to Boniface (c. 723), trans. Kylie (1911), public domain. (trimmed quote)public domain

How it works in the game: the move Calmness and Moderation

EthicsStat shift · 100% accurate

In the gameA bishop’s advice to a missionary about his tone. Ask your questions calmly, and the other man falls quiet from confusion instead of digging in from anger.

Learned byDaniel’s Letter (Lv 1)

“Thou shouldst not offer opposition to them concerning the genealogy of their false gods… gods and goddesses who were born after the manner of men were men rather than gods, and in that they existed not before, had therefore a beginning.”
Daniel of Winchester, Letter to Boniface (c. 723), trans. Edward Kylie, The English Correspondence of Saint Boniface (1911), public domain. (trimmed quote)public domain

How it works in the game: the move Then They Had a Beginning

Natural TheologyArgument · power 82 · 100% accurate

In the gameLet them keep their stories of gods being married and born. A god who was born was not there first, and whatever was not there first is not God.

Learned byDaniel’s Letter (Lv 30)

Strong against

×3We Will Make You More Godsan argument · why?

A god you can appoint had a day before he was one — and a god with a beginning is not God.

“they cannot find for the gods begotten before the establishment of the universe any place where these could subsist and dwell; by the universe I mean not merely the visible earth and sky, but the whole extent of space, which the heathen themselves can grasp with the imagination”
Daniel of Winchester, Letter to Boniface (c. 723), trans. Kylie (1911), public domain.public domain

How it works in the game: the move The Whole Extent of Space

Natural TheologyArgument · power 74 · 100% accurate

In the gameShuts the exit before anyone reaches it. The obvious reply is that the gods lived somewhere else before the world — so Daniel defines the world as everywhere, and the somewhere else is gone.

Learned byDaniel’s Letter (Lv 33)

“If they do, the number of the gods must now be infinite; and who is the most powerful among so many and such great beings, is unknown to mortals, so a man must be on his guard for fear of offending the strongest.”
Daniel of Winchester, Letter to Boniface (c. 723), trans. Kylie (1911), public domain.public domain

How it works in the game: the move Who Is the Strongest?

RationalityArgument · power 78 · 95% accurate

In the gameTurns an endless pantheon into an endless anxiety. If the gods still beget gods there is no counting them, and no man can know whom he has already offended.

Learned byDaniel’s Letter (Lv 39)

“why do the gods leave it in the power of those subject to them to decide what tribute to offer? If they need such things, why could they not themselves have made a better choice? If they do not need them, the people are wrong to suppose that the gods can be appeased with such offerings of victims”
Daniel of Winchester, Letter to Boniface (c. 723), trans. Kylie (1911), public domain.public domain

How it works in the game: the move What Does the Sacrifice Add?

RationalityArgument · power 76 · 100% accurate

In the gameA fork with no third way out. Either the gods need what is on the altar, and they are not gods — or they do not, and the whole altar is a misunderstanding.

Learned byDaniel’s Letter (Lv 42)

“But if they do both in the temporal order, why do they spare the Christians, who turn nearly the whole world from their worship and overthrow their statutes?”
Daniel of Winchester, Letter to Boniface (c. 723), trans. Kylie (1911), public domain.public domain

How it works in the game: the move Why Spare the Christians?

HistoryArgument · power 72 · 100% accurate

In the gameTakes the gods at their word about their own powers, then reads the news. If they punish those who despise them, the Christians pulling down their shrines across half of Europe should be the first to go.

Learned byDaniel’s Letter (Lv 45)

“the Christians, possess the fertile lands and the provinces fruitful in wine and olives and overflowing with other riches, and have left them, that is, the heathen with their gods, only the frozen lands”
Daniel of Winchester, Letter to Boniface (c. 723), trans. Kylie (1911), public domain.public domain

How it works in the game: the move Only the Frozen Lands

HistoryArgument · power 70 · 90% accurate

In the gameThe pagans point at the map and ask who got the wine country. That argument only works for whoever is doing well at the moment, and it will be turned against the church as soon as the church is not.

Learned byDaniel’s Letter (Lv 48)

Strong against

×0.66Our Gods Gave Us Thisan argument · why?

She is running your own argument back at you, from the better harvest — and it works exactly as well.

Words Daniel of Winchester’s books borrow from others

Moves these books can learn whose quotation comes from somebody else. The citation on each one names who actually said it.

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”
Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.

How it works in the game: the move Affirm

Status

In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.

Learned byDaniel’s Letter (Lv 37)

Who else was alive

Daniel of Winchester against everyone else in the game.

A.D. 450A.D. 700A.D. 950A.D. 1200A.D. 1450A.D. 1700A.D. 1950

Boethius Boniface John of Damascus Daniel of Winchester Timothy I Alcuin of York Pope Leo III Eulogius of Córdoba Paul Alvaro of Córdoba Rimbert Humbert of Silva Candida Michael Cerularius Peter III of Antioch Anselm of Canterbury Ari Thorgilsson Ebo and Herbord Thomas Aquinas John Wyclif Lorenzo Valla Girolamo Savonarola Pope Paul III Martin Luther Miles Coverdale William Tyndale Emperor Charles V John Calvin Teresa of Ávila John Jewel The Council of Trent The English exiles at Geneva Hugo Grotius René Descartes John Owen Blaise Pascal John Bunyan Louis XIV of France Pierre Bayle Joseph Butler Jonathan Edwards Thomas Reid George Campbell William Paley John Henry Newman J. C. Ryle Friedrich Nietzsche James Orr B. B. Warfield Herman Bavinck W. R. Sorley James Denney J. Gresham Machen

Solid bar = firm dates · faded = approximate51 authors sit outside this window