september 2008

greek influence
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
What do you think about Greek influence on the writing of the Christian scriptures. I am certain that the answer to this question has traction about what we think of the Word of God, revelation, truth, and how we should live. What do you think about Paul saying in 1 Corinthians, about his marriage advice, that he hasn’t been compelled by God, but that he has the spirit of God guiding his remarks? What does God think about writing that is not specifically aimed at his glory, writing that is on some account, true?

Posted in Philosophy, Theology | 7 Comments »

class discussion 2
Friday, September 19th, 2008
Thursday’s class discussion in Ancient Philosophy about the authority of the scripture and other texts, the voice of Paul in the new testament writings, and the “development” of Paul’s writing was one of the most vigorous and useful in my memory of teaching at Evangel. The one thing I hated more than any other is that it got started just a few minutes before class ended.

This tells me two things. One, discussions about interpretation are of interest because students and teachers want to get to the bottom of things, find the truth, and act on it; two, that after thousands of years of writing and reading texts, we still don’t have it sorted out satisfactorily.

As a teacher I am thankful to have so many lively minds operating in class, with not just opinions to force, but also with lines of reasoning which show evidence of having thought through the issues. We didn’t decide much in class, except to suggest that though it may not be possible to get it completely right, it becomes possible to be fairly clear when something is wrong, and to understand the reasons it is.

I think we were struggling over interpretation of Paul’s letters when we finished. Someone suggested that Paul shows development of his theology in the NT books he writes. This raised the specter that Paul’s earlier writing had theological flaws. While I take it that no one’s theology is universally correct, that none of it is correct out of context, and that Paul wasn’t writing a theology formal, I don’t think Paul’s NT writing shows development of his theological thinking. However, to say that Paul did not develop and refine a theology as he grew in Christ leaves us with the absurd notion that nothing in his experience with God or people affected his theology.

Beside that point, to suggest that Paul’s writing is consistent or that it is entirely coherent is overstating the requirement for counting his writings inspired and authoritative. I know this may seem troubling, but if it is troubling, why have we been unable to agree entirely on the interpretation of his writings and just stop there. Well, we do agree to a very large extent, but something else is going on. Culture, nature, and language change the field of discussion perpetually so that we are unable to statically define the import of the text. We neither think the things our predecessors did, nor do we think the way they did, so the work of interpretation is an endless one.

But, what should I do then? Well, there is little dispute about the majority of things in scripture amongst ourselves. What is at dispute comes into dispute when we believe we need scientific proofs or a general ideology that unifies all the disparate statements of scripture. The systematizers have done us both a great deal of good and harm at the same time. We need to dodge the systematic bullet and keep our judgment in the Holy Spirit, not counting our rational achievement as being more than a temporary edifice, however true it is, however necessary it becomes for our lives.

Posted in Philosophy | 8 Comments »

dream of a black hole
Monday, September 8th, 2008
Last night I witnessed the creation of a black hole near a hotel by the sea I was staying at. It was a bit of matter that was compressed into a black hole with a diameter of a few millimeters. It fell into the earth, collecting matter as it went to the core of the earth. Of course there is really nowhere to run from something like that, but I ran away from some local effects, such as terrible winds and waves, rain and the slow destruction of the hotel. I went farther and farther away finding people left behind. (Of course the scientific team that made this mistake was already evacuated from the earth.) Let me just say that it was bad, and I was still running when the dream was over.

Posted in My Muse | No Comments »

in response to a student
Monday, September 8th, 2008
A student I respect for the work she does said this about the old or young earth controversy in the Church.

“Personally, this is one of my contentions on Creation, God did it, ok. So it’s not the young vs. old that gets me, because there is evidence. It is the theories that can come out of it that bother me. I don’t believe God made a couple of mistakes and then got it right with us. I also think we can hold too much to science, that can be proved wrong. This coming from a science type geek.

I don’t take offense, I just don’t think it’s my place to argue either way, since I’m sticking to scripture and am willing to listen.”

My response:

I am sticking to scripture vigorously. I don’t think Genesis tells us how God did the creation thing, or that Genesis gives us a timeline, or that the Bible should be consulted for scientific information.

Yes, science gets it wrong sometimes, but in this case it has been moving toward a better explanation for over 200 years (and many christians have been on the cutting edge of this scientific enterprise) and has fairly zeroed in on a very plausible dating scheme. Absolutely correct? probably not, but the issue lands within a few hundred million years of the current mark, not billions of years allowing for the “scientific” creationist’s view.

I failed to mention, that even though, for an insider to Christianity it is of no consequence whether we think the earth is young or old, it certainly matters to an outsider.

If we care one shred what happens to the people outside the Church, if there is even one shred of evangelistic blood in our veins, we will consider more deeply what we think on this issue. The skeptic does not commit because she doesn’t want to make a mistake, but seeing within evangelical christianity this adherence to something worse than mythology certifies her opinion against Christianity. Why would she want to get saved if they cannot even get this simple thing right.

It is as if Christianity is still accepting the Genesis cosmology (with concentric spheres around a flat earth) instead of a heliocentric one with the vast universe our telescopes give us. Would you believe anybody telling you about salvation who believed such an obviously false view? No, of course you wouldn’t. I wouldn’t either. In fact, when the young earthers make claims about christianity, I totally ignore them, their way of life, their supposed claim to scriptural knowledge, etc. If they want to live in a box, fine. I would rather open my eyes and stand up in this complex world and let the truth emerge wherever it will. Is it possible that the young earthers may be correct about something? Yes. But I will take their word only conditional on further corroboration of their evidence from sources untainted by their cosmology. Is it possible that one of them speak the word of God to me? Certainly, but then I have the spirit to bear witness of that on the spot. But, then I would take the word of an atheist as well if God through the spirit confirmed it to me.

Posted in Theology | 1 Comment »