Monday, June 06, 2005
Questions, always with the questions…
Okay so one of the blogs I’ve been reading quite a bit seems to sum up some questions I’m having in a book he’s reading.
Virusdoc In his “Christianity Without Christ?” post he’s reading and analyzing part of Marcus Borg's The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith
This feels pretty much like where I am right now.
Leigh and I are watching Kent Hovind’s video series on the Creation right now and I have to say it ain’t helpin’ (though we’re early in it yet and I am giving it as fair a shot as possible). I agree with him that evolution/the Big Bang seems completely ludicrous, but so does the idea of a 6,000 year old Earth. If God didn’t create the world precisely as the world says then where does that leave the Bible? Same questions about the Flood and the other more fantastic/miraculous parts of the Bible.
I need not only to know what I believe, but what Christianity would have me believe if I am to call myself Christian. And if one can believe whatever one wants and still call one’s self a Christian then what’s the point. Like Syndrome says “if everyone's Super... no one will be.”
So there you go.
¶
10:58 AM
Okay so one of the blogs I’ve been reading quite a bit seems to sum up some questions I’m having in a book he’s reading.
Virusdoc In his “Christianity Without Christ?” post he’s reading and analyzing part of Marcus Borg's The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith
...the "emerging paradigm" ... is the product of Christianity's encounter with the modern and postmodern world, including science, historical scholarship, religious pluralism, and cultural diversity. Less positively, it is the product of our awareness of how Christianity has contributed to racism, sexism, nationalism, exclusivism, and other harmful ideologies. (p. xii)
For the emerging paradigm, the bible is the historical product of two ancient communities [and] was not written to us or for us. The emerging paradigm sees the Bible metaphorically, by which I mean its "more-than-literal," "more-than-factual", meaning. It is not very much concerned with the historical factuality of the Bible's stories, but much more with their meanings. The emerging paradigm sees the Christian life as a life of relationship and transformation. Being a Christian is not about meeting requirements for a future reward in an afterlife, and not very much about believing. Rather, the Christian life is about a relationship with God that transforms life in the present. In this paradigm Christianity is one of the world's great enduring religions... -pp. 13-14.
This feels pretty much like where I am right now.
Leigh and I are watching Kent Hovind’s video series on the Creation right now and I have to say it ain’t helpin’ (though we’re early in it yet and I am giving it as fair a shot as possible). I agree with him that evolution/the Big Bang seems completely ludicrous, but so does the idea of a 6,000 year old Earth. If God didn’t create the world precisely as the world says then where does that leave the Bible? Same questions about the Flood and the other more fantastic/miraculous parts of the Bible.
I need not only to know what I believe, but what Christianity would have me believe if I am to call myself Christian. And if one can believe whatever one wants and still call one’s self a Christian then what’s the point. Like Syndrome says “if everyone's Super... no one will be.”
So there you go.
¶
10:58 AM
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Come back in a few days when I get to Borg's next chapter, on the meaning of "faith." He argues, persuasively in my view, that western Christianity has distorted the historical meaning of that term to the point where faith means little else other than "mental assent to a list of things that seem absurd at face value." He suggests a return to a deeper, more rich meaning of "faith" that deemphasizes intellectual propositions and emphasizes relational aspects of belief, such as trust, fidelity, and vision. I'll try to blog about this chapter tonight. Thanks for reading.
# posted by 
: 6/07/2005 10:04 AM
: 6/07/2005 10:04 AM
Thanks for writing.
I was in Borders last night and upset that I couldn't remember the title. So I read part of "A History of God". Can't say that I liked her premise enough to buy the book but it's worth a library visit to get the rest of it.
Also read part of "Blue Like Jazz", also not bad.
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I was in Borders last night and upset that I couldn't remember the title. So I read part of "A History of God". Can't say that I liked her premise enough to buy the book but it's worth a library visit to get the rest of it.
Also read part of "Blue Like Jazz", also not bad.
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