Putting aside the lame apologetics of individuals like John Piper, it isn't hard to find men and women struggling with these issues, often enduring merciless sniping from extremists of both biblicist and atheist persuasions. Three books currently illustrate this centre-ground of integrity.
James McGrath's The Burial of Jesus is one, and while I've mentioned it briefly in an earlier post, I'd like to return to it later with a few more detailed observations.
A second is Christian Smith's The Bible Made Impossible, which is top of the stack in my 'books to read' pile.
But right now I'm working my way through Peter Enns The Evolution of Adam, which is sometimes breathtaking in its candor. Enns tackles the elephant in the exegetical room: Paul's use of parallelism between Adam and Jesus to demonstrate the necessity for the Atonement. If Adam is a fictive character, carved out of nothing more substantial than myth and imagination, does this shatter the whole rationale behind Jesus as saviour?
I'm not convinced by everything these authors say - and nor should you be. But they certainly deserve to be heard rather than dismissed out of hand, as so often seems to happen, by the monochrome zealots at either end of the faith continuum.
Perhaps you'd describe me as a "monochrome zealot", but after the life's journey I've traveled and all I've learned, I just can't get interested in something of this sort.
ReplyDeleteI'm not ruling out that there might be a god or gods. But I'm 100% sure the god described in the bible is a fiction created by men with the goal of gaining power and wealth.
Knowing what I know about the bible, I consider it as having nothing more to offer than the Bhagadav Gita, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, Greek Mythology, Norse Mytholgy, Native American legends, or any other story about supernatural beings written by men. So, why waste my time?
Referring again to the Dr McGrath profile, http://www.blogger.com/profile/02561146722461747647, but this time focusing on the books list, what I'm seeing revealed here is a Christian: A believer for whom the very thought of mythicism is anathema and alien to his Bible Belt culture. He needs Jesus to be true - and not just the Galilean hippy but a supernatural being complementary to his Sci-Fi stories.
ReplyDeleteIf Adam is a fictive character, carved out of nothing more substantial than myth and imagination, does this shatter the whole rationale behind Jesus as saviour?
ReplyDeleteYes - if the story of Adam is supposed to be literal. And, we know it's not literal because the human race did not originate from one man.
No - if the story of Adam is only figurative of the human condition. However, this makes Jesus only a figurative person too. That is, the spirit of reconciliation - by the means of sacrificing one's human life for a future life beyond the grave, one will gain salvation.
...In a small nutshell.