Is Biblical Christianity Bankrupt?

James McGrath links to a stimulating piece by Michael Dowd called Biblical Christianity is Bankrupt. It begins with this revealing quote from Carl Sagan.

How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, "This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said - grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed"? Instead they say, "No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way."

It's well worth checking out. Dowd, author of Thank God for Evolution, has been engaging in an exchange with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Al Mohler. Ayatollah Al should probably give up before he makes an even bigger fool of himself. Mohler is the genius who famously asserted that Christians and Jews worship different gods.

Meanwhile back on the Missouri ranch, Paul McCain of Concordia Propaganda Publishing House has reposted a bit of fundavisionist drivel from this selfsame Mohler. Mohler in the article flails about to produce what amounts to a potted update of Harold Lindsell's addle-headed The Battle for the Bible, released way back in 1976. Those were the days of "Chairman Jao" (for those old enough to remember J. A. O. Preus, the reactionary president of the Missouri Synod who single-handedly destroyed Concordia Seminary in St. Louis). Mohler also favorably cites evangelical mystagogue J. I. Packer - is this his idea of a credible source?

Well, probably.

Whether or not you agree with Dowd about the bankrupcy of biblical Christianity, it seems pretty certain that Mohler and others out on the fringe are bankrupt in another sense.

Of baramins and biology

Frank Marsh, a Seventh-day Adventist, invented the word "baramin" in the 1940s. Frank mutilated two Hebrew words, bara (created) and min (kind) by bunging them together to describe Genesis "kinds." The term is used almost exclusively among the ranks of creationism apologists.

"Creationists believe different 'kinds' of organisms - 'baramins' - were created separately about 6000 years ago."

Phil Senter

Enter Phil Senter. Phil is, according to New Scientist, the son of Southern Baptist missionaries. Not surprisingly, he grew up - as many of us did - accepting a variety of creationism, until he found out better at high school. These days Phil is a dinosaur biologist at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, and describes himself as an atheist. Yet Phil is "engaging in friendly mischief" (his own words) with creationists by using the research techniques of "creation science" itself to demonstrate the reality of evolution.

"I wanted to determine whether morphological gaps separated Archaeopteryx - the earliest known bird - from the various non-avian coelurosaurs, the group of predatory dinosaurs ranging from tiny Microraptor to giant T. rex. I showed that within this group there is too much similarity to indicate separate baramins. Contrary to the previous creationist view that these animals were separately created, their own pet technique shows that these animals shared a common ancestor."

Apparently Senter's work has actually been received positively by creation scientists.

"The creationist camp's militant reputation comes mainly from vocal but ignorant internet posters. Creation scientists themselves tend to be well educated and polite... My goal is not to make enemies with cold-hearted debunking, but rather to set the record straight..."

The man deserves a medal! Phil may make his case convincingly, but it seems naive to imagine that colossally ignorant creationism apologists (the sort who write the books that appear in 'Christian' book stores) will allow it to challenge their prejudices. Still, it's nice to know that the creation ranters can be confronted on their own chosen grounds and still soundly trounced.

You can read the full New Scientist interview with Phil Senter here.

SDA Study Bible

Recently we've seen the launch of the awful ESV Study Bible, two competing Lutheran Study Bibles - a half-decent one based on the NRSV (from Fortress Press) and another stuffed full of half-baked nonsense accompanying the ESV text (from Concordia.) This year its the turn of the Seventh-day Adventists (cue in three trumpets.)

click for larger view

The Andrews Study Bible is produced by the good folk at Andrews University and an "all-star cast of Adventist scholars." Should you avail yourself of this fine volume, your base text will be the NKJV. Interesting. Maybe they hadn't heard about Fred Coulter's translation... (sorry, sarcastic comment, but the devil made me do it.) Among those denominational luminaries recommending the ASB I only recognized former WCG member and SDA convert Mark Kellner's name. Here's his endorsement.

The study notes found in the Andrews Study Bible are almost certain to delight longtime scholars, serious students and even new believers. They are clear and concise, yet detailed enough to answer questions and truly enhance Bible study.
– Mark A. Kellner, News Editor, Adventist Review/Adventist World

You can also find a brief, uncritical, in-house PR feature in the Adventist Review. Anyway, if you're looking - as I'm sure you are - for a biblicist, creationist, sabbatarian study bible, and you only laugh when you see those full-page ads for Fred Coulter's The Holy Bible In Its Original Order in the BAR, well then, this is probably the one for you! And, oh glory! - it's also available on Amazon.

A little diversion

Battleground God is a survey made up of seventeen questions that tests your logical consistency on the God question. Not being a wooden-headed Calvinist, and relishing the "creative tension" in life and theology, I thought I might do rather badly. But... ta da!

You have been awarded the TPM medal of honour! This is our highest award for outstanding service on the intellectual battleground. The fact that you progressed through this activity neither being hit nor biting a bullet suggests that your beliefs about God are internally consistent and very well thought out.

A direct hit would have occurred had you answered in a way that implied a logical contradiction. You would have bitten bullets had you responded in ways that required that you held views that most people would have found strange, incredible or unpalatable. However, you avoided both these fates - and in doing so qualify for our highest award. A fine achievement!

So why not try it out for yourself? Especially if you're a devotee of Calvin, Barth, Torrance or any of that ilk...

A Jewish take on Job

Alex Goldberg is writing an eight part series of articles for The Guardian on the book of Job. Refreshingly, it's from a Jewish perspective. At the moment six entries are online, and well worth checking out if you have an interest in this iconic book of wisdom literature.

1. Who was Job? Why does he matter?
2. Theodicy on the street
3. Balaam, Yithro and Job
4. Theodicy on Planet Auschwitz
5. Job's wife - did she bless or curse?
6. Satan

Dagon's Temple - Flurry's Folly

Flurry's Auditorium in Edmond

I try not to link to stories like this these days, it doesn't help the blood pressure. But for some folk the latest news about Gerry "Six-pack" Flurry and his designer sect, the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG), will at least serve to keep their contempt fresh.

The short version is that Flurry has blown twenty-million dollars to complete a monument in Edmond, OK; a near clone of the Worldwide Church of God's Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena CA. (since sold to Harvest Rock church). Flurry's church is itself something of a clone, slavishly aping the teachings of the Worldwide Church of God as they were presented under the leadership of Herbert W. Armstrong.

No expense has apparently been spared as Flurry imports high-brow acts to grace his stage. These include the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Vienna Boys Choir, the Russian National Ballet Theatre and the Eroica Trio. Is he trying to buy credibility? That's certainly the view of his critics.

Armstrong's Auditorium in Pasadena

The PCG has a reputation for weirdness. This is a high-demand sect that exercises strict control over its members, including imposing "no contact" rules with family members outside the group, particularly those in other sub-sects of Armstrongism. The dropout rate - along with the human cost - is, unsurprisingly, reported as high. The sect is believed to have only a few thousand tithe-paying members, which makes the lavish headquarters in Edmond even more remarkable.

Local Oklahoma media have been largely uncritical of the presence of the PCG, presumably because Flurry keeps throwing shiny baubles at the community. The $20,000,000 obscenity in Edmond is provided, as former member Sarah Luther notes, "on the backs of church members, who have been warned to give extra special and generous offerings if they want to please God."

Read it and weep.

The Prosperity Gospel - bring it on!

Or at least this kind of prosperity gospel.

Where do I sign up?