> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Dave Land > Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 5:31 PM > To: Killer Bs Discussion > Subject: Re: Great Sam Harris Interview >
> One view -- a minority view in Christianity -- is that the Bible is > a human product, not a divine one. The Bible records certain people's > wrestling with who God might be and how they might relate to God. The > value in such a book (which is definitely NOT to be worshiped, but > can still be taken very seriously) is that it lets us know what our > spiritual forbears thought and believed, which might inform our > understanding of God and our relationship to God. It also contains > some historically-factual events. The Catholic understanding is that scripture is a result of a covenant relationship between God and the people of God. The relationship comes first, and scripture is the result of relationship. Historically and traditionally, Christians do not think of the Bible as a copy of "the Mother of all Books" which sits in heaven, as the Koran is considered. It is considered the inspired word of God. Literalists would picture this inspiration as close to dictation. I can recall from Catholic grade school, the view that "the evangelist said what he wanted to say and God used him to say what he wanted to say." The inerrancy of the bible, for Catholics, is in "it's teachings of those truths necessary for salvation." Non-fundamentalists Protestants (including a number of Evangelical Christians I know) agree that inspiration is not dictation. One common theme, which I think you agree with, is that literalism puts God in a box that is far too small. > It has been said "The Bible is true, and some of it actually > happened." Problems arise when our (modern, Western) ideas of the > equality of "truth" and "factuality" are layered on top of writings > that didn't originate in the same understanding of truth and factuality. That is very consistent with the "mainstream" Catholic/Jewish/Protestant scholarship. People of faith use very human techniques, such as historical criticism, to "understand the meaning the author wished to convey to his readers and listeners." (paraphrase of Raymond Brown....who's as middle of the road as there is). Modern scholarship is taken into account when the faith community develops their theological understanding of scriptures. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
