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Theology Introduction.
Theology has long been the bane of Christianity, opening up sectarian
rifts in Christ’s body that amount to grave wounds. On the one hand, the Church has a history
of aberrancies that do threaten the integrity of the church (see, for
example, 1 Cor. 5) On the other hand,
the Church has a very poor record— at least by the standards laid down by
Christ— on tolerating legitimate dissent.
As much as one would like to avoid theological discussions, they are
an essential part of any religious instruction. The key issues in theology have to do with
textual interpretation and what constitute the essential tenets of
creed. Flaws in both extremes. I reject both scriptural literalism and
liberal textual interpretation. The flaw of scriptural literalism is that it
does not acknowledge variant texts, the uncertainties of translation, the
importance of social and historical context to understanding scripture and
even internal contradictions such as the differing genealogies of Joseph
presented by Matthew and Luke. Perhaps from a desire to express intense
loyalty to God and sincerity of intent, fundamentalism glosses over matters
that should not be glossed over.
Not compromise, but a new way.
I propose view of the Bible different than either the literalists
or textual rejectionists. These are reading it solely for the content, as an instruction manual. Without minimizing the importance of
content, the Bible is more than an instruction book. To take a simple analogy, consider that
when we teach a child to read, we usually offer them fictional books such as
Huck Finn or Robinson Crusoe, rather than almanacs or encyclopedias. We are not trying to transmit specific
information to the child. We are
trying to exercise the reading ability and the engage the imagination of the
child. If we succeed, they will learn
to love reading. They’ll read
encyclopedias on their own. |