To all Biblicists afraid of attacks on inerrancy and historicity, I'm here to report that I am far more subject to the demands of the scriptures now than I ever was when I thought they needed defending.
What you should fear instead, is all the people who are actively, angrily rejecting the Bible completely because you keep demanding that they countenance an anti scientific, imperialistic, immoral interpretation. All your rationalist gymnastics to defend an untenable position only make it worse.
And the only reason that you can't see that your hermeneutic is untenable is because you never leave your filter bubble with the intent to simply listen. Some of you are hired and/or "inspired" to step out long enough to hear the opposing arguments -- but not to listen, not to consider -- but rather to gain ammunition, which is meant to help strengthen your untenable argument. And you Lionize these apologists, reinforcing an antiquated, essentially tribal position.
I'll restate this most important point one more time, because there may still be hope: if you listen with humility, curiosity, and compassion to the questions and troubles of people with experiences different than your own -- victims of abuse and discrimination, and people from other cultures, for example -- you will be forced to wrestle with their questions, which you may find are better than your answers. And you may be less inclined to demand that they ignore their questions, training, and unique cultural perspective to adopt an unnecessarily singular conception of the Bible.
I know you're worried that the bible will lose its authority to proclaim the Way of Jesus, but let me assure you that I, and thousands of my friends, are far more devoted to the cruciform Way since abandoning apologetics in favor authentic scholarship (that is, open minded exploration rather than the defense of a predetermined position) and contemplative reading of these strange and mysterious ancient songs and stories.
What you should fear instead, is all the people who are actively, angrily rejecting the Bible completely because you keep demanding that they countenance an anti scientific, imperialistic, immoral interpretation. All your rationalist gymnastics to defend an untenable position only make it worse.
And the only reason that you can't see that your hermeneutic is untenable is because you never leave your filter bubble with the intent to simply listen. Some of you are hired and/or "inspired" to step out long enough to hear the opposing arguments -- but not to listen, not to consider -- but rather to gain ammunition, which is meant to help strengthen your untenable argument. And you Lionize these apologists, reinforcing an antiquated, essentially tribal position.
I'll restate this most important point one more time, because there may still be hope: if you listen with humility, curiosity, and compassion to the questions and troubles of people with experiences different than your own -- victims of abuse and discrimination, and people from other cultures, for example -- you will be forced to wrestle with their questions, which you may find are better than your answers. And you may be less inclined to demand that they ignore their questions, training, and unique cultural perspective to adopt an unnecessarily singular conception of the Bible.
I know you're worried that the bible will lose its authority to proclaim the Way of Jesus, but let me assure you that I, and thousands of my friends, are far more devoted to the cruciform Way since abandoning apologetics in favor authentic scholarship (that is, open minded exploration rather than the defense of a predetermined position) and contemplative reading of these strange and mysterious ancient songs and stories.
