Re: [asa] 10 Books That Screwed Up the World

Related to this is an unfortunate fact emphasized in my seminary training by Duane Priebe: Christian theologians have often acted as if the 8th Commandment (9th for most protestants) against bearing false witness didn't apply in theological debates. If God's truth is ast stake you can pull out all the stops, ignore any legitimate motives of your opponent, misrepresent his/her views, associate him/her with any convenient heresy &c. Church history bears abundant witness to this kind of thing. ICR's recent attack on Collins is one example (though honoring ICR with the title "theologians" is a stretch).

Shalom,
George

---- Pete Enns <peteenns@mac.com> wrote:
> Ted,
>
> As for your last point, that is certainly true, but from the
> perspective of the "herd," the reading of sources "as you like it" is
> indeed sanctioned and encouraged. In my experience, the reason for
> this is that a reasoned exchange of ideas is not foremost on the
> herd's mind, but protection of an identity. It is OK to pull out all
> the stops--even willingly misrepresent--if what is at stake is nothing
> less than an entire world view that they know simply must be correct,
> or all else will begin to unravel. Since you know you are right, you
> only need treat counter-evidence in whatever way necessary to maintain
> your own position. In other words, the reason why reason does not work
> with the herd is because the real issue is not truth but social
> identity.
>
> Pete Enns
>
> On Sep 8, 2009, at 10:07 AM, Ted Davis wrote:
>
> > I am in general not impressed with Ben Wiker's understanding of
> > early modern sources, such as Descartes (in this particular book) or
> > Boyle and Newton (in his earlier book, "Moral Darwinism." I've
> > commented on the latter at length in the fairly distant past. The
> > fact that Descartes was a serious theist who used scepticism to
> > undermine scepticism -- including scepticism about God -- is
> > apparently all it takes for Wiker to put "Discourse on Method" on
> > his own little version of the Index, or at least on the list of
> > other candidates.
> >
> > You can get noticed by the herd, if you speak loudly and often
> > enough. That doesn't constitute a license to read the sources as
> > you like it.
> >
> > Ted
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
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Received on Tue Sep 8 11:48:51 2009