In the process of doing research for school, I have been surprised by the number of times I have come across the diverse history of biblical interpretation and theology that boggles my mind. It isn’t so much the content of the discoveries, but it is that I have not heard of them before. I wonder what kind of service we think we do in church by only feeding the information and selective history that meets our own theological and cultural agenda (the concept of indoctrination rather than education).
Whether it is our interpretation of the book of Revelation or the historical struggle in theology between the transcendence and immanence of God, I wonder why I haven’t heard of the fuller picture before. It isn’t that I want to be a scholar, but it almost seems as if we have edited the historicity of theology and biblical interpretation to meet our own ends and, dare I say, agenda. Maybe that is the tendency of every culture (whether church or national). I don’t think it is someone’s fault, rather I think it is more a result of the overall church culture of our time.
My research for school has been a good exploration of this new territory that I had not expected to find or even knew existed.
Hey Bryce…good point man. I remember reading an article in Newsweek on the plane home last year, about the birth of Christ and events surrounding it. I was surprised at some of the historical information presented I’d never heard of before. I just wondered if (and if so, why) we (Christians) were so afraid of it. Good, bad and otherwise…we should be knowlegdeable about historical and archeological discoveries. If we’re confident in what we believe anyhow….
Just my thoughts… The article wasn’t trying to poke holes by the way. It was just discussing Christ´s birth as presented in scripture. There were just a few things that surprised me.
Anyhow…have a good one buddy. It’s 37 C today. I miss snow…