Hello Howard,
My brief comments and questions are designated [AT]
-----Original Message-----
From: Howard J. Van Till [mailto:hvantill@novagate.com]
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 11:41 AM
To: Terry M. Gray; asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: cosmology & polygamy
From: "Terry M. Gray" <grayt@lamar.colostate.edu>
> So is there anything special about the Bible that sets it apart from, say,
> your writings, or the reflections/experiences of the Christian community
> today. If so, what is it?
Neither my writings nor any other works written during the last 19 centuries
have been designated (by human decision) to serve as the canon for a
worshiping community.
[AT] Side note: What about the Koran?
> Is there a
> qualitative difference between "scripture" and other writings on the basis
> of this?
Perhaps, but differences arising not out of some extraordinary divine
guidance or direct communication of information, but out of mature communal
judgment. I believe it is most likely a matter of a reasonably coherent
worshipping community finding and selecting a subset of the community's
historic documents to be especially valuable in defining its continuing
identity in the face of numerous and strong cultural influences. Again, this
is not at all an unusual situation. Recall how various Christian communities
have designated certain historic creeds to play a similar -- though
secondary -- role. Recall also the several ecclesiastical councils that
selected the various contributions to the canon in the first place -- very
human actions.
[AT] You seem to have reduced the formation of the canon to a purely
sociological process - "very human" as you write. Where do you see God's
role in this, if at all? And what about the individual books, are they
_solely_ human actions, of does divine inspiration play a role? I can't help
but think that you would be willing to grant God a significant role in the
processes of writing and collating the books.
Thanks Howard.
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