Robert Schneider wrote:
> See my comments below.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "george murphy" <gmurphy@raex.com>
> To: "Howard J. Van Till" <hvantill@novagate.com>
> Cc: "Robert Schneider" <rjschn39@bellsouth.net>; <asa@calvin.edu>
> Sent: Monday, April 15, 2002 1:11 PM
> Subject: Re: cosmology & polygamy
>
> > "Howard J. Van Till" wrote:
> >
> > > >From: "Robert Schneider" <rjschn39@bellsouth.net>
> > > >
> > > > Augustine applied what he called "the rule of charity" to the
> reading of
> > > > a text. If the literal sense of the text seemed to violate that rule,
> he
> > > > asserted that the text was to be read allegorically. I believe his
> example
> > > > was God ordering Saul to totally wipe out the Amalekites, every man,
> woman,
> > > > child, ox and ass. Augustine said that this and like incidents
> recorded in
> > > > Scripture enjoin behavior that is contrary to this rule of charity,
> and
> > > > therefore should not be interpreted literally as a guide to Christian
> life.
> > > > Rather, they are to be pondered and interpreted allegorically: the
> truth of
> > > > these passages for the Christian lay there rather than in the literal.
> > > >
> > > > Whatever one thinks of Augustine's hermeneutic on these matters,
> it is
> > > > clear that he is wrestling with a real problem, the same problem many
> of us
> > > > wrestle with on such passages, and he recognizes that there is some
> behavior
> > > > described in the Bible that is not to be taken literally as
> prescriptions
> > > > for Christian life.
> > >
> > > Another option: "The (Christian) Bible is
> > > a thoroughly human testimony to the authentic human experience of the
> > > presence of the Sacred -- specifically, God, as experienced by the
> ancient
> > > Hebrews and the early Christian community."
> > >
> > > Therefore, some of those human perceptions of God (or humanly
> constructed
> > > portraits of God) could have been seriously deficient and, while they
> were
> > > authentically representative of historic beliefs (not allegories) they
> need
> > > not be taken as normative in our time and culture.
> >
> > & by the same token any of the perceptions of God that Howard Van
> Till,
> > George Murphy, or anyone else finds particularly attractive - "merciful
> and
> > gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" &c - can be
> dismissed by
> > someone who has in mind a group of Amalekites to be slain.
> > There are indeed ways in which the pictures of the
> Amalekite-slaying God
> > in scripture can be subordinated to those like the verse I cited from
> Ps.103 -
> > especially the character of God revealed in Christ. But that requires
> some
> > positive hermeneutic principle, not an approach that, whether one intends
> it or
> > not, diminishes the authority of the whole of scripture.
> >
> > Shalom,
> >
> > George
> >
> Bob's comment:
>
> While it is true that some might dismiss "merciful and gracious, etc."
> to justify their slaying Amalekites, they would do so at the peril of
> dismissing this central message that runs throughout Scripture, and in doing
> so would render the heart of the biblical message of God's *agape* null and
> void, "especially the character of God revealed in Christ." We can't stop
> anyone from creating their own canon within the canon and claiming IT to be
> the "word of God" they will follow. But we can challenge them on a variety
> of grounds, and while my intention is not to make a case for allegorical
> interpretations of narratives that are ordinarily interpreted as historical
> (whether in fact they are unvarnished history or not--often the narrative
> form screams "folklore" rather than "history"), I do think "the rule of love
> (i.e., caritas, agape)" is a cogent one to challenge other interpretations
> with; in fact I would consider it a positive hermeneutical principle,
> perhaps the most important one.
Agreed - but one first has to identify the "central message that runs
through scripture". I would say that it is christological (though not in the
naive sense of finding predictions about Jesus throughout the OT) & when the
implications of that are worked out it comes pretty close to saying that the
central message is "God is love."
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
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