Re: [asa] McGrath, Torrance, and Monistic View

I think "monism" can also refer to a perspective of a unified body and
soul. One of the authors in Keith Miller's "Perspectives ..." I think
advocated a position referred to that way -- i.e. "soul" being seen as
a physical manifestation just as the body is. It's been too long since
I read it or listened to him when he came to K-State, so I can't be more
specific, but it was written within the context of being evangelical, so
I would guess that not everyone shares in the "dualism = orthodox and
monism = heterodox" formula. Perhaps Keith Miller can elaborate if
he's still following these threads. I may be putting words in somebody
else's mouth.

--merv

David Opderbeck wrote:
> Thanks Phil. The person I was speaking with isn't evangelical or
> Christian at all in any traditional sense. He was criticizing
> McGrath's evangelical-ness when he used the term "monist." Maybe he
> used the wrong term?
>
> On 10/15/06, *philtill@aol.com <mailto:philtill@aol.com>*
> <philtill@aol.com <mailto:philtill@aol.com>> wrote:
>
> David,
> I spent a week sitting in a TV studio as part of McGrath's
> audience while he taped a seminar on science and Christianity.
> During the entire seminar I never picked up that McGrath was
> anything other than an orthodox Anglican evangelical. I never
> picked up that he held to any monist ideas of God. Perhaps this
> is someone's interpretation of McGrath's beliefs, rather than
> McGrath's own interpretation of them.
>
> "Monism" usually means that belief that only One entity
> fundamentally exists, and that all the varied things we experience
> are really just manifestations of that One. Monistic faiths
> include Pantheism (incl. Hinduism), which asserts that everything
> is really God in the final analysis, and atheism, which asserts
> that everything is really non-God in the final analysis.
> Non-monistic faiths include Christianity, Judaism, and Islam,
> because they assert that God both exists and **created** things,
> and that this creating brought into existence things that stand
> as **other** than Himself. That is, there is a Creator/creation
> distinction in non-monist faiths, and so God is not the only thing
> that exists. It has been claimed that the good vs. evil
> distinction cannot exist in monism, since good is defined by the
> creator and non-good can only be a property of beings that are not
> the creator. Hence, good and evil ultimately just illusions in
> monist belief systems like Hinduism or atheism. I have a hard
> time believing McGrath is really monist.
>
> He seemed like a very nice person, and you might get to speak with
> him if you give him a call. He is not teaching right now because
> he won a Templeton fellowship to focus on research regarding the
> interface between science and Christianity, and he was very
> excited about that. He might be willing to talk with you if you
> introduce yourself stating your credentials and your interests.
>
> best,
> Phil
>
>
>

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Received on Sun Oct 15 18:51:46 2006