Re: [asa] Humanity and the Fall: Questions and a Survey (imagination)

Bethany,
We need some qualifications. First, imagination does not have to mean
fancy, the ability to come up with fairies, for example. It can mean a
thoroughly rational process of producing an image of what we consider
real. The picture of an atom as a miniature solar system, though faulty,
has enabled many to get a handle on a genuine phenomenon.

Second, there are items that cannot properly be imagined. They may,
however, be thought philosophically/theologically. Using the classic via
negativa does not necessarily produce images, and at least should not.

Third, Augustine's instantaneous creation was not a problem of
imagination, but sprang from a mistranslation of a text which he
considered scripture. Since it's in the Apocrypha, it does not apply to
Protestant viewpoints as essential. However, it can be understood as
applying to the Big Bang reasonably closely.
Dave (ASA)

On Thu, 1 May 2008 12:21:00 -0600 "Bethany Sollereder"
<bsollereder@gmail.com> writes:
In Phil's defense, I think that imagination has a place in theology.
After all Bernie, it is precisely our imagination that allows us to
believe that a block of solid metal is made up of billions upon billions
of vibrating atoms, since it is certainly not a conclusion we'd come to
simply by looking at it with the naked eye or touching it. I would also
ask Dave to be careful about casting around words like "constructed a God
in his own image". That's ridiculous, because every theologian does it.
As soon as we use language to begin to describe God, we bind him by human
creations. If we try to visualize him, we restrict him to the
spacial/physical. The list could go on.

Nor should we assume that "imagine" means random thought processes
unaided by logic and reason. In this case, Phil's argument that a
timeless deity would seem to imply a static deity seems, and that this
seems to be inconsistent with the revealed God of the Bible is the
argument you should be focussing on, not on the fact that he used the
word "imagine".

Imagination can certainly lead us astray (Augustine couldn't imagine a
God who would take seven days to create the world, and thus came to the
conclusion that the world was created instantaneously, as would be
fitting of an eternal God), but let's not hold to any nonesense that we
don't make use of it in our own theological worlds.

Bethany

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Received on Thu May 1 15:15:39 2008