75-76]. http://edward-t-babinski.blogspot.com/2015/01/leaving-ministry-left-ministry-polls.html. From this, I have a question for you; isnt it also completely reasonable (and rational) to look at the fruits of other peoples experience to see that their belief and faith are grounded in the truth? For example, parents do this when talking of their children. OT . It may be a way of knowing, but not necessarily yielding as many as true things as possible and as few as false things as possible. We dont know how to break down the ideologies of our false identities or how to welcome others with conflicting ideologies or identities. Enns is a frequent contributor to journals and encyclopedias and is the author of several . Why? It is a form of knowing often described as contemplative. I do not think the gospel stands on whether we can read Paul's Adam in the . Peter Enns does it again!' Richard Rohr, author of Falling Upward For many Christians, the Bible is a how-to manual filled with literal truths about belief that must be strictly followed. Dr. Peter Enns (PhD, Harvard University) is Abram S. Clemens professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University, St. Davids, PA. Depending on how you interpret Gods word, I hope He is not good to it in the sense of damning nonbelievers to an eternity of torment. We're raising 50k for our campaign. In this context, for practical reasons, some times its time to stop thinking and to take action based upon the best information and limited brains computational power and time available. Pete: I much prefer your brand of Christianity to others, and the world would be a better place if more people thought like you. I only presume that peoples experiences of God are a mixed bag that lay along a very wide spectrum. One atheist and evolutionist, Dr. Jerry Coyne, believes very strongly that evolution and Christianity are not at all compatible. At the same time, I was taking philosophy and religion courses and was drawn to finding ways to explain my ongoing relationship/wrestling match with God-Jesus-Spirit. Sorry, curious. Introduction to the Old Testament; Introduction to the New Testament; Biblical Hermeneutics; Israelite History and Historiography; Hebrew Prophets; Romans in Context; Genesis in Context; Research Methods in Biblical Studies; From Conquest to Exile; Wisdom and Psalms; Science and the Bible; Torah. James KA Smiths Desiring the Kingdom. I didnt say anything about your knowledge of other religions. Government, College of Arts and Sciences/Public Policy, Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. Mysticsare . Instead only their book features inspired writingsthe truth and stories necessary to believe, and of course conservatives, moderates and liberals differ concerning what that book really means or what the most essential and necessary lessons are. Only if he means it in the wooden empiricist sense. With the exact same merit. I presume you are referring to Islam in your final sentence? Not if hes using evidence in the sense Ive advocated for in this thread Pete. So I would never presume to tell someone like Pete or the Dali Lama that their experiences are not in their subjective sense real. Only that any confidence they glean from those experiences to then conclude what they believe they encountered they actually in fact have, well, that I would claim is highly suspect and demonstrably so. Therefore, that which is felt or known by the senses, having shape and colour, cannot be God. Enns believes that there are many different views of God and that we human beings cannot tell which is the correct ones, and that it is better that we do not know for certain than that we do know for certain. http://edward-t-babinski.blogspot.com/2015/08/christians-or-non-christians-who-suffer.html Lets not let a label lead us toward an equivocation. Id take the liberty of summarizing that your belief in God, to the extent you do, is based on faith, not fact. 2. Or become a universalist mystic, or a philosophical theist rather than a religious one, and continue to question just what kind of God really exists, and what we can know for sure about who or what God is? But let us then continue this comparison to Buddhism. Tweets at @peteenns. This happens not in our mind, but in our spirit. Previous Post Wholeheartedness with Chuck DeGroat He has written numerous books, including The Bible Tells Me So, The Sin of Certainty, and How the Bible Actually Works. Youre closer than you think. Thank you Joseph. God is just another word for magic. I am Peter EnnsI am a biblical scholar. Good point. Even today Christians keep founding relatively new and youthful institutions devoted to walling themselves up against questions, like Liberty Christian U, or Tim LaHays Heritage Christian U, or Patrick Henry U, or all the televangelist stations on TV. Thanks Pete! Specifically on love as a way of knowing. Bringing people together seems easier when their differences are not discussed. With all due respect my guess is you dont really engage with non-believers in person? Ted Cruz proudly stated that any president who doesnt pray on his knees to Jesus Christ every day isnt fit to be commander-in-chief. Fideism is a rich and credible approach to knowing God. Magic is not real. Then here you go! Read Dr. Enns full CV, B.S. Many people arrive at different conclusions (that is fine) and see things differently doubt is a complex subject that will not fully be flushed out in this conversation. And the crash can be hard, just look at Mother Teresas painful decades long crash after getting high on Jesus in her teen years. The moronic Magic-Man-Fantasy was the human races greatest mistake. attestations that Lincoln composed the Gettysburg Address. I know others mileage may vary. And there are also periods of painful disillusionment and depression that look like withdrawal symptoms that even Christians suffer after at least partially self-Inducing and sustaining a high on Jesus for years. Also, your point about eyewitness testimony is inaccurate. Interesting Beau, thanks. As an admittedly poor psychology major in college, I was particularly fascinated with neurology and how humans process and interpret information/stimuli. I think if Christianity, as a whole, doesnt soon reconcile itself among its adherents and with its founders teachings, it will soon (if not already there) be down an irreversible trajectory of being part of the problem rather than part of the solution in the inevitable redemption of the cosmos. http://edward-t-babinski.blogspot.com/2015/03/on-recovering-from-alcoholism-drug.html, See also my paper the critiques the claim that the Christian experience is unique Both accounts included a boat in which just a few people, along with animals, are saved from a universal flood. But it takes the work of the Spirit of God in ones life to actually believe and rely upon these evidences. Usually we treat eye-witness testimonies as valid proofs of an experience, especially when they corroborate key elements of the same story (granted one can misinterpret what their senses tell them). Bradley Jersak (Author), Peter Enns (Foreword) 167 ratings 4.5 on Goodreads 141 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle $14.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook $0.00 Free with your Audible trial Paperback $16.55 8 Used from $10.79 25 New from $13.67 Great on Kindle Great Experience. 2020 Peter Danner. To dig down a little deeper theologically, I can deeply understand the paradox of the Incarnation of not only a God-as-man, but in the form of a baby in a manager in Galilee in first-century Palestine. M.Div. ". We would then be wise to doubt the veracity of our own sight. Theists believe magic is real. And the one thing that every single wisdom tradition or religious group teaches is the way. I agree that post-enlightenment empiricism is never going to lead to genuine interaction with the creator, but what about prayer? Hey Ed; I can definitely understand what youre saying and thats why many people go thru many religions while on this path of truth. Every disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who draws out from their storage room things both old and new. If there is still to be a link to truth there at all. And I also can grok the paradoxical Essence of a Triune God, the kind of God allowing himself to be humbled and broken in kenotic sacrifice as an example of a new Way of Being, in hope of bringing forth a Kingdom. Given all this and more, my personal choice is simply to continue to acknowledge Gods blessings upon my life and therefore acknowledge God. Which does seem not tranrational but rather irrational. In fact, if comparisons between spiritual experience seem to demonstrate anything, it is that perhaps the only objectively true thing we can say about it is that it is a very unreliable means of experience vulnerable to various illusions of reality. Peter Enns' latest book is written in praise of question marks, especially those that crowd our minds when God goes missing. Catholics see Angels, Mary and Jesus, Protestants usually just see Angels and Jesus, and one Protestant apparently saw a talking Bible in his NDE, while another claims to have been to heaven dozens of times and seen images from everything In Revelation, and Mormons have their own NDE bulletin, Betty Eade had a bestseller about meeting a Mormon Jesus who was not God, universalist NDEs, then there are Hindu and Buddhist visions and NDEs, like seeing a talking Buddhist turtle god, while native Americans have totem animal visions, and New Agers and some other folks claims to have seen Angels, UFOs, aliens of different species. There is a type of love that can only be experience I think by a parent for their child. I love this observation, especially about projects and their being emphatically contrasted to silence and solitude. Frank Schaeffer is an interesting fellow, son of the Apologist Francis Schaeffer, and co-founder with his dad and other prominent Evangelicals in the 1970s of Americas Religious Right and also the Right to Life Movement. In The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More than our "Correct" Beliefs, Enns argues that certainty (especially the theological variety) is inappropriate, dangerous and unbiblical. Or even what the cosmos is? The only reason I could see us being worried about being wrong about a certain path/religion/idea/concept would be because God (our Creator) might reject us if we chose the wrong path. Did you see the same thing I saw? Does it mean that same thing to you?. . Peter Enns is an American theologian, author, professor, and Biblical scholar. in being with another person expressing love in ones flesh. wouldnt it be more appropriate to say that its possibly an I witness account..the sin of certainty. The list of aspects offered doesnt quite get us to a means by which to assess exclusivity. The idea there is magic in the universe is ridiculous, childish, and completely impossible. Polls, Statistics and other Data And I am not sure about the analogy concerning trusting your wife, unless you wake up everyday lying literally next to a flesh and blood Jesus who literally speaks with you or even makes you breakfast some mornings. Alot of us have reached the point where the only left left to do is bring people together despite our differences. Peter Enns. Concepts of God can propel or retard in this context. I think about that question a lot. And I learned about the history of all these relatively young fundamentalist Christian colleges founded in the 1920s like WTS, during the fndamentalist-modernist controversy. Normal people can figure it out. @peteenns. To me there is a sacred goodness in characteristics of the way and Christianitys wins over the centuries are attributable to this. None can fully understand or explain His Being however hard he my try. Eye-witness accounts on Mount Sinai, the Mount of transfiguration, the road to Damascus and on and on. I teach courses in Old and New Testaments at Eastern University (near Philadelphia). Here's the heart of it: 'Westminster Theological Seminary's board voted to suspend tenured professor Peter Enns last week after a two-year theological debate over his 2005 book, Inspiration and Incarnation. I find much of the tradition of Christianity over the last 2,000 yearsand most acutely in the generations of my life in Americato have failed what I consider to be the best centerings of the apocalyptic hope of Jesus of Nazareth. The universal and self-evident problem of death. All this is to say, I am not ready to leave the hope and realism of modernity behind yet, but if I do it wont be atheism. My point is a rather modest one: the question of Gods existence is not settledone way or the otheron the basis of the kind of evidence-based knowledge that modern western culture (rightly) embraces to help us explain many, many things around us. better bring your own redemption when you come But does anyone really need to write a book to make explicit what every religious person implicitly practices in terms of maintaining their beliefs and holy practices? Just dont mistakethis as an argument for Gods existence. Its just where my thinking process is. You will know whom I mean, Atheism may be comparatively popular with God himself, When a pious visitor inquired sweetly, Henry, have you made your peace with God? he replied, We have never quarreled., Henry David Thoreau as quoted in Henry David Thoreau: What Manner of Man? But our access to the world of the Spirit is made possible by the existence of our own spirit. No- before the 70s it was safe for white little girls and boys to walk down the street correct yourself- thee was never a time in any country where there was absolute peace- even in the Bible. Peter Enns Height He is a man of above-average stature. . No different than if we observed sight to function so unreliably that 10 different people looking at the same event saw 10 substantially different things and this happened again and again and again and was in fact the norm. Enns-FR.jpg. Perhaps the thing that could hold rationality, mysticism, intuition, etc all together is love- as a way of knowing. where Paul regards Adam's disobedience as the cause of universal sin and death from which humanity is redeemed through the obedience of Christ. The Christian scriptures are clear that we can indeed experience God if we respond to Him when He calls us. Or at least you have come near enough to listen and understand much of what Frank has to say. The intersection of these (with a lot of other stuff thrown in there for good measure, such as Barths furious response to 19th century liberals on issues related to mediated/unmediated experience) was very compelling in my theological studies and has been fascinating to observe on a practical level in pastoral ministry in the conservative south, especially in this political and cultural moment. Beitr-ge zum internationalen Symposium vom 27. bis 29. You made some very good points. Whatever the proper loci are, watch out. You just need to go a little further, Peter. . Its not utopia but Ill take it. I think the sooner the Church heals the Great Schism and returns to the even the faith of Jesus certainly before Constantine and possibly before Paul, the better she will be on a cosmic mission. These failures in relationships (failure to relate, especially failure to love) are far more damaging than our many failures to understand, our sessions of doubt or even our failures to understand how we know. As for your books title, The Sin of Certainty, you seem pretty certain that sin exists, though I suspect humans dont really need thatll added theological term since it seems more like a metaphor for any selfish behavior people of all religions or none already view in a negative fashion. Im not discounting the importance of thinking through these deep questions. The more one believes as many as true things as possible about reality and as few of false things as possible about reality enables one to better understand the nature of the challenge, the tools available, and realistic hopes about ground to be gained, next and within the scope of a lifetime. In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Daniel Kirk joins Pete and Jared to explain the major themes in the book of Romans, why the Romans Road view of salvation is insufficient, and how a focus on God's righteousness through Jesus Christ shaped Paul's vision of harmony between Jews and Gentiles. depth April 2015 am Universal-museum Joanneum in Graz (Schild von Steier, Beiheft 8 / Forschungen zur geschichtlichen Landeskunde der Steiermark 79) Archologie in sterreich 1938 1945 Danner Salzburg. If only she knew in her lifetime that more than just those nuns was going to be reading her works but many people would be influenced and inspired by her theology. Which may be revealed when two people have mutually incompatible direct perceptions in these experiences. As is knowledge of Heavenly Father. Thoughts? . Why do you write books attempting to make more conservative Evangelicals rethink their perspective on the authority of the Bible? Even Yale was founded by some conservative ministers displeased at the growing moderation, liberalism and theological excesses as they say it, happening at Havard. Redemption to a broken world? Such as I would imagine the Eastern Orthodox who are known for such practice and perspective on faith. It is no more Western and modern than the Greek-named constellations are ancient and Greek or the Arabic-named stars are Medieval and Arab. And both stories end with a sacrifice to a deity. So we have an eyewitness account of a historical event in which God reveals His great pleasure in His Son, Jesus Christ. Im not sure the world would be a better place if more people thought like me, though do you mind if I out this on my resume? Meaning external, physical evidence. A Review by Norman Geisler of Peter Enns's, Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids . Professor. The universe is a really big place. Magic is not real therefore magical deities are impossible. While some would say the orthodox Nature of God and his Oneness pertains to Being, I think most more linearly worship something that is more a manner of /a/ being than Being. The question Is God real? is equal to the question Is magic real?. This answer is Biblical, albeit unpopular: the bible has always presupposed an (at least) 2 tiered, interlocking cosmology: the visible and invisible. I also think such proper locus can help one find meaning, less in understanding reality and more, in creating or otherwise affecting reality. Israelite history; Old Testament and ancient Near East; Old Testament theology; biblical theology; wisdom literature; Second Temple Judaism and the New Testament. Many say, Lord, Lord. Small is the gate and narrow is the road. even if our lack of understanding gives us a sense that our existence is meaningless and that, if one could, one would not choose existence. Adam and Eve are the Bible's first man and first woman. much more defined by their longing than by theirexperience. I mean, I continue to wonder about such questions after leaving Evangelicalism. transrational Failures in relationships abound, and there is no need to belabour this with current examples. Were two thousand years in. Youre still rooting your argument in the same notion of the proper locus of religious conviction. Thanks for posting this. But I also get that Christianity isnt really transforming the world through compassion essentially better than anything or anyone else. Robert Anton Wilson pointed out how many people cling tightly to a single reality tunnel and dont dare to seek all the ways their tunnel overlaps with that of others. With current examples have come near enough to listen and understand much what! The road to Damascus and on who are known for such practice and perspective on the authority of the locus! 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