Here is something that I have begun. It's liable to never be finished, but my hope is that this is the first installment of however many entries it may take for me to get this finished. enjoy.INTRODUCTION - Culture Shock
In a world in which the notion of absolutism is being berated from all directions, how is it possible that religious belief can maintain its’ veracity when it seems that the rules of the game have changed around us? As a believer I must ask myself how the contemporary postmodern situation has affected the Church’s, and my, ability to proclaim truth and to effect the world for the better? For a long while, Christian belief has been grounded in the notion of the absolute. Due to recent trends within evangelical Christianity, the Bible has been hoisted to the position of being the one true inerrant, infallible, incorruptible, indestructible, unlimited, almighty, (it’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s…) and downright most complete revelation of everything that God is and all that he has said. Now, while I do take issue with any group that holds such a “fantastic” elevation of the Bible, I believe that such a discussion would better be suited for another time.
Furthermore, biblical inerrancy should not be seen as the singular point of contention in the arising postmodern world. For that matter, as far as I know, the issue has flown quietly under the radar of the social arena and has been left largely for us theological/philosophical church mice to mince words over. All that being said, the issue of biblical interpretation is more than relevant for our present discussion. Our current troubles instigated by the creation of the theory of inerrancy are symptomatic of a greater point of friction taking place between the Church, which presents itself as the sole bearer of absolute truth, and a society that is utterly unimpressed by such far-reaching claims that would insist we place sole authority in a singular organization often regarded as corrupt and obsolete. Thus, we would be morally and academically remiss if we did not take a moment to examine the issue at hand: how does the Church emit truth in our postmodern era the way it was created to?
