mike@spock.ucar.edu (Mike Daniels) (09/20/89)
Hi. I have a few questions that I think are appropriate to this group. First, my background: I was raised in a Fundamentalist church (specifically, the Church of God - Anderson, IN) and at the age of about 12, I accepted Christ mostly out of fear and because I was expected to do so by my church family and my biological family. In my late teens, I became somewhat of a "rebel", was heavily into alcohol, a few drugs -- generally not a "good" person. I have since come to realize that I desire real meaning and purpose in my life, but have been plagued by the "literalistic" interpretations of the Bible by the Fundamentalists. I can't see taking the gospels literally when they apparently were written 15-40 years after Christ's resurrection. My question is: Are there books that aid a person in "breaking free" of this mentality so that one can have a less dogmatic (and for me, healthier) view of the Christian religion? I often struggle with feelings of guilt when I try to take the Bible less literally... Thanks for any help you may have... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Daniels (mike@spock.ucar.edu) RAF/ATD/National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [I'm going to interpret your question somewhat broadly. My suspicion is that what you need to see is kind of a sampling of interesting and creative Christianity, not attacks on fundies. So I'd suggest that you try sampling things from a variety of traditions, to get a feel for the richness that is present in the Christian tradition. At that point a reading list becomes very much a matter of taste. This list does not mention the "spiritual classics" such as Pilgrim's Progress, Imitation of Christ, etc., though I think those should be part of any reading program such as this. I do not by any means agree with everything said in the following books. I couldn't, since they don't agree among themselves. That's not the point. Some of these books would be perfectly consistent with the inerrantist position. Others are radical. Not all evangelical Christianity is based on fear. There are many fine evangelical Christians with a very balanced view of life and the Gospel. 1. The most direct response to your question is probably John A.T. Robinson's book "Honest to God". It was written specifically to do what you ask, namely to broaden people's ideas of Christianity. It was quite controversial in its day, but I suspect now would seem less so. I can't quite think of a recent equivalent. I haven't read it recently. Maybe it would seem like tame stuff now. I dunno. 2. Another good "consciousness-raising" book is "The Peril of Modernizing Jesus", by H.J.Cadbury. This book goes back to 1937. Again, in some details it may be a bit dated. But I haven't seen any good replacement. It asks you to put aside all cultural preconceptions and look at what Jesus was really like in the context of the 1st Cent. Its reconstruction is challenging to both liberals and conservatives. 3. One of the best summaries of the results of modern "Biblical Criticism" is Jeremias' book "Rediscovering the Parables". Jeremias is one of the "big names" in Biblical studies. This is an attempt to present some of the results to a wider audience. 4. If you're interested in more formal theology, I strongly recommend Baille's book "God was in Christ". This is considered by a wide variety of people to be one of the most creative pieces of work on the Trinity and Incarnation in recent years. It goes through the history of those doctrines, trying to show what was really meant by all those substances, essenses, and hypostases, and then attempts to come up with a modern formulation in terms of interpersonal relationships. This is more technical reading than the other things listed here. 5. As far as living the Christian life, there are lots of classics. You might want to look at some of the spiritual classics of the ages, including some of the medieval works. Simply to make a random choice, I suggest one or more of Bonhoeffer's books. Bonhoeffer was killed by the Nazi's for his work with the Confessing Church. He has many very penetrating works. A good start is "The Cost of Discipleship". To me the strength of Bonhoeffer's work is in helping you realize what it means to be a Christian. I found "The Cost of Discipleship" one of the most powerful books I have ever read. 6. There are several magazines you might want to look at. From the evangelical side, I recommend "the Door" (formerly "the Wittenburg Door"). It combines humor and satire with interviews of a variety of people. Their "loser of the month" and "truth is stranger than fiction" is a hilarious look at what happens when Christians get a bit carried away with themselves. Another suggestion is "Bible Review". This publishes articles about the Bible, both historical background and discussions of what things mean. They attempt to deal with a variety of topics from different points of view. It's a good way to get a feel of what scholars do with the Bible. It's a nicely written and produced magazine. It tends to be on the liberal side. In theory they are open to inerrantists, but you don't see a lot of them writing for it. --clh]
mangoe@mimsy.umd.edu (Charley Wingate) (09/27/89)
Our querent might find some anglican writers worth reading as well. I think
the unsophisticated reader may find Robinson's book confusing, but it is
worth reading with a LOT of salt.
One thing I've noticed from reading the net is that there is a strong modern
tendency towards a lack of criticism of one's own doubt. Robinson shows a
certain amount of this bias, and his book has been criticized for it. I
don't agree with the oft-advanced argument that if one has no hard standard,
one has no standard at all; scripture does not truly permit the hard
standard, so it appears that this is a risk we must take. But it is not a
meritless criticism. It is very tempting to doubt for the wrong reasons.
Urban Holmes made the comment about Tillich, who was fond of referring to
the doctrine of the incarnation as "the anglican heresy", that Tillich's
origin in the tradition of German idealism prevented him from taking the
doctrine seriously.
Here I would like to inject a little personal testimony. There was a pair
of articles in _Atlantic_ about two years back in which many contemporary
theologians expressed their views of the state of theology. In the midst of
this article, which I would highly commend to Mr. Daniels, Schillebeecx said
that he felt that, at root, the gospels showed that "something happened to
Jesus". This struck me (especially in light of the skepticism seen in so
many of the other comments). I too have come to feel that we should not be
so willing to let go of the resurrection.
Anyway, I would commend two authors here. The first, and obvious, and so
very bourgeous, is C.S.Lewis. His arguments are full of holes when he
argues for a point; his viewpoint is very naive. Nevertheless, I think he
has a lot of useful things to say against skepticism-- and against mindless
dogmatism. It's hard to pick a specific book to start with, given the
manifest imperfections of the various books. Perhaps _Miracles_ would be
best.
Another author (one of my favorites) is Robert Farrar Capon, particularly
_Hunting the Divine Fox_ and _The Third Peacock_. Capon is a bit mad and
rather irreverent (Jeff Smith, aka the Frugal Gourmet, cites him as an
inspiration [and resembles him physically too], and Capon has several books
on cooking, including the wonderfully absurd _The Supper of the Lamb_, which
is worth it just for the entertainment value). Here, at least on one level,
we are about as far from Bonhoeffer as we can get. But all his irreverence
has an important point to make, and his perspective is so different that I
think it may prove quite helpful. And he is VERY funny....
Tillich's book on faith is also very interesting, even though I have some
strong disagreements with it.
C. Wingate + "Our God, to whom we turn when weary with illusion,
+ whose stars serenely burn above this earth's confusion,
mangoe@mimsy.umd.edu + thine is the mightly plan, the steadfast order sure
mimsy!mangoe + in which the world began, endures, and shall endure."cash@uunet.uu.net (Peter Cash) (10/08/89)
[In article <Sep.20.04.20.22.1989.19507@athos.rutgers.edu> mike@spock.ucar.edu (Mike Daniels) described his background in the Church of God - Anderson, IN. He has come back to Christianity as an adult, after having dropped out, but is unable to accept the '"literalistic" interpretations of the Bible by the Fundamentalists.' He was interested in any books that would help him break free from this. --clh] Mike, You are wrong if you think that breaking free of legalism requires that you take the Bible "less literally". Legalism is the result of not reading the Bible literally enough; a careful reading of the deeds and words of Christ and the Apostles should demonstrate God's love and forgiveness, and not his condemnation. The feelings of guilt that you encounter when you try to ignore what the Bible says (and what else could it mean to take the words "less literally") are quite appropriate. Guilt can be a healthy thing, you know! I believe that you are reacting against what you THINK the Bible says, and these opinions were formed by what people told you about the Bible when you were a child. I think you were told wrong. Take up and read! Peter