Subject:
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Re: The Parable ot the Tortured Debtor
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 24 Mar 2004 20:37:25 GMT
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Viewed:
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478 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:
> > My desire was to approach the Bible without any later
> > theology attached to it -- to just take it at face value.
> > I still try to
> > maintain the approach toward the Bible of someone just reading the it for the
> > first time, someone without later theological knowledge of "how to properly
> > interpret the stories".
>
> In some ways I think this is a really good idea. OTOH, scholarship is not
> simply indoctrination--understanding of the culture the text was written in is
> also very important. For instance, if I read Shakespeare with no external
> sources, I'll get a good story. External sources can add to that enjoyment, but
> there are two types of external sources. There is the type that says "This is
> the TRUE theme of this play as agreed upon by all intelligent people (i.e.
> professors of English literature), and you must interpret these
> characters/speeches/actions in a particular manner. On the other hand there are
> external sources that tell you about the history of King Henry V that
> Shakespeare drew upon, the meaning of this word that is now obscure, the
> political situation of the day that colors why Shakespeare wanted to show the
> house of the current king in a good light, etc. This type of source material
> could really aid the understanding and enjoyment of a particular play. So to
> with biblical scholarship.
It must be noted, however, that once you draw upon contextual and historical
guidelines to interpret an author's work, you are by definition no longer
reading the work but are instead infusing it with material external to the
work. Even attempts to divine an author's "intent" are doomed from the outset
if they draw upon external sources rather than what's in the primary work
itself.
Granted, it is generally difficult to divorce a work from its prejudicial
context, but it's not impossible: If a transcript the text of The Tempest were
for without any indicator of authorship and with no reliable way to place it as
early 17th century, would it change the merits of the work? If so, then why?
I would submit that Brendan's transcription of biblical verse is very true to
the text and is commendably uninfluenced by subsequent centuries of directed
interpretation.
> I suspect that the straightforward set of rules for living would not have
> inspired the Sistine Chapel, the Hallaleuia Chorus, and the Brick Testament,
> much less a religion that affected anyone's lives.
It might be pointed out at this juncture that the Sistine Chapel was a
commissioned work, and it's not as though the great religious artists and
composers of the past really had much latitude for creating any kinds of works
they desired!
> > Seems that any individual should just be able to pick it up and
> > read it and glean knowledge without needing other people to come in and tell
> > them "what the stories *really* mean".
>
> Again, I agree and disagree. I challenge you to write the one book that
> explains all of science, or even simply all of organic chemistry, that anyone
> could come along and pick and completely grok without any assistance.
Well, if an author claims that his science textbook is divinely inspired, then
that book better be either divinely comprehensive or divinely correct. And, if
the stakes are infinitely higher (i.e., involving the disposition of one's
immortal soul), then the book's meaning had be pretty darned accessible, too.
Surely an infinite being could write such a book?
> What is
> more complex--the reactions of carbon-based compounds, or all of human
> relationships, morality, society, spirituality, etc.?
I would argue that they're one and the same, actually...
Dave!
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: The Parable ot the Tortured Debtor
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| (...) Sure. We would see it as accomplishing several things. In addition to acting as one-time, complete forgiveness (in contrast to repeated, limited sacrifices), more significantly by Christ standing in our place on the cross, we are then able to (...) (20 years ago, 24-Mar-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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