Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

asaris · 10-04-2004, 08:13 AM

It should be clear to everyone that the Creation story in Genesis does not need to be taken literally for one to be a Christian. People have been treating it metaphorically at least since Aquinas, probably since much earlier (though, of course, for different reasons than evolution). But it also seems clear that, just because one wants to read parts of the Bible metaphorically, one does not need to take the whole thing metaphorically. My usual guide is 'what sort of literature does this seem to be?' With some parts of the Bible, it's easy. Proverbs is, well, proverbs. Psalms is poetry. Genesis, at least the first bit, reads like myth. The gospels, on the other hand, read like historical narrative.

wnker85 brings up a good point; this is half the reason why I, for a long time, did not believe in evolution on a grand scale (the other half is that it wasn't until college that I could find someone who knew enough about carbon dating to answer my objections to it). But, there are a few ways to spin it. One, the most plausible to me, is that it's *very* metaphorical. It's talking about the nature of mankind, that our nature is not to die, but to live eternally, and that things just went wrong here at a very early stage. Walker Percy has some interesting things to say on this; if people are interested, I can look it up and post the quote. But the point is that those philosophers (I'm thinking primarily of Heidegger here) who think that 'death' is somehow essential to our Being must be wrong. That is part of the thrust of my sig quote (and no, Badiou is not a Christian. He's a French materialist marxist.)

10-04-2004, 08:13 AM	#132 (permalink)
asaris Mad Philosopher Location: Washington, DC	It should be clear to everyone that the Creation story in Genesis does not need to be taken literally for one to be a Christian. People have been treating it metaphorically at least since Aquinas, probably since much earlier (though, of course, for different reasons than evolution). But it also seems clear that, just because one wants to read parts of the Bible metaphorically, one does not need to take the whole thing metaphorically. My usual guide is 'what sort of literature does this seem to be?' With some parts of the Bible, it's easy. Proverbs is, well, proverbs. Psalms is poetry. Genesis, at least the first bit, reads like myth. The gospels, on the other hand, read like historical narrative. wnker85 brings up a good point; this is half the reason why I, for a long time, did not believe in evolution on a grand scale (the other half is that it wasn't until college that I could find someone who knew enough about carbon dating to answer my objections to it). But, there are a few ways to spin it. One, the most plausible to me, is that it's very metaphorical. It's talking about the nature of mankind, that our nature is not to die, but to live eternally, and that things just went wrong here at a very early stage. Walker Percy has some interesting things to say on this; if people are interested, I can look it up and post the quote. But the point is that those philosophers (I'm thinking primarily of Heidegger here) who think that 'death' is somehow essential to our Being must be wrong. That is part of the thrust of my sig quote (and no, Badiou is not a Christian. He's a French materialist marxist.) __________________ "Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht." "The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm." -- Friedrich Nietzsche