Matthew Parris on Christianity in Africa

Another interesting artcile I stumbled upon, this time by Matthew Parris…

Its a slightly different persepctive on this debate….

A bad dream….

Stumbled across this funny little quote from astrophysicist Robert Jastrow in The Language of God by biologist Francis Collins.

“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries”

He’s commenting on the seeming obliteration of any physical trace of history prior to the Big Bang, and the Christian claims that God initiated the Big Bang.

Earlier he states: “Now we see how the astronomical evidence leads to a biblical view of the origin of the world. The details differ, but the essential elements and the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same; the chain of events leading up to man commenced suddenly and sharply at a definite moment in time, in a flash of flight and energy”

I’m three chapters in – plenty to think about!

More dust that hasn’t quite settled….

I stumbled across this on wikipedia. It seems that, contrary to some claims that there is no evidence for the historicity of the Old Testament, there is some! Here’s something on the Babylonian captivity….It certainly doesn’t prove that the whole of the OT happened in literal form, but it should certainly provide some food for thought for those who claim that there is nothing that corroborates anything in the OT….

For more dust that hasn’t quite settled see this article from National Geographic.

Jürgen Habermas on Judeo-Christian ethics

“For the normative self-understanding of modernity, Christianity has functioned as more than just a precursor or catalyst. Universalistic egalitarianism, from which sprang the ideals of freedom and a collective life in solidarity, the autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, the individual morality of conscience, human rights and democracy, is the direct legacy of the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love. This legacy, substantially unchanged, has been the object of a continual critical reappropriation and reinterpretation. Up to this very day there is no alternative to it. And in light of the current challenges of a post-national constellation, we must draw sustenance now, as in the past, from this substance. Everything else is idle postmodern talk.” – Jürgen Habermas

The dust hasn’t settled just yet….

The dust hasn’t settled just yet….

Some people have suggested that the Jewish people have ditched a literal view of the Old Testament due to lack of historical evidence. I was provided this National Geographic article by one Jewish author who denies that’s the case. He says that while that may be true in some circles its certainly not true for all Jews – it seems the dust hasn’t quite settled on that debate…