<\/div>\n
It is not uncommon to hear a theologian or a philosopher or a student say this, \u201cWe have to bracket that thought or belief or conviction, in order to work on this problem, etc..\u201d For instance, you will sometimes hear a scientist say he or she has to bracket his or her personal beliefs (about God and creation) when he or she does work in the laboratory. I\u2019ve heard this, indirectly usually, with doctoral students who are working on the Gospels or on the Pentateuch \u2014 they bracket their own beliefs in order to work on those texts with a method that will satisfy their supervisors.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t just a procedure for academics. It can happen in any field \u2014 business persons bracketing off their convictions about truth and honesty and justice, politicians bracketing off the same in order to be elected or to gain support for a bill, children bracketing off their faith to find friendships, and we could go on.<\/p>\n
To bracket off one\u2019s beliefs is dangerous business. Two reasons.<\/p>\n
First, it creates an alternative world where our faith or convictions do not hold sway. Before long, that alternative world could become our only world, and our former convictions, because they have been sundered from our life, will no longer be needed. To bracket off our beliefs is to learn to live without them. It is no wonder many lose their faith when they operate like this.<\/p>\n
Second, it creates a world where the modernist scientific world is something that is safe from beliefs and immune from convictions and where heart does not impact head \u2014 it is objective and not subjective. But, in so creating a world like that we are creating a world that does not adequately reflect who we are and what God made us to be. A world that is immune from the fullness of who we are destroys the holism necessary for a full life.<\/p>\n
To bracket the heart is to break the heart.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is not uncommon to hear a theologian or a philosopher or a student say this, \u201cWe have to bracket that thought or belief or conviction, in order to work on this problem, etc..\u201d For instance, you will sometimes hear a scientist say he or she has to bracket his or her personal beliefs (about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
To Bracket is to To Break<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It is not uncommon to hear a theologian or a philosopher or a student say this, "We have to bracket that thought or belief or conviction, in order to work\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To Bracket is to To Break\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is not uncommon to hear a theologian or a philosopher or a student say this, "We have to bracket that thought or belief or conviction, in order to work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-08-18T13:02:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/\",\"name\":\"To Bracket is to To Break\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2005-08-18T13:02:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2005-08-18T13:02:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"It is not uncommon to hear a theologian or a philosopher or a student say this, \\\"We have to bracket that thought or belief or conviction, in order to work\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"To Bracket is to To Break\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"To Bracket is to To Break","description":"It is not uncommon to hear a theologian or a philosopher or a student say this, \"We have to bracket that thought or belief or conviction, in order to work","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"To Bracket is to To Break","og_description":"It is not uncommon to hear a theologian or a philosopher or a student say this, \"We have to bracket that thought or belief or conviction, in order to work","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2005-08-18T13:02:00+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/","name":"To Bracket is to To Break","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2005-08-18T13:02:00+00:00","dateModified":"2005-08-18T13:02:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"It is not uncommon to hear a theologian or a philosopher or a student say this, \"We have to bracket that thought or belief or conviction, in order to work","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/08\/18\/to-bracket-is-to-to-break\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"To Bracket is to To Break"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}