In past posts (here, then followed up here, here, here, and here) I’ve talked quite a bit about the little problem we have in the Old Testament: God orders the armies of Joshua to kill every single Canaanite so the Israelites can live in their land. Deuteronomy 20 lays this out, and the deed is done in Joshua 7-12. Most Christians are at least a little bothered by this, and various solutions are regularly put forward to reconcile a good and... Read more
Two books on evolution and Christianity have been sitting on my desk for a few weeks now: Reading Genesis 1-2: An Evangelical Conversation and Four Views on the Historical Adam. I haven’t been sure what to do with them. The first is the product of a 2011 symposium hosted by the Bryan Institute for Critical Thought & Practice. The participants were Dick Averbeck (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School), Todd Beall (Capital Bible Seminary), C. John Collins (Covenant Theological Seminary), Tremper Longman III (Westmont College), and John Walton (Wheaton College).... Read more
Over at The Jesus Blog, Anthony Le Donne posted an interesting thought on why Christians can have such cognitive dissonance about evolution: it has to do with the “evolution” of the mind in the general culture over the last century and how some patterns in Christian thinking aren’t coming along for the ride. Le Donne is playing off an idea moral philosopher James Flynn (Are We Getting Smarter?: Rising IQ in the Twenty-First Century) that today’s average IQ scores are much... Read more
This recent post by Steven Collins concerning the role of archaeology and the Bible (namely, the Old Testament) is worth looking at. I don’t endorse it completely, but I find what he has to say generally to be a good starting point. Read it for yourself and see what you think. Collins’s main issue is with the extremes of “minimalists” and “maximalists.” The former tend toward a default skepticism about the historical value of the Bible, while the latter holds a... Read more
Today’s post is by Andrew Knapp. Knapp holds a Ph.D. (2012) in Hebrew Bible from the Johns Hopkins University. He has recently taught courses on the Bible and theology at Loyola University Maryland, Notre Dame of Maryland University, and Hood College. He specializes in the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible within its historical context, and has published most recently on the genre of the David narrative in light of ancient Near Eastern analogues. He currently serves as acquisitions editor for Eisenbrauns, a... Read more
I spent this past week speaking in British Columbia, but first some general observations on Canadian culture. I’m not used to courteous driving, and I aged 2 years watching my drivers slow down in anticipation of green lights possibly turning yellow, letting other drivers weave in, or just generally not being violently aggressive. They’d never make it on the east coast. I don’t even want to think what would happen to them in Asia. But how about that maple syrup !! I want the US government to... Read more
Here is a link to a thoughtful and subtle post about Christian-Muslim dialogue by Steve Taylor, associate professor of New Testament at Biblical Theological Seminary (also grew up a missionary kid). He makes some interesting observations on culture, Paul, and (why not) Ferdinand de Saussure. I sense a C. S. Lewisesque (is that a word? it is now) The Chronicles of Narnia (especially The Last Battle) vibe, which I appreciate. In our world, which continues to shrink by the minute, thoughtful posts such as Taylor’s are... Read more
I wish I had kept a list. I’ve had far too many conversations over the last few years with trained, experienced, and practicing biblical scholars, young, middle aged, and near retirement, working in Evangelical institutions, trying to follow Jesus and use their brains and training to help students navigate the challenging world of biblical interpretation. And they are dying inside. Just two weeks ago I had the latest in my list of long conversations with a well-known, published, respected biblical scholar, who is... Read more
The compatibility of evolution and Christianity continues to be a hot topic, and I get a steady stream of insightful questions from all over the world and Canada asking for my take on some pressing issues. Below are just a few of the questions that have come my way, and, though technical and learned, I hope my answers are helpful. 1. If I accept evolution, is there a chance I might turn into a monkey myself? (D. from Kentucky). D, thank... Read more
This month over at RespectfulConversation.net, as part of their ongoing series on the future of evangelicalism, the topic is evolution and evangelicalism. I posted there some of my own thoughts on the matter. Below is an excerpt. Follow this link to my post and to the entire conversation. Do it now. ….So, I repeat my point: evolution cannot simply be grafted onto evangelical Christian faith as an add-on, where we can congratulate ourselves on a job well done. This is going to... Read more
Peter Enns
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