I was asked about this subject over on Triablogue<\/a>, and here\u2019s what I replied:<\/p>\n I sometimes use the term \u201cfundamentalist\u201d but rarely in its classic sense, since the number of people who represent the classic definition and would self-identify as fundamentalist is small, I suspect.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a brief answer to each of your questions:<\/p>\n 1) I do not affirm inerrancy. I tried for a long time to force the Bible to fit that mold, then decided that perhaps I should let the Bible shape my doctrine of Scripture rather than vice versa. I have no problem talking about it being \u201cinspired\u201d, although I realize that is vague, but one could make a Biblical case for inspiration being a broader phenomenon than the writing of Scripture.<\/p>\n 2) Virgin birth? No, because if one cannot harmonize the historical type details in the infancy accounts of Matthew and Luke<\/a>, why should I take their statements as factual when they make a claim about something fantastic?<\/p>\n 3) I don\u2019t see Christ\u2019s death as making satisfaction or as a penal substitution, but there are other ways of thinking about atonement \u2013 some closer to the root meaning of that term \u2013 that I\u2019d affirm.<\/p>\n 4) I\u2019ll defer to my book on the burial of Jesus<\/a>, which wrestles with that topic in great detail.<\/p>\n 5) On the miracles, I\u2019m not sure on what basis I could affirm the nature miracles, such as walking on water. There are far more straightforward explanations for how we got those stories. But I do think that many people experienced various sorts of healing and liberation from \u201cdemons\u201d through him and their encounter with him.<\/p>\n Does this make me a \u201cclassic liberal\u201d? Quite possibly. But this is how I see the evidence, and my ability or inability to make justifiable claims based on it, at present. I\u2019ve changed my mind in the past, and am open to being persuaded to do so again\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What about you? Do you accept the classic tenets of fundamentalism? Are you a \u201cclassic liberal\u201d? What labels do you wear grudgingly, and which do you embrace? I tend to prefer \u201cprogressive<\/a>\u201d Christian. Of course, one thing that I have that not all \u201cclassic liberals\u201d do is an Evangelical conversion experience. Since it seems my account of that experience on this blog is buried unhelpfully in the midst of a lengthy dialogue I had with an atheist<\/a>, I\u2019ll try to devote a post all of its own to it sometime soon.<\/p>\n Is my position that of a \u201cclassic liberal\u201d? Certainly not in any strict sense \u2013 I\u2019m far too Bultmannian, and probably also too aware of the limits of modernity. But to the extent that anyone who rejects the tenets of classic fundamentalism tends to be labelled as a \u201cliberal\u201d, I\u2019m happy to wear the label. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-3192578988561380826?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\")