There seem to be a number of posts around the blogosphere this morning which relate to this theme conservative Christianity and Biblical scholarship. Perhaps most striking is an article in USA Today<\/a> (HT The Bible and Interpretation<\/a>) which highlights that Ken Ham of Creation Museum infamy will not be having his museum depict the infant Jesus in a stable, because the best Biblical scholarship suggests that Jesus was born in a private home. My only question is why Ham will accept the best Biblical scholarship about the nativity stories, but not the best Biblical scholarship about the creation narratives.<\/p>\n Dan Wallace\u2019s post<\/a> defined the majority of Biblical scholars out of his definition of \u201cChristian.\u201d Meanwhile, Nick Norelli asked just what \u201cEvangelical\u201d means when defined broadly<\/a>, while Scot McKnight shared a video presenting an Orthodox answer to the question \u201cAre you saved?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Brian LePort is blogging through Nick Perrin\u2019s book on the Gospel of Thomas<\/a> including a post relating to Thomas\u2019 apparent interaction with other early Christian texts<\/a>.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure what to make of all this, but several issues seem worth discussing further.<\/p>\n \u2013 Should Christianity be defined in terms of adherence to some particular understanding of orthodoxy? Can Christianity be defined<\/em> at all, and if so how? I encourage anyone interested in doing so to share their experience, and to engage one another in conversation. I also encourage you to click through some of the links I shared and join in (or where necessary start) the discussions going on elsewhere in the blogosphere.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve wanted to join in the discussion arising from Dan Wallace\u2019s post about the Society of Biblical Literature, the low representation of Christians (whom he defines in specific terms as those taking a conservative stance on key tenets of orthodoxy) in the guild, and scholarship. But I\u2019ve been resisting doing so for a variety of […]<\/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-3015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
\u2013 Has Biblical scholarship been a blessing or a curse as far as your perception of its influence on your life, faith, and views is concerned?
\u2013 Have you had an opportunity to experience discussion of scholarly ideas in both conservative and liberal, or both religiously-affiliated and secular, contexts? If so, what was your perception of the advantages and disadvantages of each? <\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-1736128821131532910?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\")