Fundamentalism Meets Sci-Fi: Truth, Falsity and Fiction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The latest in Cake or Death's series going through the A to Z of modern Christianity is "F" for fundamentalism. I assume the movie the DVD of which is\" \/>\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\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fundamentalism Meets Sci-Fi: Truth, Falsity and Fiction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The latest in Cake or Death's series going through the A to Z of modern Christianity is "F" for fundamentalism. I assume the movie the DVD of which is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-07T15:34:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/cakeordeathcartoon.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/12\/cake-or-death-christian-church-cartoon-by-alex-baker-276-cartoon-modern-christian-a-z-letter-f-fundamentalists-december-9-2011.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\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\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html\",\"name\":\"Fundamentalism Meets Sci-Fi: Truth, Falsity and Fiction\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-07T15:34:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-07T15:34:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"The latest in Cake or Death's series going through the A to Z of modern Christianity is \\\"F\\\" for fundamentalism. I assume the movie the DVD of which is\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fundamentalism Meets Sci-Fi: Truth, Falsity and Fiction\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fundamentalism Meets Sci-Fi: Truth, Falsity and Fiction","description":"The latest in Cake or Death's series going through the A to Z of modern Christianity is \"F\" for fundamentalism. I assume the movie the DVD of which is","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\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fundamentalism Meets Sci-Fi: Truth, Falsity and Fiction","og_description":"The latest in Cake or Death's series going through the A to Z of modern Christianity is \"F\" for fundamentalism. I assume the movie the DVD of which is","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2011-12-07T15:34:10+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/cakeordeathcartoon.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/12\/cake-or-death-christian-church-cartoon-by-alex-baker-276-cartoon-modern-christian-a-z-letter-f-fundamentalists-december-9-2011.jpg"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html","name":"Fundamentalism Meets Sci-Fi: Truth, Falsity and Fiction","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-12-07T15:34:10+00:00","dateModified":"2011-12-07T15:34:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"The latest in Cake or Death's series going through the A to Z of modern Christianity is \"F\" for fundamentalism. I assume the movie the DVD of which is","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fundamentalism Meets Sci-Fi: Truth, Falsity and Fiction"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4906\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":4906,"date":"2011-12-07T10:34:10","date_gmt":"2011-12-07T15:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=4906"},"modified":"2011-12-07T10:34:10","modified_gmt":"2011-12-07T15:34:10","slug":"fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/12\/fundamentalism-meets-sci-fi-truth-falsity-and-fiction.html","title":{"rendered":"Fundamentalism Meets Sci-Fi: Truth, Falsity and Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019d like to suggest that the underlying reason why the fundamentalist in the cartoon is returning the DVD is because he has a worldview that considers all stories to be of two sorts: true, or false. He also holds the corresponding assumption that if it is false, then it is to be rejected.<\/p>\n

That approach will screw up one\u2019s appreciation of stories in the Bible every bit as much as one\u2019s appreciation (or lack thereof) of \u201cPlanet of the Apes.\u201d<\/p>\n

If one approaches the stories in the early chapters of Genesis in this way, then one is bound to either accept them as factual or reject them as lies. I\u2019ve been that sort of fundamentalist in the past, and have been interacting with some who currently hold that view in the comments sections of other posts on this blog in recent days.<\/p>\n

But those are not the only options. Fiction is not aiming to provide accurate description. Myth is not about conveying history. And even what we think of as history is subject to revision in light of new evidence.<\/p>\n

There is nothing wrong with rightly identifying that many stories do not provide factual information at all, and some provide only partly factual information. But if you cannot learn to discover something of value in those stories, your life will be much less rich as a result. And so will your understanding of the Bible. For if one tries to shield stories in the Bible from such questions, and assumes instead that they are all literal, factual reporting of precisely what happened simply by virtue of their being in the Bible, then one will profoundly misunderstand them.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"