{"id":518,"date":"2011-06-09T11:36:05","date_gmt":"2011-06-09T15:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=511"},"modified":"2011-06-09T11:36:05","modified_gmt":"2011-06-09T15:36:05","slug":"literalism-critical-thinking-and-science-around-the-blogosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/06\/literalism-critical-thinking-and-science-around-the-blogosphere.html","title":{"rendered":"Literalism, Critical Thinking and Science around the Blogosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Let\u2019s start this collection of links with Adam Kotsko\u2019s post on literalism. Here\u2019s a sample<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I sometimes had to fight an uphill battle with secular liberal students who basically took fundamentalists at their word that they were following the Bible \u201cliterally\u201d and who felt that such \u201cliteralism\u201d was somehow the most authentic form of religion.<\/p>\n

Throughout my time there, I would emphasize the fact that a literal reading of the whole of Scripture that sticks to the \u201cplain sense\u201d and comes out with a single meaning is impossible. First, there are clear surface-level contradictions, and as soon as you start coming up with ways to explain that away, you\u2019re not being literal anymore. Similarly with the strategy of prioritizing certain books or passages over others (the \u201ccanon within the canon\u201d approach) \u2014 while such an approach is basically unavoidable, it is also not \u201cliteral\u201d because the Bible doesn\u2019t come with its own meta-text telling you which parts to emphasize.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Joel Watts<\/a> linked to a post by Karl Giberson<\/a> on recognizing the importance of identifying and listening to sources with expertise. Here\u2019s a quote:<\/p>\n

We do ourselves \u2014 and our poor high school students \u2014 no favors when we juxtapose the conventional wisdom of an entire community of scholars with that of a few fringe voices and invite people to choose which idea they like the best.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Joel also links<\/a> to a post addressing the feeling people sometimes have of betraying their faith after they grow out of fundamentalism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mason talks about why ignorance isn\u2019t strength<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jesus Creed discusses whether there is conflict between religion and science<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hemant Mehta describes what Ken Ham and others say at a home schooling convention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For some more interesting science posts, try Justin Topp\u2019s set of links<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s start this collection of links with Adam Kotsko\u2019s post on literalism. Here\u2019s a sample: I sometimes had to fight an uphill battle with secular liberal students who basically took fundamentalists at their word that they were following the Bible \u201cliterally\u201d and who felt that such \u201cliteralism\u201d was somehow the most authentic form of religion. […]<\/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":[1140,1148,1846,2148,3675,3676,4729,5774,6131,6527,6621,6626,12508],"class_list":["post-518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bible","tag-biblical","tag-christianity-religion","tag-conservative","tag-fundamentalism-religion","tag-fundamentalist","tag-homeschooling","tag-joel-watts","tag-ken-ham","tag-liberal","tag-literalism","tag-literally","tag-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nLiteralism, Critical Thinking and Science around the Blogosphere<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Let's start this collection of links with Adam Kotsko's post on literalism. 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