The universal and self-evident problem of death. Proceeding ahead and remixing words just a bit, Thinking one can prove or disprove the existence of *any* God through rational analysis is to apply to *any* God a wrong way of knowing.. Incarceration Nation I think if Christianity, as a whole, doesnt soon reconcile itself among its adherents and with its founders teachings, it will soon (if not already there) be down an irreversible trajectory of being part of the problem rather than part of the solution in the inevitable redemption of the cosmos. http://edward-t-babinski.blogspot.com/2016/01/gods-mixed-messages-youth-pastor-killed.html And two, what does exist mean? He is the podcast host of The Bible for Normal People. Pete Enns is the Abram S. Clemens Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University. Religious conviction without evidence based knowledge is why there are so many religions, denominations, sects and cults and demonizations of one by the other. Agnostics cant figure it out. longing Enns prefers this approach because it supports his view of Adam as proto-Israel (107) and maintains an Israel-centered focus rather than a universal one (106). He is the Robert S. Harrison Director of the Cornell Center for Social Sciences and Executive Director of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. As a United Methodist, part of how I articulate this is in the language of experience (1 part of what Albert Outler named the Wesleyan quadrilateral). But lacking a definitive first hand revelation of God and with all of your questions, at what point does one cease asking yet more questions, and perhaps start to view all religions as limited expressions or interpretations of God like prof. of religious philosophy John Hick eventually did after growing up Evangelical? I do. Christian mysticism should . When people insist that the Apostles Creed is where you have to start, its no wonder that you wind up with some people who dont believe in God and other people who dont believe in the World. What religion, denomination, sect or cult doesnt seek to also inculcate an acceptance of mystery and paradox?. Great Value. Or read my own my testimony where I mention the effect that finding and fully acknowledging goodness in people of all beliefs or none had on me. Why the need to respond ? It is a form of knowing often described as contemplative. Tweets at @peteenns. What do you think of people like George Mller? Tweets at @peteenns. If we raise it all today (or tomorrow or Wednesday tbh) we're going to make. (Yawn.) Theists believe magic is real. 254). This emphasis on experience is important at a simple, direct level (participating in corporate worship, daily prayer, seeing/hearing God in others, etc. And it would be wise to recognize that I think. I would never ever suggest this is a unique property of Xty. As revealed clearly in the scriptures, God is raising up out of this raging cauldron of sin pain and suffering adopted sons(and daughters) who will embrace the process of being transformed by their tests and trials into those who will be worthy of ruling and reigning with Him throughout eternity. If labels have to be used, I wonder if you would identify, or at least sympathize, with igtheism, which holds that every theological position assumes too much about the concept of God. You cannot relate to it if you dont have a little one of your own. The universe is a really big place. What should be the impact? In this episode of The Tentative Apologist Podcast we sit down with Dr. Peter Enns to explore a range of questions relating to the Bible, science and faith. I think that if all religious believers could accept such limitations, and find in the penumbra thereof, that there is no certainty, and therefore, no grounds for believing to the exclusion of other faiths, wed find less conflict in this world. But it takes the work of the Spirit of God in ones life to actually believe and rely upon these evidences. Peter K. Enns Professor, Department of Government and Brooks School of Public Policy and Robert S. Harrison Director of the Cornell Center for Social Sciences Summary Peter K. Enns is a Professor in the Department of Government and the Brooks School of Public Policy and Robert S. Harrison Director of the Cornell Center for Social Sciences. Also try googling sea of faith.. No- before the 70s it was safe for white little girls and boys to walk down the street correct yourself- thee was never a time in any country where there was absolute peace- even in the Bible. Yes, no matter what words we employ we can never do justice to the experience. Do you think JFK could have won with that campaign statement? And there is no one way to come to belief or faith in God, and in Christ our Savior. The reason many do not talk more about these issues are beyond me (I say that knowing that many do in fact talk about these tensions Pete is one of them). Frank Schaeffer is an interesting fellow, son of the Apologist Francis Schaeffer, and co-founder with his dad and other prominent Evangelicals in the 1970s of Americas Religious Right and also the Right to Life Movement. Some people live with more uncertainty than you do. Thoughts? So true. Then once that person starts walking with God God (should) will reveal the truth to them. Legitttttttt. Id take the liberty of summarizing that your belief in God, to the extent you do, is based on faith, not fact. He has taught extensively at the seminary and doctoral levels (Westminster Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, Fuller Theological Seminary, Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Biblical Theological Seminary) and on the undergraduate level (Temple University and Messiah College). He has written or edited over a dozen books and many articles and essays. How do you know more of what God prefers more than Franklin Graham or Mennonites? Here's where the money is going! It may be a way of knowing, but not necessarily yielding as many as true things as possible and as few as false things as possible. Read Dr. Enns onThe Bible for Normal People This way of knowing, too, is a pluralistic way of knowing and can be reflected upon both with and without special pleading. Im all for that. Are we to have doubts that Lincoln actually wrote it there are no living eye-witnesses needless to say. Not sure what the phrase, proper locus of religious conviction means, because based on my own interactions with a wide variety of folks I have noticed that people dont have the same attraction to mystical or spiritual thinking. In Roman Catholicism, Peter is seen as the first vicar of the church and so on. But the Bible is not an instruction manual or rule book but a powerful learning tool that nurtures our spiritual growth, argues Bible scholar Peter Enns. In addition, he late dates the Exodus in the mid . To conclude, I'd like to quote Enns one more time. Asking whether the enemy, or lunch, or nothing is moving in the bush over there is something we do together. To me, simply, neither these two billion adherents nor their leaders really seem all that differentiated from their peer adherents of Allah, Brahma, and more in sacred task of transforming the world. The realm of the elohim and the realm of the seen (1 sam 28.13). This is perhaps another way to look at the sin of certainty. And look to see if theyre shared. I use the words intelligent and basis. The question presumes that belief in God is something to be settled on the basis of intelligence, education, knowledge of facts, etc. He has taught courses at several other institutions including Harvard University, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Princeton Theological Seminary. Thats why all we need to focus on is the Way; which is your way that youre honestly seeking God. In passing, he also makes a very interesting observation about contemporary Protestant theology: "I live in an ecclesial world in which those who value Christian orthodoxy as a concept seem invariably to drift towards either Rome or Constantinople or some amalgamation of the two which is represented by no existing church. The rule that clarity is the standard of truth subsequently achieved dominance in the Enlightenment (Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 1 vol edition, 486). Peter is an Old Testament scholar (PhD, Harvard University) who currently teaches as Affiliate Faculty of Biblical Studies at Eastern University. Id suggest there are other qualitative characteristics too. Some have thought it to be evasiveness. http://www.al-islam.org/tradition-myrobalan-fruit-hadith-al-halila-imam-jafar-al-sadiq/hadith. who made you need milk? Nor does it mean we cannot say anything objective about them. He has written numerous books, including The Bible Tells Me So, The Sin of Certainty, and How the Bible Actually Works. As if chosen by God to tell people who should be a christian based on their concerns regarding the bible. Historically, I understand the Mystics predate the Enlightenment or Modernity, but I think it was Friedrich Schleiermacher who cut a swath through the rough underbrush of Empiricism to find a spiritual path that was immediate and subjective. I count it a great privilege to help students keep their horizons in front of them and come to know God better on their life-journey. Christianity is already becoming irrelevant to the younger millennials. True mystics do experience God in a tangible manner that is more real than anything that could ever be experienced through the five senses although those senses may be secondarily affected. Peter Enns (Ph.D., Harvard University) is Abram S. Clemens professor of biblical studies at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. There are multitudes of examples of God giving evidence to his people so they might believe, or trust him. Which does seem not tranrational but rather irrational. In fact, if comparisons between spiritual experience seem to demonstrate anything, it is that perhaps the only objectively true thing we can say about it is that it is a very unreliable means of experience vulnerable to various illusions of reality. Theologian Peter Enns refuses to shy away from asking the larger questions about Christian faith. As for your books title, The Sin of Certainty, you seem pretty certain that sin exists, though I suspect humans dont really need thatll added theological term since it seems more like a metaphor for any selfish behavior people of all religions or none already view in a negative fashion. Talk of a vibrant Christian faith seems overblown. God or not God? 75-76]. But It comes at a high costthat of calories to feed the brain. Now to consider these values a bit, we can exercise some examples. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. He argues that the Bible should not be used as a literal "instruction manual but as a model for our spiritual journey," a very liberal take on Christianity. Id suggest that this is even true among the authors of Scripture and with general trends by the centuries as well as across Fowlers stages of faith as well as by denomination and religion. This is historically what the Church has always taught. That is a blessing from God. No matter how much you imagine or try. Therefore, that which is felt or known by the senses, having shape and colour, cannot be God. It is based on direct and personal encounter. As we give exercise to examples, we often discover these characteristics are more descriptive than prescriptive in their nature. . It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. I find cultural differences to be fascinating and rich sources in discovering what is possible within the human experience. No Muslim ever imposed Islamic law on others by praying 5 times a day. The moronic Magic-Man-Fantasy was the human races greatest mistake. There is no difference between His Person and His Attributes, and His Attributes should not be differentiated or distinguished from His Person. Faced with the incoherence of a fundamentalist/evangelical reaction to modernity, I have no problem accepting Pascals Wager and embracing your mystical/existential explanation. Indeed. Regardless of Paul's (faulty, through no fault of his own) view of human origins, three very important elements remain in his theology, despite the acceptance of evolution: 1. Pages turning Peter is 61 years old. Do you know many others like yourselves? Abram S. Clemens Professor of Biblical Studies, Back to Undergraduate Theology Department, Graduate & Online Undergraduate Admissions, Palmer Theological Seminary and Palmer College. What gives? Thank you Joseph. All this is to say, I am not ready to leave the hope and realism of modernity behind yet, but if I do it wont be atheism. R'eyes via Compfight Peter Enns is the master at creating blog titles that are both clever and provocative. It is in this context, that Christianity, for me, is a profound disappointment. There do not exist words in any language to specify or define His qualities, peculiarities, characteristics and singularities. It is knowing of a different order. While some would say the orthodox Nature of God and his Oneness pertains to Being, I think most more linearly worship something that is more a manner of /a/ being than Being. read the whole Chicago Statement aloud to his cat, Marmalade. If there is still to be a link to truth there at all. ". 2020 Peter Danner. I teach courses in Old and New Testaments at Eastern University (near Philadelphia). [pp. perhaps the matter of knowing God is based on ones necessity to survive. Origen and universalism, in general, were condemned as unorthodox at the Fifth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (A.D. 553) . ? While others can ask the question and seem to do so with little reason to give thought to which God. Im loosely affiliated with an international church (evangelical) in Beijing; and it is quite stark to me here how the Western mind (American in particular) shapes and engages with Christian faith. That said, I can see the contemplative Hindu or Buddhist saying the exact same thing. http://infidels.org/library/modern/ed_babinski/experience.html, Speaking of the vibrant Christian life, Leaving the Ministry. Having beliefs was like always clinging tightly to something in the water to keep one afloat, always being afraid of letting go and learning to swim in the sea of faith. Mitchel Modine is an Old Testament scholar who works at Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary. How do you know these are HIS words? It is not when I am going to meet him, but when I am just turning away and leaving him alone, that I discover that God is. The other day he wrote a post that he entitled Why I Don't Believe in God Anymore. Roman Catholics and conservative Protestants have much in common and face common enemies in terms of secular humanism and all of the other anti-Christian hate groups and religions of the world. ), In chapter 5 Learning from the Christian Mystics Benner discusses a knowledge of God that is transrational and contemplative.. Enns is a frequent contributor to journals and encyclopedias and is the author of several . Show Notes This episode was . Often times it seems to me like Christians are busy trying to convince themselves of something they really dont believe, and so they put on their vibrant face, dress in their Sunday best, blare their contemporary Christian music songs, and speak with forcefulness, to appear vibrant to the world, because thats how they read its sposed to be according to the Bible, etc. You can experience a spiritual longing, connectedness, peace, transformation, serenity, boundless compassion, and so on. . Professor. I believe that, if there is a Creator, this Higher Power is not a being that we can know exclusively or primarily through this western way of knowing. ~ Jackson Browne. Thanks Pete, I expressed my full view in a direct response above. The only reason I could see us being worried about being wrong about a certain path/religion/idea/concept would be because God (our Creator) might reject us if we chose the wrong path. God means many different things to people. Hi Pete, Living with uncertainty is a relative thing. prof at Westminster Seminary for his progressive evangelicalism, and has not identified himself as a universalist. Id rather live today in the western world than at any other time in human history. How sure are you that those are eyewitness accounts. Its not utopia but Ill take it. But by putting these experiences on the table and sharing them, we can say some objective things about them. Tell people who should be a Christian based on ones necessity to.. 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