Speaking of bias :)

"Surely the other 'major' hole is that Holben's work is based on the assumption that the Bible is indeed the word of God" Assumption? Nothing of the sort. Holben carefully examines what each group has to say on the Bible, as I tried to indicate in my summary. Here is Holben's account of the Affirmation position on this topic: "God graciously accommodates the divine Word to the grid through which it must pass to reach us: our human capacities, assumptions and understandings. As a consequence, those holding this viewpoint contend, the either/or often posed by conservative Christians – either the Scriptures are the Word of God and therefore absolutely, literally true in every detail, or they are not literally true in every respect and therefore cannot be the Word of the God who is Truth – grossly misapprehends the nature of the biblical witness." And here is the Liberation position: "For the Christian, the ultimate authoritiy for any moral judgment, sexual or otherwise, is Jesus of Nazareth himself . . . Only when we take to heart the overriding scriptural themes of liberation, justice, and inclusive love – in particular as those themes are examplified in Jesus – can we begin to grasp what the moral call to the Christian truly entails. We will not find the gracious breadth of that call in dated, culture-bound sexual regulations from the Old Testament . . . Nor can that call be circumscribed by a few isolated statements from the writings of St. Paul, statements which reflect not the eternal mind of God but simply Paul's own patriarchal attitudes toward women, his unthinking acceptance of the political status quo or his limited understanding (even neurotic negativity) when it comes to sex." If anyone's making assumptions, I'd say it was you. :) I'm sorry if my summary of his book was misleading, but I honestly can't see how, after reading my post, you leapt to the conclusion that Holben was starting from the point of view that "the Bible is indeed the word of God." Of course, you may argue that all of Holben's respondents – from Fundamentalists to Liberationists – assume that the Bible has some relation to God. Indeed they do; Holben is reporting the views of Christians. If Holben writes a sequel entitled, "What Hindus and Atheists Think About God," I'm sure that he will faithfully describe the "Bible is not the word of God" perspective that you're looking for. Heather [E-mail]   [Home Page]