Author Archives: skepticsbelieve

Smith, Christian. The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2012. Kindle Edition. After two brief posts on the specific subject of the Christological Hermeneutic—introduced in Chapter 5 of Smith’s book—this post returns to the next chapter, “Accepting Complexity and Ambiguity.” As Smith states,Continue reading “My Thoughts on “The Bible Made Impossible” (6)”

What’s My Problem Anyway? So, you ask—and rightly so—“Why do you, as a follower of Jesus, have any problems whatsoever with the Christological Hermeneutic?” Let me say at the outset, I’ve been a follower of Jesus for 46 years and I plan to be a follower of Jesus for the remainder of my life. MyContinue reading “The Christological Hermeneutic (2)”

What Some of Its Apologists Say[1] I realize, as I quote these four scholars regarding their explanation of the Christological Hermeneutic, that explanations among its apologists vary in intensity of conviction and range of application—e.g., compare Boyd’s boldly stated absolute certainty with Seibert’s and Baker Putt’s more open-minded, less certain approach. For me, these fourContinue reading “The Christological Hermeneutic (1)”

Smith, Christian. The Bible Made Impossible. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2012. Kindle Edition. Chapter 5: The Christocentric Hermeneutical Key Many Christian authors, scholars, and Bible readers who find parts of their chosen biblical anthology problematic have favoured some form of a Christocentric lens as their hermeneutical tool. By reading the Old and New TestamentsContinue reading “My Thoughts on “The Bible Made Impossible” (5)”

Smith, Christian. The Bible Made Impossible. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2012. Kindle Edition. Chapter 3: Some Relevant History, Sociology, and Psychology Most biblicists carry on with unperturbed confidence in biblicist assumptions and beliefs, paying little attention to the ramifications of multiple counterclaims about rival biblical teachings. Why and how can this be? The answersContinue reading “My Thoughts on “The Bible Made Impossible” (4)”

Smith, Christian. The Bible Made Impossible. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2012. Kindle Edition. Chapter 2: The Extent and Source of Pervasive Interpretive Pluralism Smith begins this chapter by introducing and briefly discussing numerous examples of the important issues on which the biblical texts present different teachings/models. These include (but are not limited to): churchContinue reading “My Thoughts on “The Bible Made Impossible” (3)”

Smith, Christian. The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2012. Kindle Edition. Quotes & Notes re: Chapter 1: Biblicism and the Problem of Pervasive Interpretive Pluralism. This is the first chapter in “Part 1: The Impossibility of Biblicism,” which is comprised by ChaptersContinue reading “My Thoughts on “The Bible Made Impossible” (2)”

When I was in a school of biblical studies (that is, aeons ago in the late 1970s), I was taught that the period between the writing of the last Old Testament book and the first New Testament book was a period of about 400 years, which my instructors referred to as “The Silent Years” —Continue reading “The ‘Unsilent’ Years”

Smith, Christian. The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2012. Kindle Edition. Quotes & Notes re: “Introduction”[2] Smith defines “biblicism” as follows: “a theory about the Bible that emphasizes together its exclusive authority, infallibility, perspicuity, self-sufficiency, internal consistency, self-evident meaning, and universal applicability.”Continue reading “My Thoughts on “The Bible Made Impossible” (1)”

On February 11 and 12, I had the privilege of being a participant in the ORTLine 23, an online conference sponsored by the Center for Open and Relational Theology at which numerous books, published in the last year or so, were each presented by their author and responded to by 3 or 4 panelists. Dr.Continue reading “My Hermeneutical Lens”