[lit-ideas] Re: Faith
- From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 16 May 2005 15:38:27 -0400
It is rationalistic in that it begins with a
self-described literal, as opposed to figurative or analogical, reading
of the Bible. Next, it perceives fundamental principles or laws at work
that are understood as principles of reality. From these fundamentals,
further laws can be deduced that then govern how one ought to live.
Finally, rejection of the fundamentals or the laws that follow is a sign
of a defect of character and mind. This basic structure applies also to
Nazism but here I invoke Godwin's law. What identifies a rationalistic
approach is the belief that there is a structure of reality that can be
determined 'literally', that this literal perception of reality produces
principles of action, and that disagreement is the result of a weakness
of character or mind.
___
Then it falls into the same self-contradiction as the logical
positivists suffered.
A literal reading of the Bible doesn't take into account:
(1) that it was redacted from fragments brought back from the Babylonian
Captivity,
(2)that the Torah was destroyed and rewritten (see 2 Esdras), and
(3) that the Bible was subject to continuous midrash in its compilation.
Nor does a literal reading of the Bible take into account
(4) alternative versions of itself such as the so-called "Samaritan
Pentateuch," which claims to be a purer copy of the first five books.
So how can it even start with a literal reading if there is nothing that
it can literally begin to read? The Bible is not "one thing" that can be
taken as an initial premise, and therefore "literal reading" implies
additional premises, such as which scribal versions are most accurate,
which midrashes inspired or unsanctioned.
Eric
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