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Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (16155)	1/26/2004 9:10:53 AM
From: briskit	Respond to of 28931

On the point of the ad hominem argument, theologians make a living on either side of the discussion. Germany in particular gave us the "history of religions" methodologies and critiques which survive today in the Jesus seminar work, for instance. But I think the salient aspects of his judgement reside in the precise distinction he offers, as opposed to general mythological over-lapping. "But none of the comparable figures of the ancient world sustained their effectiveness through the message of their resurrection. The Easter Kerygma is not the appropriation and adaptation of an idea generally familiar to the ancient world. That the continuation of Jesus' ministry should take its decisive expression in this form is utterly unprecedented." He's not saying there are not similar-sounding stories, nor that ideas and other beliefs and practices do not survive. But, I hear him saying, neither are the particular historical occurrences of this story just like all the others. There are some distinctives worth noting. Clearly he doesn't need to say this to keep his pay check. His particular historical judgement regarding analogous stories has something to do with intellectual integrity, but has nothing to do with faith, or how one lives based on faith presuppositions. Like you say, there are tons of creation stories, savior stories, and a myriad paths to a variety of spiritual ends. I guess my point here is that we can achieve quite a bit of clarity regarding the grounds of distinguishing those stories, and maintain a high degree of integrity on all sides in doing so. Peace