The Battle for the Historicity of the Bible German I dealism, Theological Romanticism (Liberalism/ Existentialism), Biblical Criticism & Postmodern Fascism
Divine Revelation in History = Bible
Divine Revelation/ Testimony in Creation & History
Modern Science was born in the Christian Middle Ages under Natural Theology • Ernst Mach ( 1 8 3 8 -1 9 1 6 ) said, “Every unbiased m ind m ust adm it that the age in w hich the chief developm ent of the science of m echanics took place w as an age of predom inantly theological cast.” • Medieval Scientists Presum ed God Created a Rational W orld Ruled by Rational Law s that W ere I ntelligently Designed. • Alfred W hitehead ( 1 8 6 1 -1 9 4 7 ) said, “Faith in the possibility of science is an unconscious derivative from m edieval theology.”
Plato ( 4 2 4 -3 4 7 BC) , Aristotle’s Teacher, criticized the I dea of Verification by Experim entation. Aristotle separated θεωρία from Practical Purposes, and saw it as an End in itself – the Highest Activity of Man. To the Greek Mind, Theoria , or Know ledge, em phasized Contem plation. Erasm us ( 1 4 6 6 -1 5 3 6 ) w as a Catholic Christian hum anist. He said the ancient Greeks had “too m uch piety to search out w ith a profane curiosity the secrets of nature. To investigate the dim ensions, m otions, influences of the stars, or even searching for the hidden causes of things – this is sacrilege.”
Protestant Francis Bacon (1561-1626) Developed Scientific Empiricism • Francis Bacon coined the phrase “Know ledge is Pow er.” • Scientific Know ledge is based on Action, Process & Change - not Thought or Contem plation. • Science is thus based on Reductionism & Stripping aw ay of Thought = Secularization. • Scientific Know ledge is based on Repetitive Experim entation and/ or Experience.
A Good Relationship between Science/ Faith & Nature/ Grace was Historically Rare
Medieval Natural Theology was Converted into Deism & Naturalism • Naturalism w as Born during the Age of Reason in the Enlightenm ent. • Naturalism holds there are no Miracles that can defy Natural Scientific Law s. • The Natural Law s of Nature derived from Natural Theology becam e deified under Deism . • All Supernatural Miracles of Divine I ntervention are now Outlaw ed and I m possible. • God is the Creator but Unknow n. • Deism believed in the Perfectibility of Man by the Use of His Reason. • The Fall of Mankind w as increasingly I gnored – particularly w ith regard to His Reason.
Hermann Samuel Reimarus 1694-1768 • He w as Germ an Deist w ho began the Skeptical Search for the Historical Jesus – w hich is a Rom antic Search for the Sim ple Jesus w ithout Theology. • He believed Jesus prom ised His Follow ers the Kingdom of God w as im m inent – but w hen it did not m aterialize after He w as crucified the Disciples cunningly postponed it indefinitely – claim ing that Jesus had risen from the Dead & had gone to Heaven. • He believed there w as a Big Discrepancy betw een the Historical Jesus that is depicted in the Gospels & the Jesus that is seen in the New Testam ent Epistles – m ost of w hich is Pure Theology attributed to the Historical Jesus. • He w rote an Deistic Apology called The Rational W orshiper of God but did not have it published. • His Radical Skepticism tow ard the Historicity of the Bible w as not w ell know n until after He died.
Lessing’s German Ditch separated Biblical History from Faith • Gotthold Ephraim Lessing ( 1 7 2 9 -1 7 8 1 ) w as a Germ an Critic, Philosopher & Dram atist. • He w as a Lutheran w ho studied Lutheran Orthodoxy before follow ing the Enlightenm ent & becom ing a Deist. • He is fam ous for “Lessing’s Ditch” w hich divides from Faith from History. • He believed Historical Truth cannot be used to establish the Necessary Truths of Reason, w hich are Universal & not Particularistic like History. • He denied the Miraculous Truth of Biblical History can be used to m ake Truthful Statem ents – since there is no Modern Proof of Miracles in the Bible this am ounts to Reasoning Pow er w ithout Proof. • He died a Pantheist. • The Leap of Faith Mentality that developed in European Religious Thought w as across Lessing’s Ditch.
I mmanuel Kant (1724-1804) • Kant is the Father of Transcendental I dealism vs. Berkeley’s Subjective I m m aterial Realism . • Kant w anted to protect Philosophy & Religion from being destroyed through Em piricism by lim iting Reason. • Kant Divided the Subjective Know er from the Object in a com plicated Schem e that allow ed Autonom ous Reason to prevail over the I m placability of the Real Experiential W orld that often Sullies I dealism . • Kant view ed both Natural Theology & the Bible & its History as Heterenom ous – Other Law - as Outside Forces of Legalism that coerce People to subm it & believe rather than use Reason. • Religion is fine as long as it does not use Rationalistic Natural Theology to substantiate itself as such Know ledge is beyond Reason & cannot be Objectively Know n. • Science is good too as long as it does not becom e too dependent on Natural Theology so that Scientific Em piricism does not devolve into Determ inism so that Man & Nature are reduced to the Level of a Machine. • Kant’s I dealism rem oved m uch Theological Content from both Morality & Metaphysics since such Content w as largely presum ed to be unknow able – w hich led to a Radical Secularization of the Bible & further led to an em ptying of the Mind. Only ‘Appearance’ • Kant w as Extrem ely Anti-Sem itic as he view ed the Jew s of is as an Em pirical Obstacle that needed to be ‘euthanized’ Subjectively Known in order to establishm ent a Rational European Order in – not its Inner Objective Essence w hich its Biblical Heteronom y w ould be overcom e. • Kant w as a W hite Suprem acist.
Kant’s Progressive/ Eschatological View of History set the stage for Hegel In its most rationalistic form the most consistent ‘spiritualization’ of the New Testament ‘letter’ is Kant’s Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone . Distinguishing the “pure religion of reason” or “moral faith” from “ecclesiastical faith” based on historical revelation, Kant interprets the whole of Christianity as a gradual advance from a religion of revelation to a religion of reason, by which the Kingdom of God becomes realized as an “ethical state on earth.” Thus, Kant has no scruples in asserting that in the entire known history of the church the present period, i.e., the Enlightenment, is the best one. Karl Lowith, Meaning in History , p. 245.
The I dea of Progress/ Hope in Future History is Essentially a Biblical Concept defined by the Progressive Revelation of the Bible
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749-1832 • Father of Germ an Rom anticism & the Environm ental Sciences. • Goethe once opined after com plaining about Old Testam ent Jew ish Nonsense, “Had Hom er rem ained our Bible how Different a Form w ould Mankind had achieved.” • Rom antics w anted to redefine Man’s Relationship w ith Nature against the Dualistic-Mechanistic New tonian Science of the Judeo-Christian tradition. • Rom anticism becam e fascinated w ith Biology because it exem plified Holism & Organic I nterdependence. • Goethe said, “Separateness is the illusion/ One & m any are the sam e . ” • Rom anticism Em phasized I ndigenous Nationalism rooted in the soil of the Hom eland to keep itself Pure from outside Heteronom ous Forces. • Fascism & National Socialism prided itself in its Holistic W orldview . • Rom anticism w as filled w ith Anti-Sem itism .
Friedrich Schleiermacher 1768-1834 • He w as the Father of Theological Liberalism but w as a Strong Nationalist Rom antic during Napoleon’s I nvasion. • He fused Goethe’s Rom anticism & Kant’s I dealism w ith J.S. Sem ler’s De-Judaization & Rationalistic Historical Criticism of the Bible. • He taught Religious Feeling & I ntuition & Spiritual Experience w as m ore im portant than Doctrinal Creeds – thus a Theological Rom antic. • He w as defending Religion based on Nature or his ow n Natural Theology– not Christianity against the Rationalism of the Enlightenm ent. • He used Enlightenm ent Reason to attack the Historicity of the Bible and its Theological Doctrines, but w as a Rom antic Mystic of Liberal Theology w hose Teaching is sum m arized by His W ork entitled The Christian Faith . • Religious Feeling brought Holistic Com m union w ith God through Experiential Know ledge rather than Theoretical or Theological Know ledge so that Authentic Spiritual Progress m ust get beyond Rational Categories and the Kantian Lim its of Reason.
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