A friend sent me a blog, “Addressing the Divide Between
Biblical Studies and Classics”
by Sarah Bond (Apr
13, 2019), in which she argued in favor of the need for the study of the
classics. Here is my response:
In principle, I agree with Bond and with her emphasis on the
unity of all knowledge (truth). This is the Christian ideal that had inspired Christians
to create the great Western universities.
Underlying this motivation was the belief that all truth is
one. This is because it all comes from One Source. Therefore, it is common to
hear Christians talk about the two books of the truths of God – the Scriptures
and the “book of creation.” Consequently, the integration of all truth is a
worthy pursuit.
However, the deal is in the details. Let me try to
illustrate some of my concerns:
1.
Sometimes, when we try to construct our
worldview out of all the available data, we become lost and overwhelmed by the
data and lose sight of the forest because of the trees.
2.
This is why we always start with our paradigms
(theories), a principle (or bedrock truth) by which to organize all of the
data. However, the Bible insists that the Gospel of Christ must be this
organizing principle: “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but
have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty
opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to
obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). Sadly, in a secular setting, “science” and
history will prevail over Scripture, which is regarded as merely a human artifact
of blind faith and is treated as such.
3.
Even in our major seminaries and religion
departments, the Bible is routinely denigrated. Meanwhile, within the same
institutions, Islam is routinely taught by believing Muslims as the truth. Unless
this disparity is corrected, any attempt to integrate knowledge will remain
highly biased.
4.
I don’t expect this disparity to be corrected.
As Jesus had warned, the world will hate us no matter how godly we might be.
After all, it hated Jesus and murdered Him (John 15:18-20).
What do you think?
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