It was interesting to, again, listen to Walter Brueggemann's presentation of the Biblical view of reality as a radical alternative to the common, materialistic-capitalist way of reality in the context of the election year we've been in.
His view of the scriptures couldn't possibly be more of a contrast to that of Jerry Falwell jr. and the other alleged Christians who are supporting that one-man Babylon, the would-be Pharoh or Ceasar, Donald Trump. I think that, much as we might like to think that Donald Trump and the Republican Party are totally different from the mainstream "left", they're actually not as different from each other as they would like to think. The use of anxiety and anxiety about scarcity is hardly an unknown tactic of the materialist "left". That's especially true of those who consider pleasure a commodity that can be limited by meanies who would restrict them based on the harm they cause other people. The kind of "leftist" who thinks its some kind of virtue to be in favor of the sex industries, the drug and liquor industries operating for their maximum profit. How the appalling attitude Donald Trump expresses about women and their bodies turns into a virtue when articulated by an officially designated "leftist" as a matter of "liberty" and, in its stupidest and most willfully blind articulation "agency" is worth thinking about.
Brueggmann noting the failure of the Churches to understand the ironic content of the narratives about Solomon is worth listening for and its only one of the things that become visible when you take a more complex and critical look at the scriptures. As I said, the problem for most atheists isn't that religion is naive or simplistic, it's that it's way too complex for them to even begin to address it.
As I said, the problem for most atheists isn't that religion is naive or simplistic, it's that it's way too complex for them to even begin to address it.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard an atheist debate someone like Brueggemann. Probably because the latter couldn't be bothered, but also because the former wouldn't enter the arena.
I can remember Bill Maher mocking the Pope in an interview with Terry Gross because the Pope didn't want to appear in Maher's little "documentary" on religion, but I don't remember Maher trying to interview an actual theologian or Biblical scholar. Mostly because such a person would make Maher look like a putz.
The most popular atheists (and where are they, now?) liked to set up straw men and then blow them over. But a real engagement of the intellectual issues, of matters of Biblical exegesis and hermeneutics? Nah!
"How the appalling attitude Donald Trump expresses about women and their
ReplyDeletebodies turns into a virtue when articulated by an officially designated
"leftist" as a matter of "liberty" and, in its stupidest and most
willfully blind articulation "agency" is worth thinking about."
You're so right. That porn actress who came forward yesterday to bitch about how Trump groped her clearly got what she deserved.
You really have no clue as to how well you serve as an example of what I said, do you. Both dishonest about what was said and clueless as to the nature of the sex industry you consider to be a great liberal institution.
DeleteIf I thought you had the intellectual capacity I'd you if it isn't evidence of how pathetically weak your way of non-thinking was that you have to misrepresent what other people say to support it. Only you don't have the intellectual capacity to consider that.
Why don't you go register people to vote in PA with Atrios?
"The Catholic Bishops have no right to deny women the right to medical treatments necessary to save their health and their lives"
ReplyDeleteYou're so right. If only they were atheists, we wouldn't be having this problem.