The Hump of the Camel

I’ve just been re-reading Jim Packer’s Fundamentalism and the Word of God, partly from nostalgia as well as from a desire to see how the concept of fundamentalism might have changed since 1958. “Nostalgia” because the book was lent to me by an older Christian when I took over the leadership of my school Christian Union back in 1968. I didn’t read it for about five years, but it did at least leave me with the rare privilege of knowing what the word “fundamentalism” originally meant. And that is simply affirmation of the five “fundamentals” of historic Christianity identified in a series of documents in the USA early in the 20th century, over against the current liberal theological claims: the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture, the deity of Christ, his virgin birth and miracles, his penal death for our sins, and his physical resurrection and personal return. Not quite “bomb them into theocracy,” then.

Continue reading →

My last post should not be taken to imply that science is false or useless – merely that in itself it’s an insufficient predictor of normal reality. In other words, the naturalism agenda can’t be sustained by it, and there are (or at least, may well be) more things in heaven and earth than that particular philosophy dreams of.

Discussing the subject of that post with a theologically trained saxophonist(!), before I wrote it, it occurred to me that a parallel phenomenon occurs in the theology of the Bible, which might be helpful to some. Many people are troubled by the contrast seen in the Wisdom Literature, and particularly in Job and Ecclesiastes, to much of the rest of the Bible. The latter, for example, seems so shockingly cynical to many conservatives that it’s often thought to be something like a “devil’s advocate” in the canon – don’t forget there are some godless people like this, folks! Be careful not to end up like that!

Alternatively, those of a more liberal bent use these books to prove the divergent and incompatible nature of Jewish theology – there is no overarching Biblical doctrine, they say, and you can draw your own conclusions: either pick which bits you like, or discard the lot.

Continue reading →