tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post4569942396028340149..comments2024-03-29T12:03:37.344+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: The God of Christians did not create everything from nothing (ex nihilo)Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-26084143513950773172019-10-08T21:30:42.609+01:002019-10-08T21:30:42.609+01:00@Karl - It was one of the great achievements of Jo...@Karl - It was one of the great achievements of Joseph Smith and Mormonism simply to read the Bible afresh and notice that these philosophical categories aren't in it; and that therefore there is a very different way of being a Biblical Christian than to start out with such prior, extra-Christian assumptions as a mandatory framework; and try and fit everything into them. As Blake Ostler said, this seemed to happen (or to begin) between the time of the Apostles and the middle of the second century. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-67928492103757363212019-10-08T19:14:55.983+01:002019-10-08T19:14:55.983+01:00Dr Charlton,
I'm kind of relieved to read thi...Dr Charlton,<br /><br />I'm kind of relieved to read this, as lately I've been growing more and more suspicious of the imposition of Greek philosophical categories on Scripture. This imposition of a Platonic hermeneutic on the Bible strikes me intuitively as utterly wrong and wrong-headed. Jews were not Greeks, and vice versa! I feel a major motivation behind it is to try and tame and control the personal God who is YHWH by placing him in a conceptual cage where he must bend to the moral prejudices of 21st century humanity. It is a form of instrumentalism and ultimately idolatry in my opinion.Karlnoreply@blogger.com