Tag: Enlightenment
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Living Simply in Abundance (13)
The Bible's recurring economic theme is that God owns all that exists. We were created to be stewards (corporately and individually) of God's resources, and God intends for stewards to live in community-wide abundance. Human rebellion entered the equation, and that intention has been terribly marred. Part of the Good News of the coming shalom…
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Science and Christianity (Part 6)
At the beginning of the Enlightenment, the Genesis record was considered factual. Living creatures exist as much today as they were created a few thousand years ago. Science was still influenced by Thomas Aquinas, who believed that discovering a purpose for a given object or phenomenon was an integral part of studying the physical world.…
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Science and Christianity (Part 5)
The Enlightenment had a profound impact on the Church. Its effect is felt today. It is impossible to cover each and every nuance in a blog format. I want to focus on the overall impact it has had on Protestantism. The 16th Century Reformation came in response to a Roman Catholic Church that had…
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Science and Christianity (Part 3)
The scientific method and science emerged out of the European Renaissance beginning in the late 15th Century. Several factors gave rise to science, not the least of which was the infusion of ancient Greek culture into European society. (See yesterday's post) Most European scholars who ventured into science firmly believed in the God of Christianity.…
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Modernism’s Christian Twins
Enlightenment thinking came to dominate the Church during the 19th Century. One of its legacies was higher criticism. Bible scholars placed themselves above and outside of Scripture. What did not conform to their rationalistic, scientific assumptions was discarded. By the mid-Twentieth Century, Scripture had largely been stripped of its authority and mystery. Meanwhile, “defenders of…