Confronting religious absolutism : Christian humanism and the moral imagination / Catherine M. Wallace.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wallace, Catherine M., author.

Series:

A confronting fundamentalism book

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible.

Fundamentalism.

Religious absolutism.

Authority--Religious aspects.

Authority.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (150 pages).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Eugene, Oregon : Cascade Books, [2016]

Summary:

Papal infallibility and biblical inerrancy provide the conceptual foundations of theocracy, which is to say religiously-based totalitarianism. These absolutist doctrines emerge for the very first time among the Victorians: they are not ancient beliefs at all. They appear in the 19th century, right alongside secular varieties totalitarian thought, and in response to all the same cultural anxieties. Reactionary religious leaders used these doctrines to oppose scholarly conclusions in geology and evolutionary biology. That much everyone knows. What's not as well known is the fact that their principal target was Christian-humanist biblical scholarship, an unbroken 500-year tradition of inquiry undertaken primarily by Christian clergy and seminary faculty. The alternative to faith-based totalitarianism is faith based upon the imagination, our most sophisticated cognitive skill. Faith rooted in the moral imagination does not depend upon abject deference to an array of rigid doctrines and improbable claims. Wallace contends that faith is best understood as a creative process, and religion is best understood as a multi-media art (and originally the Mother of all arts). The arts convince, they do not command. They persuade, they do not prove. The arts provide humane resources whereby we grapple with life's deepest mysteries. Symbolism, like quantum mathematics, is a tool for grappling with inescapable paradox at the heart of reality. It is an ancient strategy for articulating what we discover at the elusive mind-body interface.

Contents:

Intro

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Confronting Fundamentalism: It's Absolutist

1987: The Choirmaster's Question

Christian Humanism and the Image of God in Us

Martin Luther's Explosive Claim

The Mythic Meaning of Newton

Religious Absolutism (1): Biblical Inerrancy

Reading Ancient Texts Accurately

Religious Absolutism (2): Papal Infallibility

The Moral Imagination

Imagination as Inner Media Critic

Imagination and the Symbolic Truth of Scripture

1968: A Mysterious Photographer

1979: Moses and Me

Bibliography.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781498228855

1498228852