RAPID RESPONSE REPORT
DEFENDING HISTORIC CHRISTIANITY IN A POSTMODERN WORLD
Editor: Bill Crouse
In our premier issue we brought to your attention an article on the unabomber (Ted Kaczynski) in ATLANTIC MONTHLY. We hope you got a chance to read it by now. I'm still thinking about it, and am amazed at the how candid and intellectually honest the author was about the philosophical changes (the rejection of modernism) that were taking place at Harvard in the late 50's. While many professors are still cautious about promoting the unabomber's violent modus operandi some are quietly making his essay on the evil of technology required reading for many of their courses.
First Note: Deconstructing Archaeology?
My wife recently attended a seminar for science teachers in
I think I am safe in assuming that most of our readers
are under the impression that the science of archaeology has done
nothing but largely substantiate the historicity of the Bible. The thrust
of this article (and several new books) is that the previous generation of
archaeologists skewed their results because they were laboring to prove the
Bible's historical accuracy. One of these "biblical minimalists"
as they are being called, writes that the biblical accounts of early
In these pages we will often be critical of PM. However, there are times when they are right, and Christians need to take heed. In the above Paragraph, the Biblical minimalists have a good criticism about those who use archaeology to prove the Bible. Belief in the Bible's trustworthiness must not prejudice our conclusions or prevent us from looking at the data as unbiased as we possibly can. In other words, the Christian archaeologist must look at the data and ask: "Given my predisposition for the historicity of the Bible, am I forcing my conclusions in any way?" Intellectually honesty must be one of the highest values of any Christian researcher.
To the credit of the editors of BAR in this
controversy, in the July/August issue, they present the other side with an
article by Alan Millard: "How Reliable is Exodus?" (
http://www.bib-arch.org/barja00/exodus1.html
). In the same issue they included a review of James Hoffmeier's book ISRAEL IN EGYPT (http://www.bib-arch.org/barja00/reviews.html
). The reviewer of the latter is not all that favorable to Hoffmeier's book, but it seems some of the criticisms might
be legitimate. Hoffmeier, a professor at
Second Note: REINVENTING
YOURSELF
It's that time again when politicians, based on focus group studies, are busy reinventing themselves. According to Gene Edward Veith, one of our favorite commentators on postmodern themes, to reinvent oneself is very PM. He says, "Identity-shifting has become a hallmark of postmodern culture. If truth is relative, who you are as a person is also relative. If there are no essential realities, there is no essential self either." Veith also quotes psychologist (actually, I think he is a psychiatrist) Robert Jay Lifton: "Those who are dysfunctional are those who are inflexible and dogmatic, committed to a particular belief system and letting it run their lives." Lifton makes it clear that he is referring to Christians. You can find the article at: http://www.worldmag.com/world/issue/09-04-99/cultural_3.asp
His first example of someone reinventing himself is not Al
Gore! Surprise, it's Garth Brooks. He does
believe, however, as many others do, that the
Other Interesting Articles:
Politically Correct Archaeology! http://www.foxnews.com/science/081700/israel.sml
Interesting Article on Pop Culture: http://www.detroitfreepress.com/features/living/shock2_20000802.htm
Interesting book review by Phillip Johhson. In Plato's Cave, by Alvin Kernan. Book depicts the life of an academic modernist in a postmodern world. http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0006/reviews/johnson.html
Commentary by Shelby Steele in the Wall
Street Journal. "A New Front in the Cultural War." Article is about George W. Bush.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=45000023
For Christ and His Kingdom