SubscribeIf you wanted to gingerly feel out a stranger for their affiliation, you could idly scratch the toe of your sandal in a quarter-circle through the dust. If the other party wanted to signal he got what you were on about, he could subtly complete the fish icon.So that's what Larry Craig was doing.
I'm sure these are old statements to make here on the Blue, but how can she be that blind to her own cross-purposes. When I was busy suckling at the teat of Jesus, at least I knew that Numerology was of the Devil and should never be tampered with...The edges of the Christian theological landscape are fascinating. Talking to individuals who are into the really wacky fringey stuff (rooms full of people barking like dogs, fortune-telling, churches who believe their rafters rain gold dust every morning but still have to hold bake sales, etc.) is even more interesting. There's almost always a continuum that was followed: biblical literalism leading to a strong focus on interpretation, leading to an obsession with prophecy and apocrypha because that's where God announces the REALLY important information... And eventually they start reading weirder and weirder books by people who pay only cursory attention to "scripture," but start with a random vers in the middle of the old Testament and zing their way to Illuminati conspiracies and from there you're sharing real estate with UFOlogists and so on.
I think the whole Bible Code thing is a fairly interesting phenomenon. And the whole angel belief thing is pretty fascinating, too.Oh, man, the Bible Codes. All questions of their statistical veracity aside, it's interesting that their first big blip in the Christian mainstream was as a sort of proto-apologetics tool. "Wow! There's this embedded message in Scripture validating its authenticity with predictions about the future, like a checksum that only God could have put in place!"
Verb, I think you may be making the common mistake in implying that in Christianity the scripture came first.I don't think so -- more accurately, some of Christianity's earliest "formative years" were shaped by Roman persecution. The Scriptures that formed reflect that, and it's been a long time since Christians were willing to add new content wholesale. Even those who twist Scripture into odd shapes to get the message they want have to work with raw material formed in a certain setting.
The scriptures were tailored to fit the need of the Church not the Church shifting to fit scripture.Exactly -- severe persecution under Roman emperors was the order of the day into the 300s or so, and by that time most of the canon had been nailed down. The 'tailoring' effect you refer to took place during the era of minority status and active persecution, and today when literalist-minded Christians look back for guidance, there's a lot of talk about suffering opression under evil rulers and not very much about being in charge without being evil one's self.
In other words, Christians held no special monopoly on martyrdom that set them as a distinct minority.Sure. But are you really suggesting that early persecution isn't a huge part of Christianity's narrative? And that persecution is a big part of what shaped the early church's DNA? I'm not defending crazy, just reflecting on the ripple effects of it.
The man about whom all the furor continues said PLENTY about how to treat those you regard as being "outside" for whatever reason.Sure. I'm not saying that Jesus didn't have a lot to say about treating the weak and downtrodden with kindness and compassion. I'm saying that pound for pound, there's a lot more concrete discussion in the New Testament and in Jesus' teachings about how to live as one of the downtrodden (subjugated by the Romans, etc. etc.) than there is about how to behave if you're the ... well, the Downtrodder.
You got catholicism in my schizophrenia![together] Two great delusions that taste great together!
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posted by box at 11:28 AM on May 5 [10 favorites has favorites]