Notes from hither and yon
November 26, 2007
AHLDuke summarizes the SBL conference on his blog. I hear it was a good time.
Across town from SBL, JP Moreland at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting accuses Evangelicals of bibliolatry, in his address entitled “How Evangelicals Became Over-Committed to the Bible and What Can Be Done About It.” As this summary post puts it, “to accuse evangelicals of over-commitment to the Bible at ETS would be like accusing environmentalists of talking too much about climate change at a Sierra Club meeting. But Moreland, who has gained some prominence as a philosopher and apologist, wasn’t pulling any punches.” No kidding.
Another blogger answers the question, is Christian academic an oxymoron? Though his (and most of the comments’ as well) perspective is conservative Evangelical and thus has some different concerns and assumptions, the conversation in the comments sounds familiar, as it dances around some issues that LDS scholars face as well.
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1.
Tim | November 26, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Thanks for the link. That JP Moreland lecture is going to cause some controversy because there are many who are going to condemn him without even hearing him out.
2.
Stephen M (Ethesis) | November 27, 2007 at 8:58 am
But the core point of “bibliolatry” is an interesting one, and one that many before Moreland have raised. It is one that needs to be understood and addressed in any core discussion.
3.
Seth R. | November 27, 2007 at 1:14 pm
I think it’s probably best if the LDS lie low on this one and let the Evangelicals debate it out without us butting in.
The moment some Mormon tries to paint Mooreland (rightly or wrongly) as supporting an LDS position, everyone will get defensive, the lines of communication will shut down and Mooreland will probably be forced to publicly affirm why Mormons are still messed-up in spite of anything else he might have said.
4.
Tim | November 28, 2007 at 2:15 am
It seems that Moreland’s title was more inflammatory than the content of his lecture. He has posted a response to the discussions held on the blogosphere. It’s as important to read as the paper itself.
http://kingdomtriangle.blogspot.com/2007/11/morelands-response-to-ct-blog.html
Also it should be noted that he only used the word “biblidolatry” once and in a specific context not applicable to Evangelicalism as a whole.