Friday, October 10, 2008

Documented Virgin Births

So, not exactly likely to still the tongues of naysayers, but still something you might be interested in:

Scientists find shark that has no father.

Posted by David Rudel at 3:04 AM

2 comments:

Char said...

Weird link.

I know you must have tried to read Origen to have gotten the joke on my blog. I am convinced the guy smoked crack everyday. How else do you find that much deep significance in the wick trimmers of the temple?

October 10, 2008 at 9:23 PM
David Rudel said...

Hi Char,

I think there is much can be taken from Origen. Not his conclusions, or even his method of theological inquiry, but rather we must understand that He was the first real theologian. [Which is saying something!]

The scholars of the early century had a different view for the use and limits of metaphor. When Paul uses metaphor, he is not doing theology, but rather trying to illustrate a point. [Which is why he can and does mix his metaphors, sometimes rather shockingly!] We in our "logical" age of theology just cannot "get" him.

This also means we should be careful when looking at Athansius, Augustine, etc. because they also [while being less "out there" than Origen] also used metaphor in their work that did not necessarily describe their own theology.

Often a modern writer may appeal back to a metaphor from one of these early writers to show that this or that idea "has been part of Christian teaching all along." In reality the abstract theology the writer has in mind [often on an invisible scaffold of "natural theology"] was nothing at all what the early writer was expressing.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

October 11, 2008 at 10:27 AM

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