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Re: Jonah

On Mon, 3 Jun 2002, Don Smith wrote:

> Re: questions about God's infallibity vis a vis changing the Divine
> Mind.
>
> I think the whole discussion is anachronistically projecting a
> greek-influenced conception of God (infallible, unchanging) onto a much
> older author's conception of the Hebrews' deity (anthropomorphic,
> time-embedded).  So I, personally, don't find it a particularly useful
> question to ask, whether the instances of God changing his mind in those
> stories contradicts the infallibility doctrine, because the man (or
> woman) who wrote those stories had never heard of the infallibility
> doctrine, and that wasn't a part of his/her conception of what God is.
> So there's no paradox or puzzle here.
>
> Cuts through the whole Gordian knot.

Sure, if you are willing to say that the infallibility doctrine and the
author's conception of the Hebrew deity don't have to work together
somehow.  Many Christians aren't willing to make that distinction, though.  
And come to think of it, even Christians like me, who *do* make that
distinction, may think there's a useful tension there, between the God
who's so utterly transcendent he's almost static, and the God who is so
deeply involved in our lives that he has to improvise a little.

In other words, paradox good.  :)

--- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- peter at chattaway_com ---
 "I detected one misprint, but to torture you I will not tell you where."
      Winston Churchill to T.E. Lawrence, re Seven Pillars of Wisdom

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