Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Amen, Karl.

I must confess, that most of this discussion has left me slightly bemused.

Yigal

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, July 08, 2005 11:54 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] RE-Dating Daniel


> To all:
>
> I am surprised at the response that a peripheral statement caused, one
that I did not dwell on precisely because 1) it is not central to the
discussions on this list and 2) there is too little data to make a
definitive statement, as also pointed out by Rolf Furuli.
>
> I know which view I personally choose, but I recognize that it is rooted
in a particular philosophy/religion, therefore it should not be pushed as
normative on everybody on this list. Equally philosophic/religious are views
other than mine. As I wrote Yigal, I have no problem with agreeing to
disagree. Thus when I mention traditional dating in my messages, I do so
somewhat tongue in cheek, intended gently to remind people that there are
other views but not to push it.
>
> Similarly, there are different definitions of inspiration. One is the
inspiration of the poet, musician or writer, that which inspires them to
create. There is the technical, theological definition based on a philosophy
that recognizes universal absolutes that are true for all people whether
they believe or agree with them or not, where God worked through people to
have them write documents that are true in all aspects in the original
autographs (of which today we  have only copies of copies of copies with
their copyist induced errors), accurate in all details including history,
science (watch out for figures of speech) and theology. A third definition
that I know of also found in neo-orthodox theology, denies that there are
universal absolutes and truths, that all truths are equally true and valid.
A book can be true even when factually false in that it can explore and
explain other truths. Thus the Bible can be inspired by god and true even
though full of factual error and
>  pious fiction. Thus inspiration is not a discussion of absolute truth as
in the second definition above, rather it is a discussion on how god can use
the teachings in the Bible to illuminate truths in our lives today. There
may be other definitions for inspiration, but those are the three I thought
of off the top of my head.
>
> I personally choose the second definition, as do others on this list, but
because it is peripheral for this list and it is philosophically/religiously
based, no one should push his view as normative for everyone on this list.
Because there are differing understandings for inspiration, neither should
anyone denigrate another definition as wrong (though one may think so
privately, as I do).
>
> The reason the purpose for this list is so narrowly focused on the
language only, was to avoid theological flame wars for which there is no
resolution possible. As a result, I have tried to limit my
theological/philosophical statements to the context on how they may
influence our understanding of the Hebrew language and no more.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Medina, Vincent" <VMedina AT cbcag.edu>
>
> >
> > My response to you is the same as it was to Stoney. You may not share my
> > faith commitments and that is fine, but we do need to be sure we are
> > talking about the same thing when we use the word "inspiration."
> >
> > As for your assertion that my view of inspiration "has absolutely no
> > value," that is an inflammatory statement, to say the least. Many
> > Christians throughout the centuries have found a good deal of value in
> > just such a belief. On the other hand, a view of inspiration that
> > disregards the historical is in some ways like the Cheshire cat--all
> > smile and no cat!:)
> >
> > G. Vincent Medina
> > Associate Professor
> > Central Bible College
> > Phone: 417 887-6559
> > Email: vmedina AT cbcag.edu
>
> -- 
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