I’ve been reading a great book – Why Good Arguments Often Fail by James Sire (yes, this is the same book I was reading a while back – I didn’t read it for a few months and just recently picked it back up now that I’m busing again). Separately, I’ve also been enjoying the comic strip Pearls Before Swine. Imagine my surprise when these two “readings” crossed paths.
From Sire, page 96 (talking about different worldviews and different concepts of "God")…
Vaguer versions of theism retain the notion of an infinite-personal God who creates but are less specific about the character of God, may downplay or reject his triunity, and usually are less specific regarding life after death and God’s role in history. This tendency to less specificity historically has led to deism, in which God no longer is fully endowed with personhood or even intentionality. In much of modern America, the undermining of traditional theism has resulted in what Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton call Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, in which God is reduced to a “combination of Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist.”
From Pearls Before Swine, May 14, 2007…
http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/pearls/archive/pearls-20070514.html
(I was going to post the comic here, but their republishing rules are pretty clear, so you’ll just have to follow the link)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment