Reddit Reddit reviews New Testament People God V1: Christian Origins And The Question Of God

We found 5 Reddit comments about New Testament People God V1: Christian Origins And The Question Of God. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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New Testament People God V1: Christian Origins And The Question Of God
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5 Reddit comments about New Testament People God V1: Christian Origins And The Question Of God:

u/plong42 · 4 pointsr/AcademicBiblical

The N. T. Wright Christian Origins and the Question of God series are all $4.99 each. If you purchased the print copies at some time in the past, they are only $2.99. Whether you love or hate Wright, all four of these are excellent and a great value at a mere $5.

New Testament People God

Jesus Victory of God

Resurrection Son of God

Paul and the Faithfulness of God: Two Book Set, Biggest bang for your buck.

u/christiankool · 2 pointsr/DebateReligion

>humans just made this up and chose what to include and what not to include.

Humans made what up?

  1. the bible? The bible is literally a library with different forms of writing. You can't read a myth as if it's history or a poem as if it's an account of scientific explanation - you especially can't read Genesis 1 like that because the scientific method didn't exist yet. I will (and did in my previous post) agree that they "chose what to include and what not to include". But, it's not as if they just randomly chose certain texts. They chose what they believed resembled their situation accurately and truthfully. It wasn't one person's history, rather it's the history of a people - first the Jews then the (orthodox) Christians.

  2. religion? Experiences of "the Divine" exist, as such. Whether or not you believe in the Divine doesn't neglect the fact that religious experiences exist. Religions, broadly and generally speaking, are that which house a "lens" to interpret those experiences: the "why" and "meaning" of such things. Why did this happen? (Not how! science can and should attempt to answer that) Is there a meaning to this? The experiences of the given followers also influence the given religion. It's a mutual circle.

    >why would a being so powerful choose such a misunderstood way to communicate if his goal was to save us?

    This question is making some assumptions:

  3. God is a being.
  4. God has a goal for humanity.
  5. This goal is "saving us".

    Number 1 is false to any classical monotheist. Here's a blogpost I wrote about the "nature" of God and evil. Here's a reddit comment I wrote which also touches this. I only link these because I don't have the time to figure out how to write it out again in my currently allotted time (work soon). However, I will suggest two books for you that are better written and that heavily influence(d) my thoughts: God Without Being: Hors-Texte, Second Edition (Religion and Postmodernism) 2nd Edition by Jean-Luc Marion. He is a French Philosopher. The second book is The Experience of God by David Bentley Hart. He is an American Eastern Orthodox Theologian. The second of the two books will be a little bit easier to understand as it's written for a wide audience.

    Number 2 could be false, but I personally think it's true. So, I'm going to assume this with you.

    Number 3 is wrong in the sense of the goal being to save us from eternal damnation. Read my comment (or blogpost) to get a better understanding. Long story short, to quote St. Athanasius: "God became man so that man might become God".

    But, to answer your question: Humans live and participate in different contexts. Whether it be historical, societal or even religious contexts. That is burden of our "imperfect" nature. Based on that alone, we will of course misunderstand things. I can say more, but I'm running out of time.

    >my point was that if we open up the floor to interpretation...just everyone making up their idea of what is right.

    Interpretations aren't just made up. To interpret properly is to situate and figure the given materials in their proper contexts and stories. This happens from science to art. I suggest reading up on Hermeneutics. I could suggest a couples books (sorry, I'm just bad at explaining things in a quick easy-to-digest way. Especially when it comes to topics our minds literally can't comprehend). New Testament People God V1: Christian Origins And The Question Of God by NT Wright which sets up what he calls a "critical realism" approach to scripture. Phenomenologies of Scripture, which is a collection of articles detailing how to approach the bible and related topics as they "give themselves". I'm currently reading both. The first is a more historical-critical and literary approach to the bible and the second is more a philosophical approach. Both really good so far.

    >but I suppose in that case I reject both your idea of God and the existence of God.

    You cannot deny "the existence" of God because that's an absurd statement. God is not a thing or even "highest power" that exists in some "realm" called "the supernatural". If that were the case, "Existence", as such, would be ontologically prior to "God" which doesn't make sense. The Divine/God/Brahman/whatever is that which provides "Existence" to "exist". God does not exist. Once again, I highly suggest reading my blogpost (I don't have ads or anything so I won't get paid) because it's better articulated. Better yet, read the book I mentioned by David Bentley Hart. I can send you (I think) a PDF if you want. I've provided a short reading and long reading. If you want a video instead, I can probably find one!

    Sorry about all the books I recommend. Reddit is not a place I can expound on philosophical ideas, especially when we both have different working assumptions that we need to clear. That's why I'm focusing on challenging your viewpoints on certain things because we just fundamentally disagree. We can't discuss/debate things without first agreeing on something.

    Also, I've enjoyed engaging with you. You seem open-minded enough and that's a good thing. So, thanks.
u/[deleted] · 2 pointsr/DebateAChristian

By Law, I'm referring to Exodus and Deuteronomy, and essentially the covenant (or lawful binding agreement) between God and Israel.


I am way out of my depth, but my impression is that considering it was essentially part of an explicit legal contract between God and Israel, "No other gods before me" and "no graven images" seems reasonable. Part of the point of the covenant was to set Israel apart from the nations surrounding her, and "the religions of Canaanite tribes neighboring the Israelites often centered around a carefully constructed and maintained cult idol," so it makes complete sense to forbid graven images. And, TIL: "also covetousness (greed), is defined as idolatry." [both quotes from here]

Not taking God's name in vain and keeping the Sabbath holy were also part of that covenant, and the former seems like a good thing to do to show respect or love towards God, and the latter was a blessing at the time (my limited understanding is: required days of rest from work, like the weekend, were not priorly a thing, so enforcing time off for the good of everyone in the community was a remarkably loving thing to do).

People being people, many ended up focusing on the rules for the rule's sake, and demanding increasingly extreme things from themselves in order to convince God to return to the second Temple and officially end the Jewish exile. In the middle of all this is where Jesus comes in, saying 'you guys are going the wrong way.'

The wikipedia entry on The Ten Commandments is a suprisingly good read IMO.

My attempt to answer is sadly lacking in varied references, but I'm currently ill, so this is where I need to leave it. I hope at the very least it provides something worth thinking on. Your questions are great, and ones that were recently on my mind, but the best way to answer it would involve a study (or giant text) on Jewish history to get the essence of what was going on at the time. I'm finding that everything makes a lot more sense in context.

u/daraseti_piqqudeka · 1 pointr/Reformed

One of the few books I have seen with a Kindle edition cheaper than the actual book. But still not cheap =X