(September 7, 2011 at 9:05 am)Rhythm Wrote: I understand that interpreting verses such as Jer 33:25 ... as somehow related to our current understanding of the cosmos is a common thread in apologetics. ... I understand that you have interpreted this in some general sort of way that would appear to be in concordance (or at least "not contradictory") with the physics and cosmology of today ...
I think this probably reveals more about your lack of familiarity with Christian apologetics than it does about the interpretation of this passage, because it is only certain schools of apologetics that are guilty of identifying scientific facts or theories with phrases or passages in Scripture (the term for which is 'concordism', incidentally). Your experiences with young-earth creationists notwithstanding, it is simply illegitimate to broad-brush all of apologetics like this. Having said that, I am certainly not myself guilty of concordist practice; I follow the works of such biblical scholars as Gregory K. Beale (Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary) and John H. Walton (Professor of Old Testament Studies at Wheaton College), particularly the latter who has written extensively on biblical cosmology in the Old Testament and explicitly repudiates and refutes concordism.
I am afraid your criticism is better targeted at Statler than at me.
(September 7, 2011 at 9:05 am)Rhythm Wrote: ... specifically from a point of strong faith (and an apparent need to make it reasonable) ...
There is no need to make reasonable that which already is reasonable. Again, I think you have in view a caricature of biblical theology and apologetics, one that is probably a composite of your experiences with a particular class of fundamentalists (whom I also have to deal with).
(September 7, 2011 at 9:05 am)Rhythm Wrote: The verse you've quoted is literally drawing authority ... from laws which we now understand to be incorrect.
Which laws are those, that we now understand to be incorrect?
(September 7, 2011 at 9:05 am)Rhythm Wrote: Jeremiah specifically would have had access to this information ...
The cosmology Jeremiah would be writing in regard to would be that of the Israelites of the ancient Near East, as informed by their covenant relationship to the God of their holy texts. Here are three texts that were instructive and educational on biblical cosmology in the Old Testament (all of them by John H. Walton):
– "Ancient Near Eastern background studies," in Kevin J. Vanhoozer (Ed.) Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible (Baker Academic, 2005), pp. 40-45.
– Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible (Baker Academic, 2006).
– "Interpreting the Bible as an ancient Near Eastern document," in Daniel I. Block (Ed.) Israel: Ancient Kingdom or Late Invention (Broadman & Holman, 2008), pp. 298-327.
(September 7, 2011 at 9:05 am)Rhythm Wrote: I'm of the opinion that this amounts to little more than quote mining.
And I think we are getting vague hints at just how informed your opinion is.
(September 7, 2011 at 9:05 am)Rhythm Wrote: What do you imagine those laws that the verse is describing are?
God's covenant relationship with the heavens and the earth as the sovereign Creator who sustains all things by the power of his word. Some relevant example texts would be Jer 31:35–36, Gen 8:22, Psa 74:16–17, and so forth.
Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when
called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
(Oscar Wilde)
called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
(Oscar Wilde)
