(October 15, 2021 at 1:23 am)vulcanlogician Wrote:(October 15, 2021 at 1:00 am)Belacqua Wrote: We should absolutely argue against people with a naive view of theology. That's most of what I do on this forum.
Well, I don't think Augustine qualifies as a pantheist. Nor does he qualify as naive. It's unclear at first glance what we are criticizing when we enter into the conversation. It seems like we are getting away from figures like Augustine and concepts like Biblical authority when we start talking pantheism.
A non-anthropomorphic conception of God does not equal pantheism.
In Christianity, people are said to be like God in some ways, but this doesn't mean that God has a body, has emotions, changes his mind, barks out orders, or possesses lots of other human traits.
When the Bible says "God hears" something, this doesn't mean that he has ears and hears the sounds in the same way a person does. Naive people may read it that way, but not educated people.
The Bible is to be interpreted, and the non-naive interpretation is known to a minority of people, both Christian and atheist. Literalist sola scriptura Christianity has never been the position of people educated in theology.
