(August 17, 2025 at 5:14 am)GrandizerII Wrote: I'm ok with books containing contradictory views and riddles, especially by design.
I apologize if I came across as though I was scolding you earlier. I know you are serious about your study, and far more open-minded than many people we hear from.
It's the easy claim that "there are contradictions in the Bible!!!", as if that proves something, that gets me annoyed. It's one of the cliches of the anti-religion crowd. I know that's not what you're after here.
I do think that in terms of literature, hermeneutics, thoughts about meaning, etc., people are getting dumber. Heidegger argued this years ago -- that the shift in culture to technological thinking has shut down many of the more human ways of being in the world. It works against finding meaning and understanding ourselves. The need for literal, easy interpretations seems to me to be part of this.
The richness of literature, which is the richness of human thought, is seriously under attack. There was a study done recently in two midwestern colleges, in which several English majors were asked to read and interpret a page from a Dickens novel. Despite having access to their phones in order to look up unfamiliar language, more than half of them were unable to comprehend what they were reading. Obvious Bible allusions were missed, and most couldn't distinguish between literal and figurative language.
Every week there's news of another university shutting down its humanities department. Tulsa had built up a splendid classics department in recent years, and despite its popularity it was shut down earlier this year. No explanation was offered; it seems the trustees just think classics is a waste of time. The women's college on the other side of the mountain from me has ended all its literature classes so it can focus on job preparation. Another women's college here in town -- the really expensive one -- approached me about a job, but I discovered that the head of the department that teaches English specializes in the study of the tourism industry, and I backed out. (Their previous English lit teacher was fired for sleeping with students.)
Obviously, people should read what they want and enjoy themselves. But culture is important, and its loss is a loss for everyone. And I'm taking it out on you, because I think you're one of very few who would care about that.
