Theology

In the 18th and 19th centuries, as the legislative bodies of the United States and Great Britain debated whether to end the institution of slavery, advocates of both sides turned to the Bible to bolster their case.

The pro-slavery side started with Genesis 9:24-27.

According to some evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, the inerrancy of the Bible is an essential doctrine.

The ancient Babylonians believed solar eclipses were a sign of the anger of the gods. Often, the priests recommended appeasing the gods by sacrificing the king. But Babylonian astronomers recorded the dates and times of eclipses, and discovered a regular pattern. Armed with this knowledge, they were able to predict the date of the next eclipse. The king, realizing what this could mean, temporarily abdicated. A convicted criminal was placed on the throne as a substitute, only to be executed after the eclipse arrived as predicted. The real king could then resume the throne in safety.

In my first post for this blog I talked about pragmatism in politics. Research suggests that pragmatism is better than ideology at producing the mindset needed to make good decisions. Can we apply the same principle to religious faith?