Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

Quote of the Day
Thursday, December 28, 2006

From an occasional series: Things I stumbled upon while doing research on my new book.

The question as to the use of the Bible in modern culture stands as a perplexing enigma troubling multitudes of minds. As modern man walks through the pages of this sacred book he is constantly hindered by numerous obstacles standing in his path. He comes to see that the science of the Bible is quite contrary to the science that he has learned in school. He is unable to find the sun standing still in his modern astronomy. His knowledge of biology will not permit him to conceive of saints long deceased arising from their graves. His knowledge of modern medicine causes him to look with disdain on the belief that epilepsy, deafness, blindness and insanity result from the visitation of demons.

Yet he finds each of these unscientific views in the Bible. Here is the practical difficulty that has confused the minds of many educated people in using the sacred Book. Some have tried to solve this problem by seeing the old Book, "as an inferior record produced by an inferior race." Others have attempted to solve this problem by avoiding many areas of the Scripture altogether. Still others have tried to solve the problem by discarding the entire Book. But these solutions are far to evanescent for the person who wishes to think wisely about religion. He comes to see that the influence of the Bible is so embedded in the fibre of Western Culture that to remove it would mean a removal of much of our intellectual heritage.

-- Martin Luther King, from an essay "How to Use the Bible in Modern Theological Construction," 1949

Read on to find out how he solves his dilemma.

Labels: Bible in America

Posted by B Feiler at 12:14 AM
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