Against our sovereign myth?

Last updated on: February 23, 2020 at 10:54 pm by Dan Peterson

Against our sovereign myth? 2020-02-23T22:54:50-07:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The LDS Film Festival for 2020 will be held here, commencing on Monday and continuing through the following Saturday. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

The LDS Film Festival 2020 opens next week. It will run from Monday, 24 February 2020, through Saturday, 29 February 2020, at the SCERA Center for the Arts in Orem, Utah.

***

One of my great regrets is that I’ve never, thus far, been able to attend RootsTech. Unfortunately, I have a job. Someday, though . . .

“RootsTech is less than a week away. Here’s what you can expect this year”

***

I tinker from time to time, when other more urgent (or tempting) obligations don’t interfere, with a book manuscript on The Physical Cosmos in the Qur’an. It is comprised of three distinct parts.

The first part of the book will examine the Qur’anic doctrine of creation. The virtually universal consensus of opinion is that the Qur’an teaches creatio ex nihilo, that God made the universe out of nothing. I do not find this doctrine taught in the Qur’an. On the contrary, I read it as teaching creatio ex materia, that God formed the universe out of pre-existing “stuff.” So I will make that argument.
The second part of the book — and, by a considerable distance, the longest portion of it — will systematically set forth the Qur’an’s conception of the structure of the physical universe. I will argue that its view of that structure is fundamentally the same as the view that was held by, for instance, the ancient Babylonians and ancient Israelites.
The third part of the book will lay out what I regard as a simple Qur’anic natural theology, in which (for example) the regularities of nature, the recurring seasons, and so forth, are offered as signs pointing to the existence and, to some degree, to the character of God.

I just this morning picked up an old copy of Thomas Howard, Chance or the Dance? A Critique of Modern Secularism (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1969) that has been sitting forgotten in a box in one of the rooms of our house, and I was pleased to find this passage, which fits my Part Three very nicely:

The myth sovereign in the old age was that everything means everything. The myth sovereign in the new is that nothing means anything.

That is, to the darkened mind it did not mean nothing that the sun went down and night came and the moon and stars appeared and then dawn and the sun and morning again and another day, which would itself wax and then wane into twilight and dusk and night. . . . (page 12, italics removed)

And when they heard about a thing like resurrection, they could believe it, since they thought they could see the same thing (life issuing from death) in other realms — seedtime and harvest, and morning and evening, and renunciation and reward — and so what else did it all mean but that it is the way things are that life triumphs over death? (page 14)

Previous Post

February 22, 2020

"Who Is Leaving the Church?" (Part One)

Next Post

February 22, 2020 "I still had hands, and feet, and a body"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Hosanna" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Praise Hurry Save us Rejoice