A Plea for an Exegesis Guest Post

Last updated on: September 25, 2012 at 11:44 pm by Leah Libresco

A Plea for an Exegesis Guest Post 2012-09-25T23:44:30-04:00 Leah Libresco

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.

My thanks to the many people who are commenting on yesterday’s post listing common mistakes atheists make about Catholics. I hope it helps lead people to more productive arguments. The item that seems to be drawing the most comment is mistake number two – thinking that Catholics are biblical literalists. Now that we established they’re not, most of the atheist commenters on the site, including me, are at a loss as to how exactly Catholics do make sense of the Bible.

JoAnna posted two helpful resources in the comments thread (plus a bonus link to a piece on papal authority), but I’d love to be able to post some details here and spark a conversation. I’d like to invite Catholics (or other non-literalist Christans) to write a guest blog or two on exegesis for the site.

JoAnna has already linked to a pretty clear overview, and I don’t want to put anyone on the spot to defend an entire exegetical method in one blog post (though you’re welcome to try). One approach would be picking a verse you were confused by and walking us through how you investigated and resolved your question. Another idea would be to contrast two verses that are read in two different senses and walk us through how people realized which style matched.

Look back through the comments thread of yesterday’s post, and you can find more open questions. I’m interested in whether any Christians think some parts of the Bible are just not particularly relevant today (land allocations come to mind) and how you came to that conclusion.

Email me at leah (DOT) libresco (AT) gmail (DOT) com if you’d like to write a post or comment below with contact info and/or questions. Forward this post to Christian blogger friends who you think would be good at explaining this. It’s fine to rerun something you wrote at your own blog here. And if you’re writing a guest post, be sure to tell me what denomination you are, so I don’t accidentally create more confusion in an attempt to clarify.

Finally, thanks again for the patience both sides are showing in the comment threads. There’s a lot of confusion about what people believe on both sides, and it’s great to clarify in a non-debate format where people are reading for understanding, not just for ammunition. It’s a privilege having you all.

Parsing Catholicism

guest post

Previous Post

March 18, 2011

The Atheist's Guide to Catholics in 7 Quick Takes (3/18/11)

Next Post

March 19, 2011 Committing a Capital Crime in Debate

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 7 Quick Takes Apologetics Atheism Book Conversion Debate Tactics Debates Epistemology/Philosophy Housekeeping Ideological Turing Test Marriage Morality in Practice Parsing Catholicism Possibly Heretical Radio Reviews/Recommendations Sequence Index Spiritual Practice Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 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 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many commandments were written on stone tablets?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Thirteen Ten Twelve Seven