Ancient Intelligence

There is a possibly apocryphal story about a conversation on the subject of the solar system between Wittgenstein and a student. Wittgenstein asks the student why early people thought that the sun went around the earth. The student says that it’s because it looks that way. Wittgenstein asks, “And how would it look if the earth went around the sun?”
Gradual Calamity

It would look the same of course. It is easier to believe the story that earlier peoples were not as intelligent as we are – and thus believed a lie. While the truth is closer to the idea that these peoples took their observations (which were elaborate, precise, and accurate) and built upon them.

Define: Fundies

Often times I’ve struggled at defining fundamentalism to other Christians (whom I consider to be fundamentalists, or close to that line). To non-Christians, it is rather easy. I can say Pat Robertson, or Rick Warren, or some such figure that comes close enough. It conjures the necessary image in their mind. But to another Christian the same image is not conjured just by saying these names. They soften edges, make compromises, and what have you to understand these figures.

By comparison, it is becoming more difficult to define what a “fundamentalist” Christian is, potentially because the ground under his feet is more prone to cultural shift. But if we think of biblical literalism, an intolerance of “soft” forms of Christianity (often equated to a kind of mainstream heresy), the importance of conversion (in this case, evangelism), and prophetic fulfillment as the non-negotiables of fundamentalism, the following statistic is, you should pardon the expression, revealing:

Pentecostal and charismatic denominations have grown by 37% since 2001; the Churches of Christ by 48%; the Assemblies of God by 68%. (United) Methodists and Northern Baptist by 0%, Jews, -10% and Catholics, through a healthy infusion of Hispanic and Latino votaries, a mere 11%. The undeniable appeal of taking God’s word seriously is unslaked by contemporary life. A definition

And of course when I tell someone they are a fundamentalist it always makes them think I am slighting them.

HT [Eric]