Comments on: XFiles Friday: Communal delusion http://blog.evangelicalrealism.com/2009/01/30/xfiles-friday-communal-delusion/ The theology of Reality Sun, 11 Sep 2011 22:49:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Mnosey http://blog.evangelicalrealism.com/2009/01/30/xfiles-friday-communal-delusion/comment-page-1/#comment-6939 Mnosey Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:56:34 +0000 http://blog.evangelicalrealism.com/?p=703#comment-6939 "[W]e know beyond a reasonable doubt that the New Testament writers accurately recorded what they saw" I would suggest for anyone considering buying into this notion to read "Misquoting Jesus" by Bart Ehrman. “[W]e know beyond a reasonable doubt that the New Testament writers accurately recorded what they saw”

I would suggest for anyone considering buying into this notion to read “Misquoting Jesus” by Bart Ehrman.

]]> By: InTheImageOfDNA http://blog.evangelicalrealism.com/2009/01/30/xfiles-friday-communal-delusion/comment-page-1/#comment-6752 InTheImageOfDNA Sat, 31 Jan 2009 05:47:23 +0000 http://blog.evangelicalrealism.com/?p=703#comment-6752 Great post Deacon and great comment Jim. It sums up a debate I had awhile ago with my aforementioned Christian apologist. He was fond of the "fact" that some other apologist came up with (maybe Geisler and Turek, I'm not sure) that legends take centuries to develope. When I brought up Big Foot and that it had developed within years, he couldn't offer a rebuttal. (Deacon - your mention of urban legends is the same point.) Great post Deacon and great comment Jim.

It sums up a debate I had awhile ago with my aforementioned Christian apologist. He was fond of the “fact” that some other apologist came up with (maybe Geisler and Turek, I’m not sure) that legends take centuries to develope. When I brought up Big Foot and that it had developed within years, he couldn’t offer a rebuttal. (Deacon – your mention of urban legends is the same point.)

]]> By: jim http://blog.evangelicalrealism.com/2009/01/30/xfiles-friday-communal-delusion/comment-page-1/#comment-6750 jim Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:57:20 +0000 http://blog.evangelicalrealism.com/?p=703#comment-6750 "The traditional gospel account does not explain such things, and indeed does not so much work to explain anything as it leaves us with things that need explaining. It is consistent with a community delusion, a complex interaction of multiple psychosocial factors working together to shape people’s beliefs in ways that owe more to subjective perception and social status than to objective facts." You've said a mouthful here....great summing up. I think one reason it's so easy for the authors to get away with this 'either this or this or this...or TRUTH!', is because most people want easy answers, preferably explainable along one line of reasoning. But the human dynamic was as multifaceted then as it is now. There were many forces at play -pulling here, pushing there- shaping what eventually became 'Christianity'. The truly interesting story here is the psychological one... both from the personal standpoint, as well as the vastly complex communal one. However, understanding all this takes time, and effort, and an investment of intellectual open-mindedness; all of which are, frankly, more trouble than it's worth for most people. Generally speaking, emotions win out with folks, and how can you compete with "I'm not perfect...just forgiven" seeing how it fits so nicely on a bumper sticker? “The traditional gospel account does not explain such things, and indeed does not so much work to explain anything as it leaves us with things that need explaining. It is consistent with a community delusion, a complex interaction of multiple psychosocial factors working together to shape people’s beliefs in ways that owe more to subjective perception and social status than to objective facts.”

You’ve said a mouthful here….great summing up. I think one reason it’s so easy for the authors to get away with this ‘either this or this or this…or TRUTH!’, is because most people want easy answers, preferably explainable along one line of reasoning. But the human dynamic was as multifaceted then as it is now. There were many forces at play -pulling here, pushing there- shaping what eventually became ‘Christianity’. The truly interesting story here is the psychological one… both from the personal standpoint, as well as the vastly complex communal one.

However, understanding all this takes time, and effort, and an investment of intellectual open-mindedness; all of which are, frankly, more trouble than it’s worth for most people. Generally speaking, emotions win out with folks, and how can you compete with “I’m not perfect…just forgiven” seeing how it fits so nicely on a bumper sticker?

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