bttt
It has been my experience that people who accept a literal interpretation of the Bible don’t give any authority to the writings of Augustine or other Fathers of the Church.
It has been my experience that people who accept a literal interpretation of the Bible don’t give any authority to the writings of Augustine or other Fathers of the Church."
Agreed. It is truly amazing - and sad - that so many fundamentalist Christians act as if the books of the Bible were originally written in English.
Obviously, no language can be literally translated 'word-for-word' into another language and still be understandable. I can go into a secular bookstore, or a Christian book store and choose from many versions - i.e. - translations - of the Bible printed in English.
Since I am a religious Jew who is respectful of, and interested in studying Christian Theology, could someone please tell me which one is the correct version - you know - the one that's infallible, etc.
At least with the Torah, it can be read in the language in which it was originally written.
The Fathers of the Church were the authors of books in the Bible.
Read "It Takes A Village" by one of Americas Fathers, Hillary Clinton. Hillary is less removed from the Founding Fathers of America than Augustine was from the Fathers of the Church.
What baffles me is when people ignore John, Matthew, Peter, Mark, Paul, James, Jude and Luke in order to agree with guys like Augustine. Augustine explained away a large percentage of the New Testament and sank the Catholic Church into A-Millennialism, basically dubbing the Apostle John a superstitious mystic with no grasp of reality.
One need only review the writings of Jeremiah, Ezekiel & Daniel (of which were viewed as overly superstitious by their contemporaries) and witness the literal fulfillment of their prophecies in the Person of Jesus Christ, to realize the mistake of explaining away passages.
As usual when dealing with Biblical truths, the mistake of trumping straightforward passages with "Modern Understandings" wreaks havoc on the lives of the trumpees. One word: Europe!
There is nothing new under the sun.