I was reading a book about C. S. Lewis and Tolkien, and came across a discussion of an idea that was common to these two literary giants. That idea is that, just because an idea was held in the past, that, by itself, does not mean that it was false. In fact, it may still be valid, but have been discarded, like the fashions in apparel or hair styles of 40 years ago. The Wikipedia article on Chronological Snobbery gives a quotation from Lewis. In it, he says that we should ask if an idea was ever shown to be wrong, or did it just fade away?
We live too much in the present, and assume that all our ideas are fresh and new, until they quickly fade, into our past.
Read Lewis, and don't practice Chronological Snobbery.
Musings on science, the Bible, and fantastic literature (and sometimes basketball and other stuff).
God speaks to us through the Bible and the findings of science, and we should listen to both types of revelation.
The title is from Psalm 84:11.
The Wikipedia is usually a pretty good reference. I mostly use the World English Bible (WEB), because it is public domain. I am grateful.
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I have written an e-book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which is free to anyone. To download that book, in several formats, go here.
The posts in this blog are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You can copy and use this material, as long as you aren't making money from it. If you give me credit, thanks. If not, OK.
The posts in this blog are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You can copy and use this material, as long as you aren't making money from it. If you give me credit, thanks. If not, OK.
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4 comments:
History repeats itself all the time. We're always bringing back old trends as "new" ones and so forth. It's obvious to see especially in the fashion world.
Indeed.
Thanks, Noahs Ark.
I think G.K. Chesterton had a famous quote about that--"democracy of the dead"?
Thanks, Julana. I don't know Chesterton as well as I should.
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