becoming

Tom Wright

…. In a culture heavily influenced by Judaism and Christianity, one might have hoped that the Bible would play a part in the discussion. People seem to assume that it’s irrelevant. The general view is that the Bible offers an escape from the world into a personal religion. But that view is itself the result of the Enlightenment’s reductionism.

The Bible itself resists such treatment. It constantly acknowledges evil – “human” and “natural” alike – as a terrible reality. It doesn’t try to minimise it, to explain that good will come of it, or to blame someone (reactions which correspond uncomfortably closely to the excuses offered by immoral or warmongering politicians). It tells a story about the Creator’s plan to put the world to rights, a plan which involves a people who are themselves part of the problem as well as the bearers of the solution….

http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=597132