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Randal Rauser

Home of progressively evangelical, generously orthodox, rigorously analytic, revolutionary Christian thinking (that's what I'm aiming for anyway)

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Bible

Apologetic Advice on Addressing Objections to the Bible

October 24, 2022 by Randal

If you are going to address objections to the Bible effectively, you first need to identify the underlying presuppositions that motivate the objection. ?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, Bible, presuppositions

Inspiration and Inerrancy: An Interview

September 29, 2022 by Randal

A new interview where I discuss the concepts of biblical inspiration and inerrancy on the “What Your Pastor Didn’t Tell You” YouTube channel: ?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, inerrancy, inspiration, interview

Enjoying the Old Testament: A Review

May 2, 2022 by Randal

Eric A. Seibert, Enjoying the Old Testament: A Creative Guide to Encountering Scripture. IVP Academic, 234 pp. Francis Bacon famously observed, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested…” For many Christians, the Old Testament is like spinach: we know it is good for us, but […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, biblical studies, Enjoying the Old Testament, Eric Seibert, review

The Limits of Defending Biblical Violence By Appealing to a Big, Wild, and Dangerous God

March 4, 2022 by Randal

Over the years, I have seen many Christians attempt to address problems of divinely sanctioned biblical violence by reframing them as virtues: in short, the bug is a feature. How so? On this re-narration, the problem of biblical violence should remind us that God is big and wild and dangerous. This offers an essential chastening […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, biblical violence, hermeneutics, moral intuitions

Fundamentalist Bible Reading and Literally False Descriptions of God

September 28, 2021 by Randal

In this video, I explain how a passage like Exodus 32 forces fundamentalist Christians to abandon their “literalist” approach to Bible reading or face stark theological consequences. ?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, biblical violence, fundamentalism, hermeneutics

How Professional Wrestling can Help Us Understand the Bible

July 26, 2021 by Randal

In this video, I argue that in the same way that we can appreciate professional wrestling as performance even if it is not a conventional sport, so we can appreciate non-historical aspects of the biblical narrative even if they are not literally true. ?

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, fundamentalism, hermeneutics, professional wrestling

Biblical Violence is Still Violence … and is not Appropriate for All Ages

July 13, 2021 by Randal

A parent once asked me whether The Passion of the Christ would be appropriate viewing for his ten-year-old child. I replied by asking if he thought the infamous ten-minute torture-ear amputation scene in Reservoir Dogs would be appropriate. The fact that you interpret some violent event as having religious significance doesn’t magically make it appropriate […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, biblical violence

The Bible, Divinely Commanded Violence, and Inspiration: My Opening Statement

June 9, 2021 by Randal

In May 2021, I debated John Loftus on Modern Day Debate. The debate resolution was “The Bible, with its divinely commanded violence, wasn’t inspired by a perfect God.” Here is my opening statement in full. Thanks to Modern Day Debate for the invitation to debate and to John Loftus for agreeing to participate. I’d like to […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, biblical violence, debate, hermeneutics, Jesus Loves Canaanites, John Loftus

How Not to Read the Bible: Lessons from Footloose

December 14, 2020 by Randal

In this video, I consider the lamentable Bible reading of Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon) as he uses biblical passages out of context as a pretext to get the town to lift their ban on school dances. All from the classic 1984 teen movie Footloose.

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, Footloose, hermeneutics, prooftexting

If the Bible includes immoral laws, how can it be inspired?

November 6, 2020 by Randal

My new book Conversations with My Inner Atheist features an extended conversation ranging over 25 chapters with my inner voice of questioning and doubt, My Inner Atheist (Mia). I have included chapter 6 below: “If the Bible includes immoral laws, how can it be inspired?” If you enjoy the chapter, consider buying the book. Mia: […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, bibliology, hermeneutics, inspiration

How Christians engage in special pleading when they try to justify bad biblical behavior

September 28, 2020 by Randal

Many conservative Christians believe that men should follow the Billy Graham Rule to never be alone with a woman who is not your life. Unless you’re a king like David: then you can climb into bed with a young virgin girl. In this video, I criticize that kind of painful special pleading.

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, biblical ethics, ethics, hermeneutics, moral inerrancy principle

Hey, Liberal Christian Scholars have Biases Too

September 15, 2020 by Randal

It is very common to hear that conservative Christian scholars have a bias. For example, they are biased when they insist that Paul wrote the disputed epistles. They are biased when they claim that the Gospels contain eyewitness testimony. They are biased when they date Mark before 70 CE. And so on. My problem is […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: bias, Bible, Karen King

Reading What the Bible Says About Dogs to My Dog

August 31, 2020 by Randal

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, dogs, hermeneutics

Church Doctrine & the Bible: A Review

July 23, 2020 by Randal

David Instone-Brewer. Church Doctrine & the Bible. Scripture in Context. Lexham Press, 2020. The latest entry in the Lexham Press “Scripture in Context” series focuses on the relationship between Christian doctrines and the Bible. Throughout the book, David Instone-Brewer, a research fellow at Tyndale House and specialist in Judaism in the first century, takes his knowledge […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Bible, biblical theology, David Instone-Brewer, review, theology

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