Feb 12
8
Christian Smith – Biblicism
Smith argues that the Bible speaks with many voices, “The multivocality and polysemy of the bible, and the diversity and division to which they give rise, are undeniable, historical, empirical, phenomenological facts.” Christian Smith, The Bible Made Possible
Does the Bible speak with one voice or many?
To “assume that biblical texts give rise to only one single meaning that ‘God intended for us to have’” is “unsatisfactory,” “false,” and “assuming or asserting it simply does not make biblical multivocality and polysemy go away.” Smith, p. 147ff.
Assuming or asserting something, anything does not make it so. Agreed. But does it matter who is doing the assuming. Are Smith’s assumptions more valid than either the Biblicist or the Liberal Christian?
Empirical facts prove that the bible speaks with many voices but:
- “I do not assume that empirical facts ….are all that are ever worth knowing.” Smith, Kindle location 97.
- Smith dismisses as inadequate the “inductive-empirical philosophy of science” that gathers “facts” “arranging them in proper order.” location 1248
- His alternative, critical realism, is “ultimately about explaining causal processes that are normally not empirically observable….” 1313
- Often, “the best [biblicist] interpretation is underdetermined by the relevant empirical sign, text or evidence.” 1311
- Commenting on foundationalism and David Hume, Smith concludes that “empirical observation of external data….” is unsuccessful. 3032
Empirical facts prove not only that the bible has many voices, but that the empirical method of knowing is not factual.
From Support Your Local Sheriff! Quotes :
Mayor Ollie Perkins: I wanted you to meet my daughter, Sheriff. She’s a good cook, a mighty fine looking girl. Takes after her dear, departed mother.
Jason McCullough: Mother died, huh?
Mayor Ollie Perkins: Nope, she just departed.
Christian Smith, The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture.
Polysemy: the coexistence of many possible meanings for a word or phrase.