Literalist OEC Theories

[Adrift]

Thanks, that was helpful. I'm also extremely surprised to see John Piper promoting that view on his web site in this manner.

Really? I'm not super familiar with Piper myself. I mean, I know his name and his general views, but I haven't read anything outside his website.

In my opinion, the early chapters of Genesis are some of the most readable, easiest to understand portions of the Bible. If it becomes near impossible to "rightly" interpret this book without having a PhD in Hebrew studies, it's completely impractical to even think to read into it.

I understand this sentiment and even agree with it, but its because of those skilled in Hebrew that we're able to say that Genesis is so readable in the first place. As Christians its our duty to study to show ourselves approved, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Liberal scholars pride themselves on having the most objective, culturally-historically accurate picture of the OT, but I think that's because they overestimate and over-apply the context for the purpose of discrediting the validity of the Scriptures as a divine document. Not saying that's you. Far from it. I'm just saying that I think the view being discussed here is more a less byproduct of liberal influences rather than a result of proper hermeneutics.

I disagree with you that the views being discussed here come from primarily liberal scholars or liberal influence, but I can understand how it could appear that way. I think its probably good to figure out motivations for interpretations, but I'm honestly less interested in whats liberal and whats conservative as I am what's truth.

PS
Thanks, Adrift for keeping the spirit of civility alive from the start.

You're welcome, and I encourage others to keep me in check too. I know this topic can get contentious, and I really want to stay away from that as much as possible.

[Adrift]

After rereading my OP a few times, I have a feeling I didn't convey the Historical Creationism view very well. If anyone is really interested in getting a better grasp on the theory I again suggest you take a look at the article on the subject here at John Piper's website. It's pretty much the best analysis of the theory I've read outside of Sailhamer's Genesis Unbound. Its very long, but if you just read the Intro and the Overview, you'll get a pretty good idea about what the theory consists of.

Also, I want to thank everyone for keeping the tone conversational.

This thread is fairly old now. I just wanted to mention that Piper's website has gone through some restructuring, and so, the link I posted is now dated and dead. A very brief summary of professor John Sailhamer's view can be found on John Piper's website at the following link, and a full rundown can be found at the following link

Also, you can find copies of Sailhamer's now out of print Genesis Unbound for under $14 bucks on Amazon which is pretty amazing considering I paid well over $50 not much more than a year-and-a-half ago.

[RBerman]

Both rapidly out-of-print and yet incredibly cheap? Demand must be high!

[Adrift]

Both rapidly out-of-print and yet incredibly cheap? Demand must be high!

I don't think there was any need for that zing RBerman, and its not really in keeping with the atmosphere I wanted for this thread.