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Apologia Report 16:27 (1,077)
August 4, 2011
Subject: Atheist philosopher Ayn Rand: A signpost to Jesus?
In this issue:
BIBLICAL RELIABILITY - "a helpful overview of non-canonical texts"
RAND, AYN - Republican party hero, anti-Christian philosopher, and unexpected sign-post towards faith in Jesus
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BIBLICAL RELIABILITY
Forgotten Scriptures: The Selection and Rejection of Early Religious Writings, by Lee Martin McDonald [1] -- "The last 150 years have been filled with sensational discoveries of apocryphal materials that have raised new questions about which books should be included in our Bibles. It seems the appetite for discussions of 'lost' books is insatiable - both inside and outside the academy. Such discoveries have spurred all sorts of publications with provocative titles that raise questions about the state of the canon...." Reviewer Michael J. Kruger (Academic Dean, Reformed Theological Seminary) notes that McDonald "has written extensively on the topic of canon."
In this book, "McDonald has also addressed the issue of 'lost' texts of the OT as well as the NT, providing a helpful introduction to some of the critical issues related to canon formation and the role of apocryphal literature in Judaism and Christianity.
"Section 2 of this volume provides a detailed discussion of the definition of the term 'canon.' For those familiar with McDonald's work elsewhere, it is no surprise that he is a strong advocate of Sundberg's [Albert C. Sundberg, Jr.] definition of canon as a closed, complete list, to which nothing can be added or taken away. With this definition in hand, McDonald insists that we do not have a real 'canon' until at least the fourth century and maybe even later. ...
"In section 2, McDonald explores the development of the OT Scriptures and the variety of apocryphal and pseudepigraphal books that were used by early Jews but never made it into the final canonical collection. This second section constitutes the bulk of the volume and McDonald's discussions are wide ranging, even covering topics such as the translation and textual transmission of the OT. ...
"However, as McDonald gauges the status of various books in early Jewish communities, he regularly seems to confuse the mere use of a book and the reception of that book as Scripture. Just because a book was used (even used a lot) by a certain group does not necessarily mean that book has authoritative status. ...
"The third and final section of this volume addresses the issue of the NT's formation and focuses largely on manuscripts and textual transmission. Once again, McDonald seems intent on convincing the reader that the canon's development was a loose and amorphous affair. ...
"Even with some of these weaknesses [to which Kruger insightfully responds point by point], McDonald's volume is still a helpful overview of non-canonical texts - a topic that always needs more attention from the average Christian in the pew. However, the last chapter of the book, 'Postscript: The Search for a Perfect Bible,' is an unfortunate conclusion. McDonald uses this chapter as an opportunity to critique (in a rather pointed fashion) the concept of inerrancy, particularly as it has been historically applied to the original autographs of Scripture." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 54:2 - 2011, pp372-374.
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RAND, AYN
"The anti-gospel of Ayn Rand" by Daniel Burke (RNS) -- in House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) "'You've got a guy who is a rising Republican star, and who wrote the budget, saying he's read [Rand's] books and Washington needs more of her values,' said Eric Sapp, executive director of the American Values Network....
"Sapp argues, you can follow Ayn Rand or Jesus, but not both. ...
"Tea Party Republicans have embraced Rand's writings, particularly Atlas Shrugged [2], which some argue foretells the Great Recession and Washington's extraordinary efforts to end it. Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas all call themselves Rand fans.
...
"Early on, Rand decided that the existence of God and the Christian ideal of self-sacrifice were untenable ideas, [biographer Anne C.] Heller said.
"'It must be either reason or faith,' Rand said in a 1979 interview. 'I am against God for the reason that I don't want to destroy reason.' Rand saw her materialist philosophy and Christianity as incompatible and hoped to undermine Judeo-Christian ethics." Christian Century, Jun 28 '11, pp14-15. <www.bit.ly/p3w804>
"Ayn Rand Led Me to Christ: How the anti-Christian philosopher prepared me to hear the gospel" by Edward S. Little II (bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana) -- "As many have noted, Rand's ethic of rational self-interest is incompatible with the gospel, and leads to social as well as spiritual disaster. ...
"Plato, with his tendency toward mysticism, represented philosophical depravity for Rand. So I entered college predisposed to reject Plato, and came armed with Objectivist and Aristotelian weapons for the battle. Then I actually read Plato in a philosophy class. I was shocked to find much to commend his vision of a Reality that is more than the reality we can see. 'A young man who wishes to remain an Atheist,' C. S. Lewis wrote in Surprised by Joy [3], 'cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere—'Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,' as Herbert says, 'fine nets and stratagems.' God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.' ...
"In my sophomore year, I enrolled in a two-semester 'Bible as Literature' course. ... These courses were taught by a former pastor turned agnostic, a delightful and humorous man who enjoyed introducing conservative Christians to historical-critical methods and shaking their faith. Students often emerged from Bible as Literature predictably unbiblical in their perspective. For reasons known only to the Holy Spirit, the system didn't work in my case. Reading the Bible for the first time, encountering the text and laying aside the professor's debunking attitude, I met a God who laid claim to my life, a Savior who invited (or, more precisely, demanded) my allegiance. ...
"I quickly relegated [Rand] to my intellectual and spiritual past. Friends from my Objectivist period drifted out of my life. ... In reflecting on how she inadvertently influenced me, I've seen God's hand work through her in a number of ways."
Little describes at length: "Ayn Rand taught me how to think [and] taught me that there is such a thing as objective reality. ...
"All of this, in the end, led me to the non-sentimental and objective claims of the gospel. The gospel is no mere preference. It is true, or it isn't. Jesus is who he says he is, or he is (again, Lewis) a madman or a fraud. Christian doctrine—Creation, Fall, Incarnation, Redemption, Consummation, and our ultimate and beatific vision of the Trinity—is true, or false. It can't be both. ...
"Ayn Rand taught me to believe in moral absolutes. ...
"Just as there is objective reality, there is also right and wrong. The twisted moral vision of Rand prepared me, perhaps simply by contrast, for the values of the kingdom of God. ...
"There is little in Ayn Rand's philosophy or worldview that a Christian can endorse, even in small ways. [Financial Seminary founder and frequent CT contributor, Gary] Moore is right; Rand is 'first and foremost an anti-Christian philosopher' [www.bit.ly/9f5kYX], and Objectivism stands in painfully stark contrast to the gospel. Yet I wonder if I am alone in offering thanks for Rand and her role, inadvertent as it was, in Christian conversion." Christianity Today, Jun '11, pp50-53. <www.bit.ly/ijKg7Q>
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - Forgotten Scriptures: The Selection and Rejection of Early Religious Writings, by Lee Martin McDonald (Westminster JK, 2009, paperback, 304 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/3ggnl5h>
2 - Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand (Plume, 1999, paperback, 1200 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/3byfpq4>
3 - Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life, by C. S. Lewis (Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1966, paperback, 238 pages)<www.tinyurl.com/3jjuzaz>
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