{"id":207,"date":"2009-02-10T18:41:29","date_gmt":"2009-02-10T18:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/tonyjones\/2009\/02\/a-believing-philosopher.html"},"modified":"2009-02-10T18:41:29","modified_gmt":"2009-02-10T18:41:29","slug":"a-believing-philosopher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/02\/a-believing-philosopher.html","title":{"rendered":"A “Believing” Philosopher"},"content":{"rendered":"

Occasional blogger and always philosopher, Kevin Corcoran<\/a>, has written a bit about his experience on the emerging church panel at the recent Calvin Worship Symposium<\/a>.  It seems that the panelists were asked about what beliefs are necessary to be a Christian, and several of them hedged in their answers, including Kevin.  He’s continued the discussion on his blog<\/a>:<\/p>\n

God, I take it, is never satisfied with belief that<\/span>.
\nGod is interested in the total reorientation and rearrangement of our
\nlives, our loves, our desires our entire way of being in the world. The
\nimportant question is whether being a Christian is fundamentally and
\nprimarily about belief that certain propositions are true.<\/p>\n

At
\nthe most basic level it seems clear to me that God is most interested
\nin the total reorganization and reconfiguration of human life, of
\nreorienting the human will, heart, desires and loves. God is interested
\nin our moral and existential transformation. This of course is in no
\nway incompatible with belief that certain propositions of the relevant
\nsort are true. But the goal is transformed lives, not<\/span> belief in “Jesus facts.”<\/p>\n

And this is why when asked whether followers of Christ must<\/span>
\nknow and put their trust in him, I’m inclined to point out that “being
\na Christian” (like belief) is progressive, that I am even now, and
\nafter all these years still becoming<\/span> a Christian. Followers of Christ must, of course, put their trust in him. I must put my trust in him: today<\/span> I must; tomorrow<\/span> I must, and the next day<\/span> I must. My frustration with myself is that I often put my trust in Christ one moment and then take it back the next.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[UPDATE: Kevin has blogged more about the nature of belief<\/a>.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Occasional blogger and always philosopher, Kevin Corcoran, has written a bit about his experience on the emerging church panel at the recent Calvin Worship Symposium.  It seems that the panelists were asked about what beliefs are necessary to be a Christian, and several of them hedged in their answers, including Kevin.  He’s continued the discussion…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philosophy","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nA "Believing" Philosopher - The New Christians<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/02\/a-believing-philosopher.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A "Believing" Philosopher - 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