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Date: | Fri Mar 31 17:19:23 2006 |
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Pace Prabhu Guptara:
I certainly plead guilty to talking about Christianity in an
undifferentiated way. And I think his differentiation between elite
education and popular education seems on the surface to be sensible.
But I wonder how accurate his conclusions are.
Is it the case that, in Judaism and Islam for instances, that only
the elite are educated or that there is no emphasis on independent
thinking by the mass? (I am impressed in non-caliphate Islam by the
diversity of opinions that are stated by the elites, and suspect that
the individuals in the whole culture have to think for themselves who
to follow.)
I am also wary about the Protestant priesthood of all
believers. I know that the idea is that Protestants read and
interpret the Bible for themselves. But is that really true in
practice in Protestantism? Luther read the Bible for himself, but
once the established Lutheran church came into existence, you had to
follow the Lutheran interpretation of the Bible. Maybe you can argue
that there is a 'culture' of knowledge, but I also think that within
each church there is a specific teaching ....
Peter G. Stillman
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