Philip Taylor

“Luther and Calvin were explicit that the intent of Scripture was not to teach natural science, and their employment of accommodation served to relieve Scripture of that task. But beginning in the seventeenth century, scholars expected Scripture to serve as a framework for comprehensive knowledge of the world, including the interests of natural science. Demonstrating scientific concord became a necessary task to prove the validity of the Bible. By the time of Old Princeton, an old earth was commonly accepted among educated conservatives, who continued the tradition of scientific concordism.”
― John W. Hilber, Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation: A Relevance Theory Approach

“We don’t have to fit in or form community because we will soon be leaving. As long as it doesn’t personally impact us, we are not concerned with understanding the cultural story or social, political, and economic life of our neighbors. Ultimately, this “just visiting” mentality has allowed Christians to avoid their calling. In the “just visiting” mentality, we focus on texts that tell us our citizenship is in heaven, that we are not “of this world,” but conveniently forget the requirements of that citizenship—namely, to be God’s representatives for and in the world.”
― Paul S. Williams, Exiles on Mission: How Christians Can Thrive in a Post-Christian World

“Literal interpretation, in the sense of initial dictionary meanings of words, has no privileged place in communication, including that of the Bible.”
― John W. Hilber, Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation: A Relevance Theory Approach

“As a clue to contextual relevance, we might ask to what use did later Old Testament interpreters put Gen 1?”
― John W. Hilber, Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation: A Relevance Theory Approach