Analysis and Reflection of Square Peg Why Wesleyans...

Square Peg: Why Wesleyans Arent Fundamentalists, a book edited by Al Truesdale and published by Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, examines two significantly different ways of understanding the nature and role of the Bible that mark different parts of Christ’s church. The first is represented by fundamentalism; the second by Wesleyan theology. The goal of the book is to help persons in Wesleyan denominations clearly understand the differences between Wesleyan theology and fundamentalist theology, and that even though both are of the Christian faith, how the theology between the two are incompatible with one another. â€Å"Without becoming divisive or claiming perfection in Christian doctrine, the various denominations hold theological†¦show more content†¦That is a question we must ask as we read the Bible from their point of view. â€Å"Far from trying to make the Bible address modern science, this position holds that Gen. 1 is a distinct theological statement s et within ancient Israels cultural context.† (loc 677 Kindle, Branson) This position doesnt attempt to have a scientific explanation of how things happened in the Bible, but keeps science and the Bible separated. Thus as we read Genesis from an Israelite viewpoint, â€Å"we free the text to speak with its own powerful voice.† (loc 894 Kindle, Branson) This position is one that Biblical scholars generally advocate in the study of the Bible. For while science can try and explain what processes God may have used in the creation of the universe, this shouldnt take away the joy and wonder of what God created. â€Å"Science has enlarged our concepts of space and time and by doing enlarged our understanding of the sovereignty and majesty of the God who rules over all of creation and who in Christ became incarnate as the worlds Redeemer (John 1:1-5;3:16). â€Å" (loc 897 Kindle, Branson) Knowing these three positions are important to understanding how different people go a bout their studying of the Bible. There shouldnt be a right or wrong way how you study the Bible as long as you take the message of God into your lives. â€Å"Any interpretation of the Bible that hinders the Holy Spirits witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ or that diverts our full attention from discipleship