Conrad Lehman, Kindergarten, 1968
In 1968, our family lived in Harrisonburg, VA. Our five-year-old son was in kindergarten. His sister, mother and father were enrolled as students at Eastern Mennonite College.
We lived in a second floor apartment in the E. G. Gehman house on the hill behind the school. We had a perfect breakfast time view of the sun’s rise over the Massanutten Range on the east. Sunlight flooded the beautiful Shennadoah Valley.
One morning I tried to explain to our five year old son that it may look like the sun is going around the earth, but it isn’t. Actually, the earth is revolving, and going around the sun as it revolves. His puzzled face clouded, and then brightened as he announced, “I’m going to ask my teacher!” Wisely, he wanted a second opinion from his kindergarten teacher on a matter so complex. I’ve always admired him for that
A person who is confronted by an important medical decision may wisely ask for second or third opinions before undergoing a procedure. So it seems to me that when long held religious beliefs are questioned it would be well to ask for second opinions.
If you are following my blogs you are aware that I am reporting on a book that challenges long-held views of Jesus and the Bible. Barrie Wilson’s book, How Jesus Became Christian, is already a type of a second view. Wilson is a scholar who has written in a popular style for curious, open- minded readers. I like that.
Scholars rarely accommodate to the needs of an ordinary layman. But now, as I prepare to write a blog describing Wilson’s view of the Apostle Paul, I am inclined to want a third opinion. I hope to be an open-minded reader, but this old fool wants to avoid being gullible. There is a difference, I think.
Scholars and others are invited to comment at length on the blogs on website that are related to Wilson’s book. As a scholar, Wilson should welcome peer reviews of his findings.
