Romans Tangent #3 Paradigm Shifts

I am blessed with a 200-mile one way commute on weekends. This gives me lots of time to listen to a variety of audio books and have some lengthy cell phone conversations with family and friends. One audio book in particular, I found very fascinating -”The Invention of Air” by Steven Johnson. It is about Joseph Priestly (1733 to 1804) who was friends with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. He was known as an intellectual and was among several things a theologian (extremely liberal), philosopher, political theorist and a scientist. Among his numerous scientific accomplishments was his discovery of oxygen in 1774. Funny thing about it was that he called it “"dephlogisticated air". He coined this term because of the scientific paradigm that he was working within known as phlogiston (pronounced phlŏgistón) theory.

Phologiston theory was the science of combustion in the 1700’s. The theory said that everything that is flammable is flammable because it contained a substance called phlogiston. As a material burned, it released phlogiston to the air. When all of the phlogiston was depleted, combustion would cease. The air in the process of combustion would become phlogisticated. Priestly was able to isolate the component of air that would not become phlogisticated and he called it “dephlogisticated air”. Two other people, Scheele and Lavoisier, around the same period of time made similar discoveries of oxygen but Priestly is generally credited with the discovery. Priestly explained his discovery within the context of phlogiston theory until he died in 1804. Antoine Lavoisier abolished phlogiston theory and gave us the name oxygen and a new scientific theory that was closer to the truth. A massive paradigm shift had taken place. Research data could “fit” and be dealt with honestly within the context of the new paradigm. Priestly had to “force” the data into his erroneously held theory of combustion.

Ok, what does all of this have to do with being a Christian? When I read about phlogiston and paradigm shifts it reminded me some of my journey as a Christian. I had a certain paradigm or system for understanding the God of the Bible and Biblical doctrine. The first time I came across the truths at the end of Romans 8 and in Romans 9 (i.e. God chooses His people), it rocked me to the core. It was an anomaly to my belief system. My belief system had no room for this teaching. I was faced with a crisis and I could deal with the crisis in several different ways. I could ignore it and say I don’t want go there and deal with it….kind of a willful ignorance. Or, I could cram it into my existing system or paradigm using interpretive gymnastics. What happened in reality was a lengthy vetting process. I read books, engaged others in conversations, thought and analyzed, studied what pillars in the Christian faith believed in the matter and over a course of years a paradigm shift took place. I’m sharing this because I suspect that my teaching on Romans 9 may be creating a crisis of theology in some of my readers.

One other thought that I would like to share is that a vetting process of Biblical truth has taken place over a couple of millennia. A general orthodoxy has emerged through a lengthy vetting process, by godly and scholarly believers. The kind of paradigm shifts that I am talking about as a Christian will not shift you away from this general orthodoxy. It will not shift you into another religion or cult. It is an individual shift that moves one closer to the truth.

“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Eph 4:11-13