ABSTRACT
In A p ril, 1949, G . Ernest W rig h t and F. V . Filson collaborated in offering the Haskell Lectures at O berlin C ollege on the subject, ‘T h e Bible Against its Environm ent.’ 1 T h e title, upon reflection, seems an odd one. A fter all, w e have been trained, since elem entary school, in a popular ‘D arw in ism ’ that tells us that extinction is the fate o f organisms that fail to adapt to their environm ent.2 Here, the same failure is adjudged a trium ph. W h at makes all the difference is the problem atic m odern theolog ical category o f ‘uniqueness’ . (See above, C hapter T w o .) Thus one m ay question the initial conjunction o f tw o terms in Filson’s description o f early Christian teaching, that it was ‘distinct and unique’ (8). T h e one term is not synonym ous w ith the other. ‘Distinctness’ is alw ays relative, it is a m atter o f being different w ith respect to this or that characteristic or quality and, as such, invites the com parative enterprise. ‘Uniqueness’ is absolute, and, therefore, forbids com parison b y virtue o f its ve ry assertion. N o r is it necessary to affirm the consequences o f a denial o f total singularity as posed b y Filson w hen he insists that, i f Christianity is not unique, then it is either an instance o f ‘plagiarism ’ or ‘eclecticism ’ (8). These are surely not the only possibilities available for the description o f intercultural relationships or analogies.
