One cranky reply: Even when you leave behind the God of the philosophers, you write as if one could stand outside of a way of life centered on some notion of God, separate out a list of truth-claims from the way of life in which they live, decide (empirically?) if they were true, and then base your decision on whether or not to take up the way of life on that determination. But why should - how could - competent judgment precede extensive immersion in practice? (You're the one with pragmatist affinities, after all.) This way of approaching the question is like trying to decide if there are qualitative differences in musical performances just from reading reviews. And going to Candler doesn't count - still second-order. But what if you went to a dying Presbyterian church in South Philly for a decade and shared fully in its life and made yourself an apprentice to some of its aging masters? Then you'd be in a position to make a decision. Practice, participation, and community almost always precede understanding. Why should this case be different?
It has taken me a while to think about a response Fugs. One thing I was not trying to do was formulate an argument. It was more of a brass tacks proposition: what do I really believe? Now one thing this does is make me look like the fundamentalist I claimed I might be, considering truth claims in stark terms without too much context. I suppose I could take refuge in the fact that this is how many of your co-religionists approach their religion, and indeed how lots and lots of folks do. There are often certain creeds and such that one must indicate agreement with in order to join the community in the first place. Particular communities are claiming universal truths that aren't dependent on context. So truth claims often are front and center, and even if they are not always central, they are never irrelevant. Not out there anyway, though maybe in the academy, and that probably indicates why I could be a second-order fish out of water. One doesn't always have the chance to live the life before coming to any sort of decision with regards to these matters. So while this move might be justified, to an extent, it would leave some important things unanswered. No refuge here.
