BIAS AND THEOLOGY

After noticing yesterday that Simon the Pharisee seemed a textbook example of the human tendency to always be on the lookout for new evidence to confirm our prior beliefs (while disregarding all evidence against), tonight I googled "examples of confirmation bias in the Bible".

It was one of those rare searches that turns up absolutely nothing along the lines of what I was looking for. 

Seems like this could be an area worthy of some thought and study.

What Google did turn up was lots of Christian websites warning that humans sometimes experience confirmation bias and, if we're not careful, it could affect our theology. 

"Sometimes" is not reality. We all experience this bias and it happens multiple times a day without our awareness. 

And it definitely affects our theological formation. 

It's one more reason to hold theological convictions in "probability space" and to resist letting too much of our identity get invested in them too soon.