One Best Answer ✔️

One Best Answer ✔️

One Best Answer

Reflective Insight

Dialectical Thinking (A Copilot AI summary including content from R. Gallaty, The Forgotten Jesus: Why Western Christians Should Follow An Eastern Rabbi (pp. 27–28). Zondervan.

Application: Western readers often approach Scripture with the assumption that every question must have a single, definitive solution. This mindset can simplify complex doctrines but often strips away the richness of paradox, relational nuance, and layered meaning. It can lead to rigid doctrinal debates, reductionist theology, and frustration when biblical texts resist neat conclusions.

Definition: A way of reasoning common in Western culture that reduces tension into one “correct” conclusion. Rooted in Greek logic and the law of the excluded middle, it insists that if one statement is true, its opposite must be false. This approach seeks clarity and certainty but often oversimplifies.

Contrast with Eastern Thought:

• Western (✔️ One Best Answer): A + B = C. Contradictions must be resolved into a single outcome.
• Eastern (☯️ Dialectical Thinking): A + B = AB. Opposites can coexist in tension, revealing deeper truth.
• Result: Western thought often struggles with paradoxical doctrines, while Eastern thought embraces them as part of life and faith.

Biblical Examples:

• Divine sovereignty vs. free will: Western thought demands one side “win.” Eastern thought holds both together.
• Kingdom of God: Western readers want to know if it is present or future. Eastern thought says “both.”
• Election vs. human responsibility: Western logic seeks a single doctrinal answer. Eastern thought accepts the paradox.
• Jesus’ sayings: Many of His teachings resist reduction to one best answer, yet Western readers often force them into systematic categories.

Scholar Insight:

James Fleming contrasts the two approaches:

• Western logic: “A + B = C. There is one statement conclusion for A + B.”
• Middle Eastern logic: “A + B = AB. The answer is yes, yes, or AB.” Fleming notes that paradox is not a problem in biblical culture but a deeper truth. Western insistence on ✔️ one best answer often obscures this richness.

See Also: Dialectical Thinking ☯️ — the opposite approach to ✔️ One Best Answer Thinking.