My friend Rob published two blog posts about something I’ve been interested in for a while, Progressive revelation. In Henry Virkler’s Herrmeneutics he discusses a theological model of bibliccal interpretation called the epigenetic (or organic) model. This model views the development of scripture as something akin to a tree, which is always complete and yet still growing. I think the approach that Rob has taken to interpreting and understanding scripture (though I don’t know that he would call it that anymore) in which culture is considered to be a vehicle for divine inspiration.
I’m sure that to some people this makes things impossible. Emphasizing, or even bringing up, the influence of human involvement is bad news for inerrancy. The input of fallible human culture completely undercuts the possibility of a perfectly factual scripture. In which case we have to go back to the drawing board and reexamine the things that we think because they just can’t be. I had to do that when I read William G Dever’s book about early Israel. In it he points out that the archaeological evidence throughout Israel points to a proto-Israel that emerged from the indigenous population of Canaan. This means that the facts of history do not comport with the narrative of scripture.
Before this point I was already interested in progressive revelation, and afterward I found it much easier to view the development of scripture as an organic process. It seems to me that the development of scripture over time was a glacially slow process that involved several different cults bringing their disparate theological views into the biblical cannon until eventually we end up with what we have today.
It is important to avoid ethnocentric understandings of scripture. This is especially the case when we deal with taking our interpretations and developing some product of theological significance. Rob refers to “nostalgia” being a roadblock to our properly understanding a divinely inspired and historically shaped document. I think this happens because when nostalgia replaces actually attempts to read scripture as an historical document that was produced over a period of time throughout several functioning cultures it serves as a kind of shell game in which the culture in which the nostalgic person lives forces out the culture that ought to be the subject. So the fundamentalist who thinks they’re staying true to the people who wrote the Bible is actually supplanting that culture for his or her own.
Grace and Peace,
Jared
Filed under: Rants
Laura and I were talking to day and she asked me to blog something that I’d said about why Republicans will have an advantage on the populist front.
If you’ve ever been talked into ordering a combo meal at a fast food restaurant when all you wanted was a burger, this will make perfect sense to you. Thomas Frank describes how social conservatives ended up being folded up into the trickle down economics crowd because they felt so strongly about issues like abortion and their only recourse was to start voting Republican.
These poor people are looking for a political party that will represnt their views on issues like abortion, marriage, teaching evolution, etc. but I’m not entirely convinced that they really want to go against their economic interests. In many places (e.g. Frank’s Kansas) the working class were once well-represented by their unions. These good people are sitting to a burger they want and drink and fries that they don’t.
To be honest, the drink’s not so bad, you have to drink something anyway. But it’s the damn fries that are just intolerable. Sitting there getting cold and nasty, and yet you have to choke them down anyway. That’s where we are a a country right now. Stagnant wages come with the meal, so we choke down the bullshit with the things we wanted.
Progressives get the same processed straight to your ass nutrient-free “meal” from Democrats too, it’s just not a combo that’s particularly appealing to populist sensibilities. In fact Progressivism is at its best when it is a populist message, that’s when it’s most honest. Whereas a realistic iteration of conservatism is when the rich elitists are straight up about how they’re interested more in their well-being than in anyone else’s.
Grace and Peace,
Jared
Filed under: Progressivism
I’m always very proud of myself when I see something from a new angle or articulate something in a way that represents my thoughts and feelings in as clear a manner as possible. And last night something like that happened.
I was talking to my father, explaining to him why it was that I traded in my libertarians shaded glasses for progressive glasses. Ultimately it came when I realized that I could not be a good reformed Protestant Christian who was obedient to scripture, in unity with the Church and subservient to Jesus while saying that it was everyone’s responsibility to care for themselves. Somewhere in this conversation I rattle off something like, “You have to be wealthy to get sick. You have to be wealthy to be hungry. You have to be wealthy to be homeless.” In essence this is because only the wealthy have the resources to resolve these situations when they come to be.
To this my father responded that he knew of a man who had a large farm where he grew sweet potatoes. This man hires Mexicans to bring in the harvest on this farm surrounded by fences bearing “No Trespassing” signs. My father told me that once the Mexicans finished their work, there were still quite a lot of sweet potatoes left. But fear not, for these sweet potatoes were protected from any possibility of theft. No one would steal these yams, for they were protected by the local sheriff’s deputies, because the owner of this land could not bear the thought of someone taking his property. My first question for my father was how close the nearest church was, and my second question was how angry they were. Then I made a joke about how the people in the church were probably angrier about the Mexicans working the fields than they were about the greed and selfishness, in spite of every prophet’s call for justice being aimed at the wealthy.
Grace and Peace,
Jared
Filed under: Uncategorized
Please support the changes that Senator Akaka has put forth. This country needs its veterans to receive quality educations and job training to make this country greater than it is now by contributing to our corporate civic life as well as our economic well-being. Please do everything you can to see that this bill becomes law.
Grace and Peace,
Jared
Filed under: Rants
This is a portion of the most recent message my congressional Representative sent out:
With our troops engaged in both Afghanistan and Iraq I think it is irresponsible for Congress to change a policy without clear evidence that it will not interfere with our military’s objectives. Any consideration of change that could effect morale should be left to our generals on the battlefield. It is unfortunate that Democrats feel the need to push a social agenda before an election instead of waiting for the Pentagon’s study due out in December that will gauge what affect repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell will have on our men and women in uniform.
This is my response:
Representative McCaul, I received your most recent e-mail message, and I must say that the section on the possible repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” is a remarkable example of your inability to lead. The smokescreen that conservatives keep throwing up of a need to know how this will affect military personnel is spurious, irresponsible and immoral. Regardless of how you feel about the lives that these folks lead personally, their lifestyle in no way inhibits their ability to serve and perform the mission. If someone told me that I could be an Anglican and serve in the military, but just not ever disclose the fact that I was an Anglican, and if anyone else ever informed my supervisor or Commander that I was a member of a church that was part of the Worldwide Anglican Communion, they would be forced to begin an investigation to determine whether or not they needed to force my involuntary separation from the military. Is that just? Is it moral? Would you care what the problems involved with repealing any law that forced me to lie, to violate the standard of integrity to which we hold our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines? I should hope not. I would like to think that you would fight tooth and nail to have this ignorant and unjust law repealed, if for no other reason than this law would be a burden on our military and its ability to perform the mission it was given. Stop hiding and lead Representative McCaul. This kind of short-sighted political nonsense does no favors to the United States military and it puts people who are otherwise honorable servants of this nation lie and conceal things about themselves. Shame on you and shame on anyone who supports this unjust law. Change your mind sir, in the interests of justice and national security, change your mind.
Grace and Peace,
Jared
Anglopressy 