Hmm. I'm a white evangelical and I am aware of each of the things you mention and have no problem with wider awareness of them. I could be mistaken, but many evangelicals of color may hold to the same beliefs you critique. This makes me wonder why white evangelicals are singled out. For what it's worth, evangelicalism is not a monolith. There is a significant subset that has been called "the other evangelicals" by researcher Wes Markofski and spoken of in an article he wrote at The Immanent Frame and his book Good News for Common Goods.
Understanding ancient societies casts a different perspective on the received text. The Torah was an Iron Age document with a Mesopotamian perspective. 'Slavery in Egypt' is an example. There was no slavery in Egypt, just as in the 20th Century there was no slavery in the Soviet Union, despite what US pundits said. But there was slavery in Mesopotamia, and it was so bad that there was the institution of Jubilee, the periodic freeing of the slaves and forgiveness of debts (indebtedness being a major cause of slavery in Mesopotamia). Canaan was part of the land bridge between Mesopotamia and Egypt, and thus was contended. There was an ivory plaque found at Megiddo dated to the time of Solomon showing a king seated on a throne of cherubim, thus the king of Israel. The style of the image is recognizably Egyptian. The received text of the Torah commands "Don't follow the ways of the Egyptians" and says that God brought Israel out of Egypt. The Exodus appears to be mythical (no archeological evidence) and thus reflects a changing political situation in the Iron Age (the rise of Assyria against Egypt, Egypt and Assyria uniting against the Medes, Babylonia joining the Medes and the Persians to conquer Judah, Persia reestablishing Judah). Persia went on to conquer Egypt, but while Persia spread the Lydian concept of currency, money didn't become part of Egyptian practice until the conquest of Alexander the Great.
So, I was a missionary kid. My parents were lay missionary teachers, not evangelizers. But they believed ... though it's sometimes tough to figure out what.
That said, let me tell you how luminescent your research and writing are for me. Deep down they reveal to me that "faith" is ... a method of control. (For example, I discovered that Thich Nhat Hanh does not use the word.) Thus, to notice where "faith" is foisted on us. From so many directions: faith in the "rule of law" or in Coca-Cola's longing for global unity or .....
By the way, your takeaway sentences carry a punch: "central doctrine of the faith is a Latin gloss that worked its way into the margin and then into the page" / Every church that bars women from the pulpit is running on the forgeries" / "God is the operator of the procedure and the temple is the clinic"
But bear in mind that you're often preaching to the choir. And, as is often the case, you're also preaching and writing to yourself. The latter is the most honest - no?
Just tell all this to some of the people on Medium, which I have. It falls on deaf ears with a little lecture on the side. People are gonna believe what they want to believe.
I'm not white or evangelical, but this guy is spouting nonsense by mixing real facts with progressive theological poison.
Hmm. I'm a white evangelical and I am aware of each of the things you mention and have no problem with wider awareness of them. I could be mistaken, but many evangelicals of color may hold to the same beliefs you critique. This makes me wonder why white evangelicals are singled out. For what it's worth, evangelicalism is not a monolith. There is a significant subset that has been called "the other evangelicals" by researcher Wes Markofski and spoken of in an article he wrote at The Immanent Frame and his book Good News for Common Goods.
Understanding ancient societies casts a different perspective on the received text. The Torah was an Iron Age document with a Mesopotamian perspective. 'Slavery in Egypt' is an example. There was no slavery in Egypt, just as in the 20th Century there was no slavery in the Soviet Union, despite what US pundits said. But there was slavery in Mesopotamia, and it was so bad that there was the institution of Jubilee, the periodic freeing of the slaves and forgiveness of debts (indebtedness being a major cause of slavery in Mesopotamia). Canaan was part of the land bridge between Mesopotamia and Egypt, and thus was contended. There was an ivory plaque found at Megiddo dated to the time of Solomon showing a king seated on a throne of cherubim, thus the king of Israel. The style of the image is recognizably Egyptian. The received text of the Torah commands "Don't follow the ways of the Egyptians" and says that God brought Israel out of Egypt. The Exodus appears to be mythical (no archeological evidence) and thus reflects a changing political situation in the Iron Age (the rise of Assyria against Egypt, Egypt and Assyria uniting against the Medes, Babylonia joining the Medes and the Persians to conquer Judah, Persia reestablishing Judah). Persia went on to conquer Egypt, but while Persia spread the Lydian concept of currency, money didn't become part of Egyptian practice until the conquest of Alexander the Great.
Tanner,
So, I was a missionary kid. My parents were lay missionary teachers, not evangelizers. But they believed ... though it's sometimes tough to figure out what.
That said, let me tell you how luminescent your research and writing are for me. Deep down they reveal to me that "faith" is ... a method of control. (For example, I discovered that Thich Nhat Hanh does not use the word.) Thus, to notice where "faith" is foisted on us. From so many directions: faith in the "rule of law" or in Coca-Cola's longing for global unity or .....
By the way, your takeaway sentences carry a punch: "central doctrine of the faith is a Latin gloss that worked its way into the margin and then into the page" / Every church that bars women from the pulpit is running on the forgeries" / "God is the operator of the procedure and the temple is the clinic"
But bear in mind that you're often preaching to the choir. And, as is often the case, you're also preaching and writing to yourself. The latter is the most honest - no?
take care,
Alan
Just tell all this to some of the people on Medium, which I have. It falls on deaf ears with a little lecture on the side. People are gonna believe what they want to believe.