I'm subscribed to The Christian Century whose latest issue (May 2, 2006) contains an article by the evangelical scholar and Wheaton College professor, Mark Noll. Noll's article is titled "Crisis of Interpretation: Slavery and Scripture."
Noll does not make any explicit analogy between the controversy in the churches over slavery and the current conflict over homosexuality, but I cannot help but read his article in that light. Noll affirms what I've already learned on the subject--that the abolitionists were the folks who stood accused of abandoning biblical authority and the pro-slavery side occupied the "high ground" with the bible on their side. The Bible is loaded with pro-slavery prooftexts while the abolitionists could only appeal to general priciples of justice and humanity supported by the "golden rule."
The Civil War seems to many like ancient history, but the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, the Southern Baptist Convention, still bears a name that identifies them with what was the "biblical" (pro-slavery) side of the debate. My own denomination, The United Methodist Church, still bears some of the jagged scars of its own historic division into northern and southern denominations.
I don't know that Noll's article gives us any answers for the current battle over the Bible and homosexuality, but it ought to serve as a caution about how we approach the Bible. The mistakes of the past might make us more humble about the certainty of our positions in the present.
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2 comments:
I've not read the original article you are discussing, but your comments seemed a bit strange to me after my first read. But after reading your profile, I recognized why you made the comparison between slavery and homosexuality.
Slavery is spoken of quite often in the Scriptures. In fact, instead of condemning it (as you might expect) the New Testament focuses on slaves and masters having a right attitude (Eph. 6:5-9).
On the other hand, nothing good is ever said about homosexuality in the Bible. It is always condemned and is viewed as something which should not be part of a believer's life (1 Cor. 6:9-11; Rom. 1:24-32).
Please reconsider the direction you have taken in your life. For more help, I wrote this article.with the hope of helping those in the GLBT lifestyle.
For a more complete discussion of this subject read the new book by Jack Roger, "Jesus, the Bible, & Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church." Rogers is an Evanglical from the Presbyterian tradition who discusses how he changed his mind about homosexuality.
His book focuses on the fact that the church has wrongfully used scripture over and over in its history to come to very tragic conclusions. Slavery, women's rights, racism, and now how the church treats and considers homosexuality are some of the results of these flawed intrepretations.
The book may not change your mind, but it will cause you to think.
Oh-- by the way, I know some books that will help those in "straight" lifestyles, especially with their phobias.
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