An Open Letter to My Patheos Prog Xian Colleagues

Dear friends,

I am honored to be a little voice amongst such powerful voices. Thank you for the privilege of being part of this fantastic channel on Patheos.

A few of you know me (and yes, I am still crazy after all these years), but most wouldn’t I think. My area of interest has been in the use of Rene Girard’s mimetic theory to read texts, specifically biblical texts. I understand the gospel to unmask the generative scapegoating mechanism that grounds and maintains human culture (and religion) in sacred violence.

I have been reflecting on something that I would like to share with you. Thank you for listening.

I have to admit a certain amount of Schadenfreude when I read that Acts 29 had cut itself off from Mark Driscoll. Last January, on my FB page, I was angry as hell at Driscoll for perpetrating a scam, one grounded in a Janus-faced, not a Jesus-faced God. I challenged him to a public debate. I despise the neo-Calvinist god, it makes our Abba out to be a vampiric ogre.

But upon reflection I realized I was just being negatively mimetic, I had become part of a mob who would be turning Mark Driscoll into a scapegoat. Like so many I wanted to see him topple, his empire crumble. And for good reasons too.

It may turn out that the Driscoll affair becomes enmeshed in a cover-up or just good PR, full of the misdirection and deception we have come to know so well. That is how I think when I apply a hermeneutics of suspicion to the whole thing.

Reflecting in subsequent days on the way Acts 29 cut off Mark Driscoll, I realized that Driscoll was being thrown under the bus. Evangelicalism is showing all manner of signs that mimetic conflict is raging out of control and Driscoll will make a worthy scapegoat.

Here is my suggestion: let us stay away from joining the voices of those who would join the mimetic mob.

The old paradigm, that of the violent god, will crumble even more, even faster, if we do not join the Evangelical and Fundamentalist mob that is preparing the sacrifice. If instead we stand by Mark Driscoll, pray for his Enlightenment, healing for his soul, a genuine and authentic encounter with the Risen Christ, might it not be that we will then be behaving as genuine followers of Jesus? Will we all not someday share a feast, the finest of feasts, with Mark Driscoll too?

We have all been blowing the trumpets for years as we have marched around the sacrificial paradigm, waiting for the walls to come tumbling down. So, I invite you to join me and instead of rejoicing that the mighty have fallen, come with me and grieve at the foot of the cross where the Scapegoat that ends Scapegoating hangs. It is one thing to engage and critique ideas and worldviews and even destructive behaviors. Joining in a frenzied mob is of an entirely different order.

If we do not join the scapegoating Evangelical and neo-Calvinist mob, we can speak to the scapegoating by pointing to the cross of Jesus. If we join them, however, then we can only point at the victim (in accusation).

We believe in a merciful God. May we also show mercy, yes, even to Mark Driscoll.

[To Mark Driscoll: Should you ever read this I say the book of Job will be your best friend in the coming days. Just learn this: Do you feel more like Job with or without chapters 1-2 and 38-42?]

Peace,

Michael