{"id":1138,"date":"2019-02-16T14:33:55","date_gmt":"2019-02-16T22:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?p=1138"},"modified":"2019-02-17T13:32:50","modified_gmt":"2019-02-17T21:32:50","slug":"sbc-the-problem-is-the-theology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/02\/16\/sbc-the-problem-is-the-theology\/","title":{"rendered":"SBC: The Problem is The Theology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Even though I was born and raised in the Western United States, I grew up attending Southern Baptist Churches, graduated from a Southern Baptist seminary, and pastored a Southern Baptist Church.\u00a0 Weird, I know.\u00a0 My point: I have some familiarity with that world.<\/p>\n

Recently we learned of a history of sexual abuse within this tradition.\u00a0 While the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is large, the extent of the abuse was still sobering.\u00a0 The report<\/a> found that over 200 pastors and leaders, over a 20-year period, were convicted of, or took plea deals, for crimes of a sexual nature.\u00a0 This impacted over 700 victims.\u00a0 Of course, when we consider the families and churches connected to the victims, this impacted well over 700 people.<\/p>\n

The current leaders of the SBC have, as we would expect, responded with a clear sense they understand the gravity of the report.\u00a0 Even though the report came from outside the SBC, and there were calls for looking into the problem from SBC pastors and leaders prior, they at least sound like they will do something now.\u00a0 It\u2019s a start and better than nothing.<\/p>\n

The problem though is the same as outlined here<\/a> regarding the \u201cMe Too\u201d movement.\u00a0 The core problem is not culture, or policies, or procedures.\u00a0 The problem is not a lack of proper vetting or hiring practices.\u00a0 Yes, all those areas are important and there is no doubt changes in those areas will help to some extent.\u00a0 Still, those are not the underlying key problem and until that problem is addressed, all the vetting and policy changes in the world will not prevent these things from happening again, on this sort of scale.<\/p>\n

As outlined in the piece by Linda Kay Klein, the problems, among others, are:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to take a long look at the theological and structural conditions that enable abuse \u2014 rejecting purity teachings that are used to shame and blame survivors, renouncing authoritarianism and elevating the voices of the many who remain unheard.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is an obvious relation between structures\/culture and theology\/philosophy.\u00a0 They reinforce each other.\u00a0 Still, long term, meaningful change to structures\/cultures comes from, among other factors, changes to theology, to deeply held beliefs.\u00a0 Such is where the SBC needs to focus and change.\u00a0 Their best theologians and scholars need to address these problems.\u00a0 Like turning an air craft carrier, it may take some time, but it will be from changing beliefs that behavior follows, which then will be codified into structure and culture.<\/p>\n

Clearly, immediate policy and procedure changes also need to be made.\u00a0 But the underlying theology is key.\u00a0 Long term, real, meaningful change will happen once the underlying theology is addressed.<\/p>\n

At bottom, the SBC still suffers from what all fundamentalism suffers from: They are too modern (See here<\/a> and here<\/a>).\u00a0 They think their theology harkens back either to the first century church, or the Protestant churches formed shortly after the Reformation, when what they really harken back to is a 1950s American, white, middle-class, Southern church.\u00a0 And such is more a product of the Reformation, Enlightenment, and late capitalism, modified and shaped by American history, than any Bible proof texts.<\/p>\n

Also, the idea of an \u201cautonomous<\/a>\u201d local church is a fairly modern idea.\u00a0 It reflects, first, a Reformation anti-Catholic reaction to the polity of ancient ecclesial structures, and, second, the general autonomy of the individual, which is an Enlightenment<\/a> principle.\u00a0 Again, either is probably the more accurate origin of the idea than proof texts.\u00a0 And yet, this modern idea is exactly what has allowed leaders within the denomination to side-step any responsibility and is partly why the reported abuse was not dealt with earlier.\u00a0 To be fair, we could point out that a Catholic ecclesial polity did not prevent the abuse found in their tradition either, which is why theological changes regarding human sexuality and relation are more important the just structural polity changes.<\/p>\n

The fundamental theological change however needs to come in the area of human sexuality and the treatment, view, of women.\u00a0 Conservative Southern Baptists think \u201ccomplementarian<\/a>\u201d theology protects women and the \u201ctraditional\u201d (?) roles of men and women.\u00a0 This report regarding abuse, one could argue, reveals the very opposite.\u00a0 Such a theology does not protect women.\u00a0 It is little more than a \u201cseparate but equal\u201d type of theology that can never lift up the one separated, and serves to, under the guise of a condescending paternalism, keep them in \u201ctheir place.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if history tells us anything, it is that people constantly told by theology, law, and culture to stay, \u201cin their place,\u201d are never truly protected and are ripe for abuse and being taken advantage of.\u00a0 And young women who are told their \u201cpurity\u201d is everything, that their bodies are little more than temptations, who then are taken advantage of by older men, are left to live in shame and silence.<\/p>\n

Any theology that allows for such, that creates an environment for such, is a theology that needs to be left behind.\u00a0 No policy, vetting, or hiring practice can take the place of deep theological reflection and change.\u00a0 While I\u2019m no longer a Southern Baptist, or in that world anymore, let us hope the SBC makes the better choice here.<\/p>\n

I have a Patreon<\/a> Page\u2014please consider supporting my writing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even though I was born and raised in the Western United States, I grew up attending Southern Baptist Churches, graduated from a Southern Baptist seminary, and pastored a Southern Baptist Church.\u00a0 Weird, I know.\u00a0 My point: I have some familiarity with that world. Recently we learned of a history of sexual abuse within this tradition.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":1144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[688,143,278,685,682],"class_list":["post-1138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abuse","tag-evangelicalism","tag-modernity","tag-polity","tag-southern-baptist-convention"],"yoast_head":"\nSBC: The Problem is The Theology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Even though I was born and raised in the Western United States, I grew up attending Southern Baptist Churches, graduated from a Southern Baptist seminary,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/02\/16\/sbc-the-problem-is-the-theology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SBC: The Problem is The Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Even though I was born and raised in the Western United States, I grew up attending Southern Baptist Churches, graduated from a Southern Baptist seminary,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/02\/16\/sbc-the-problem-is-the-theology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Divergence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-16T22:33:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-17T21:32:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1004\/2019\/02\/church-53192_640.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"379\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@darrelllackey1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/02\/16\/sbc-the-problem-is-the-theology\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/02\/16\/sbc-the-problem-is-the-theology\/\",\"name\":\"SBC: The Problem is The Theology\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-16T22:33:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-17T21:32:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\"},\"description\":\"Even though I was born and raised in the Western United States, I grew up attending Southern Baptist Churches, graduated from a Southern Baptist seminary,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/02\/16\/sbc-the-problem-is-the-theology\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/02\/16\/sbc-the-problem-is-the-theology\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/02\/16\/sbc-the-problem-is-the-theology\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SBC: The Problem is The Theology\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\",\"name\":\"Divergence\",\"description\":\"Commentary Regarding Fundamentalism - 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