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<\/a>One thing that perplexes outsiders about American evangelicalism is why they seem so keen on impaling each other on secondary matters. I think I may have had an epiphany and I\u2019m finally beginning to get a grip on this.<\/p>\nI remember once\u00a0watching a\u00a0GOP presidential debate where Ron Paul boasted that he was \u201cthe most conservative candidate\u201d on the platform. It was true, which in my mind\u00a0also made him the least electable candidate. But why would being the most conservative be a good thing? I thought it would be better to have the best policies for economic growth, creating jobs, national security, healthcare reform or whatever is good and makes sense to people. Let me say that I consider myself a social and economic conservative by global standards because I think it promotes justice and prosperity. But I would never prize myself on being more conservative than others, I just don\u2019t see the attraction of the label.<\/p>\n
But I began thinking if this kind of ideological value of he-who-is-the-most-conservative-is-the-most-righteous plays also into theology, and I think it does.<\/p>\n
Instead of thinking of \u201cconservative\u201d evangelicalism as defined objectively<\/em> by holding to the historical faith of the church defined by the creeds and confessions, I think some bastions of American evangelicalism define \u201cconservatism\u201d\u00a0comparatively\u00a0<\/em>by a relative position to everyone else on the map. So when certain people or groups edge to the right to claim the label, \u201cI\u2019m more conservative than thou,\u201d then every else responds by leap frogging over them in a race to the right.\u00a0You end up with a denomination or seminary becoming far right just because they don\u2019t want to be the least conservative group on the block. It also means you can end up being called a liberal just by standing still and refusing to follow the rightward drift.<\/p>\nYou end up with a scenario that reads like a Monty Python skit.<\/p>\n
Note: hyperbole approaching, not to be taken as representing real views of real people!<\/p>\n
Women in Ministry<\/strong>
\nPerson # 1: \u201cMy denomination is so conservative that we do not ordain women.\u201d
\nPerson # 2: \u201cYou heresiarch, in my denomination we are so conservative that we don\u2019t allow women into the pulpit.\u201d
\nPerson # 3: \u201cLiberal scum the lot of you, my denomination is so conservative that it doesn\u2019t ordain women, won\u2019t allow them to preach, or even let them do the Bible readings on Sunday.\u201d
\nPerson #4: \u201cYou illegitimate sons of Karl Barth, my denomination is more conservative since it doesn\u2019t ordain women, let them preach, read the Bible in public, wear jeans, or speak to a man who is not their husband or\u00a0father in public.\u201d
\nPerson #5: \u201cYou decrepit creatures of darkness, my denomination is so conservative that we force women to wear heard coverings, remove their vocal chords so they can\u2019t talk, forbid them from seeking a college education, and flog them weekly on suspicion of harboring beliefs in equality.\u201d<\/p>\nBiblical Criticism<\/strong>
\nPerson #1: \u201cMy seminary\u00a0is so conservative that we do not teach\u00a0JEDP theory or multiple-authorship of Isaiah.
\nPerson # 2: \u201cA pox on you, my\u00a0seminary is so conservative that we mandate subscription a literal six day creation, Job is historical, and Paul wrote Hebrews.
\nPerson #3: \u201cMy ears have been defiled with your filth, my seminary is so conservative that we deny the relevance of ANE literature, insist that Jesus cleansed the temple twice, and we\u00a0once picketed an ETS conference for allowing \u00a0Zondervan to sell John Walton\u2019s book on charts on OT background.
\nPerson #4: \u201cYou bunch of papal Jezebels, my seminary is so conservative that we deny the existence of ANE literature, insists that the earth is round, the only Bible is the KJV, and we sacked three professors for attending an\u00a0ASOR conference.
\nPerson #5: \u201cYou illegitimate sons of Hilary, my\u00a0seminary is so conservative that we bulldozed our library (with the librarian still in it), have purchased the DSS collection just so we could burn it, banned the study of Hebrew and Greek, and once crucified two of our professors for uttering the words, \u201cMesopotamia.\u201d<\/p>\nI\u2019m not saying that if you are more conservative than me on women in ministry or on biblical criticism that you\u2019re bad. Not at all. Let me say that I have friends and colleagues to the left and right of me on many issues.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s my point: Evangelical Christians should be conservative in the sense of intelligently preserving the historic faith of the church \u2013 the faith once for all delivered to and by the saints \u2013 NOT engaged in a race to the right so one can boast that \u201cI\u2019m-more-conservative-than-thou\u201d NOR living in fear of being the least conservative kid on the block. Fidelity should be determined objectively by adherence to \u201cthe faith,\u201d rather than comparatively to what the seminary or denomination down the round now\u00a0insists\u00a0counts as conservative. Remember that it is possible to move to the right in a way that departs from orthodoxy, divides the church, and injures witness to the gospel. There is no prize in heaven \u00a0for being the Ron Paul of evangelicalism. That\u2019s my two cents.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One thing that perplexes outsiders about American evangelicalism is why they seem so keen on impaling each other on secondary matters. I think I may have had an epiphany and I\u2019m finally beginning to get a grip on this. I remember once\u00a0watching a\u00a0GOP presidential debate where Ron Paul boasted that he was \u201cthe most conservative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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