Corporal Punishment 2<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"William Webb, in his newest book, Corporal Punishment in the Bible: A Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic for Troubling Texts, examines what might be called\" \/>\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\/jesuscreed\/2014\/09\/26\/corporal-punishment-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Corporal Punishment 2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"William Webb, in his newest book, Corporal Punishment in the Bible: A Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic for Troubling Texts, examines what might be called\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2014\/09\/26\/corporal-punishment-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-26T15:25:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-14T03:31:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/files\/2011\/09\/Screen-shot-2011-09-03-at-5.01.38-PM.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2014\/09\/26\/corporal-punishment-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2014\/09\/26\/corporal-punishment-2\/\",\"name\":\"Corporal Punishment 2\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-26T15:25:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-14T03:31:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"William Webb, in his newest book, Corporal Punishment in the Bible: A Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic for Troubling Texts, examines what might be called\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2014\/09\/26\/corporal-punishment-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2014\/09\/26\/corporal-punishment-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2014\/09\/26\/corporal-punishment-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Corporal Punishment 2\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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{"id":52330,"date":"2014-09-26T10:25:08","date_gmt":"2014-09-26T15:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=52330"},"modified":"2015-03-13T22:31:17","modified_gmt":"2015-03-14T03:31:17","slug":"corporal-punishment-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2014\/09\/26\/corporal-punishment-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporal Punishment 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

William Webb, in his newest book, Corporal Punishment in the Bible: A Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic for Troubling Texts<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, examines what might be called the traditional view of spanking among evangelical Christians. He calls it the \u201ctwo smacks max\u201d or \u201ctwo spanks max\u201d method.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>I want for readers today to see what Webb means by the Redemptive movement hermeneutic, and this chart of his is the one he uses in his books to illustrate what he is getting at. X is the culture out of which, in which, with which and over against which the Bible speaks. But the big point Webb makes is that there is an ongoing response in the Bible over against its various cultures, and he sees a notable redemptive movement in those responses, and the movement is headed toward Z as the Bible unfolds, the ultimate ethical application<\/em><\/strong> (of what the Bible indicates). That ethical application is already seen in the spirit (and words) of the Bible\u2019s own ethical statements. Some Bible readers have a forward posture of movement from where we are to where we are headed, while others he contends adopt a more regressive \u2014 looking back \u2014 posture.<\/p>\n

What is your response to this redemptive movement hermeneutic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s his big thesis: \u201cWe do not want to stay with the static or frozen-in-time ethic reflected in the concrete-specific instructions of the Bible, rather Christians need to embrace the redemptive spirit of the text and journey toward an ultimate ethical application of that spirit\u201d (62). And then this, and if you get this you get the whole: \u201cMovement is (crucial) meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Bill Webb\u2019s supporters and critics know that this approach to the Bible is profoundly significant for how we both understand and apply the Bible. So, Webb is asking in this book how this way of Bible reading understands both what the Bible says about corporal punishment and how we should \u201capply\u201d that today. It is my contention that the church has always used an approach more or less like Webb\u2019s redemptive movement hermeneutic. Though some will say \u201cstop here\u201d (which means they want no \u201credemptive movement\u201d on a given topic), in one way or another most ethical postures of any major significance (take war as an example) will show Christians who have used some of this hermeneutic. What is instructive for corporal punishment is that Webb observes that the pro-spanking (\u201ctwo smacks max\u201d) approach already has some redemptive movement. For them to criticize this method, then, undercuts their own approach. Folks, the issue here is not \u201cif\u201d but \u201chow much.\u201d It\u2019s that simple. It\u2019s not \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d but \u201chow much?\u201d.<\/p>\n

Webb\u2019s control model is what the Bible says about slavery. Take, for example, the biblical regulation that prohibited a slave owner\u2019s master from beating his slave in such a manner that the slave could not get up after two days of suffering. Exodus 21:20-21. But this (Y) must be read over against that culture (X) wherein slaves could be beaten to death, and thus it is a redemptive prohibition in that world, though not final, because even that prohibition is on its way toward Z.<\/p>\n

He gives other examples on slaves, leading to the clear view that the Bible \u2014 at the surface level says things Christians today don\u2019t do and won\u2019t do and are seen as wrong \u2014 but when seen at the spirit and redemptive level they indicate the direction of how God wants God\u2019s people ultimately to live. And then you get to Galatians 3:28 or Colossians 3:11 where there is \u201cneither slave nor free\u201d and you see the redemptive design of God.<\/p>\n

That design is abolition. Anyone disagree with that? If you do, then how did we get from the slavery texts to abolition? Webb\u2019s contention is that we have (all) used a redemptive movement hermeneutic to get there.<\/p>\n

Yes, the Bible has less-than-ultimate rules and regulations, it does not achieve that abolition, but it sets the trajectory for that ultimate ethical application. Webb gives two pages of texts where the Bible (Y), when read over against culture (X), is moving toward Z.<\/p>\n

Webb finally observes this is not new: we find it in the Civil War days.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"