Recovering Evangelicals

The people reported as having walked and talked with Jesus in the first century all saw him primarily as a Jewish Messiah.

Jesus and his disorganized, unarmed group of disciples re-imagined as a conquering hero leading an armed resistance against the Roman Empire [image created by Andrew … thanks Andrew!]

One particular Christian tenet that has been the hardest to wrap my brain around is the idea that Jesus was “fully human, and yet fully divine”. This week, we look at what the people who walked and talked with him thought, and whether that thinking changed over the course of his time on earth. So we grouped them into five different categories:

(1) before he was born: Mary and Joseph (his parents), Zechariah (temple priest), and the wise men from the east talked about this baby being the king of the Jews, being given the throne of David to reign over Jacob’s descendants forever, and restoring the covenant with Abraham. Note the very heavy emphasis on him coming to Jews and doing what a Jewish Messiah would do, rather than a cosmic, universal Savior sent to take away the sins of the world.

(2) at his birth: the shepherds were told he was the Messiah … Simeon, who had been waiting for “the consolation of Israel”, saw this baby as the Lord’s Messiah … and the prophetess Anna said the baby would bring the redemption of Jerusalem. Again, I’m hearing “Jewish Messiah”.

(3) Jesus himself said he came only to the lost sheep of Israel. How does this fit with him being a cosmic, universal Savior sent to take away the sins of the world? Or did he also see himself as the Jewish Messiah? (note: our guest this week will shed some light on this “false dichotomy”)

(4) during his public ministry: John the Baptist, Andrew, Philip, the Samaritan woman, Peter, the people at “the triumphal entry”, one of the two thieves on the cross, the Roman soldiers, and even unclean spirits … they all specifically referred to him as the Jewish Messiah (aka: king of the Jews … the Chosen One … the Christ).

(5) after the Crucifixion: at the Ascension, his followers asked “is this when you restore the kingdom to Israel?”, something that a Jewish Messiah was expected to do. Their sermons almost always took place in the synagogue (where Jews meet) rather than the city square (where everyone would hear) and regularly used very Messianic language. The writer of Acts sometimes specifically summarizes their speeches by simply saying they “showed how he was the Messiah”.

Clearly, the message that everyone was getting and giving was: Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.

I had thought that the Jewish Messiah was only ever going to be a human. But this Jesus as the Jewish Messiah sounds quite different from the cosmic divine being (the Logos) that we find in the first chapter of the Gospel of John (we learned last week that this was written over half a century after Paul saturated the region with his own cosmic divine view of Jesus), or in the rest of the New Testament (written mostly by Paul). So, what do I do with that?

To answer that question, we talked to Dr. Richard Middleton, a theologian with expertise in Old Testament theology and Christian worldview. He showed me a whole different perspective on what it meant to be a Jewish Messiah … on this idea of a “cosmic, divine Jesus” … and on the idea that Jesus was “fully human, and yet fully divine”.

As always, tell us what you think …

To find more about Dr. Richard Middleton, see his blog-site, profile at Biologos, and his Amazon book page.

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy a previous episode looking at the origin and evolution of Judaism and the nation of Israel.

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We look at some of the common ways that this is [mis]understood, and share some other perspectives on the how’s, who’s and what’s behind it.

Did the Gospel writers receive Divine guidance? Or were they hearing from some part(s) of their inner selves? [image crated by Andrew … thanks Andrew!]

[note: this is a re-release of an episode from our Archive …. Episode #101 … as a foundation for the current on-going mini-series which uses the Gospel accounts to find “the historical Jesus”]

Is the Bible divinely-inspired?

Often the first thing that Evangelicals will do when asked that question  — after voicing a very vigorous “YES!”  — is quote 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which begins with “All scripture is God-breathed …”

The problem is, that’s not the question that was asked.

To begin with, Paul is NOT talking here about the Bible! He’s writing this before the Bible as we know it even existed: before the Gospels or any of the non-Pauline books (from Peter, James, Luke, and one or more Johns) had even been written, and hundreds of years before a number of books were selected out of a large pile of sacred writings circulating at the time and collated into what we call “the Bible”.

He’s probably referring in part to the Old Testament books, but who’s to say he wasn’t also referring to yet other books? He uses a phrase which in the original Greek means “sacred writings” and which is translated in our modern English into “all scripture”. The Old Testament itself endorses many other ancient Hebrew books — “sacred writings” — that are not in our modern Bibles:

Paul would also have been studying from other Hebrew religious books which were available to him. Some of these are collated into what we call the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha: you may have heard of the Book of Enoch, the four Books of Maccabees, and dozens of other ones.

And if modern day Fundamentalists hang their hats on the words “all scripture” — as in “ALL scripture” — then what does one do about other “sacred writings” and “scripture” that Paul would have known about? He would have known about the religious “sacred writings” of the Greeks and Romans (in fact, he quoted from a couple Greek philosophers), and that their slaves and business partners might have had their own “sacred writings” or “scripture” from yet other religions.

And then there’s the strange word that Paul uses: a compound word that literally means “God-breathed”. It’s only used once in the Bible, and only a few times in other Greek literature, so scholars really don’t know what to do with it. Does it mean “dictated”? Most translators and scholars have opted for the translation “inspired by God”. But even that: what does that mean? How does that work? Did God put images in the heads of the writers? Did he actually fire the neurons in their brains? Or were they really hearing from their inner voice?

We look at a number of the “how’s” that likely played into that inspiration:

We also looked at “who” might have been behind these subtle forms of inspiration: the agent behind that inspiration. It all depends on how you define “God”. We don’t all agree on this!

And finally, we look at the object of that inspiration. Do we have to say that only the Bible is divinely-inspired? That it’s uniquely inspired? Why not also those other ancient Hebrew books that aren’t in the Bible? Why not some of the Greek philosophical writings that were circulating at the time, and which completely re-shaped human thinking and was incorporated into Christian thinking? What about modern authors (I would nominate NT Wright, Philip Yancey, Peter Enns, and Brian MacLaren)? What about certain songs on the radio, poems, classical literature that really get you thinking deeper thoughts, asking existential questions, and re-organizing your life? I even think modern science and medicine are divinely-inspired: God motivating humans to search for truth and to apply that knowledge to the betterment of humanity.

As always, tell us what you think about what we had to say about this …

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy several of our previous episodes collected thematically under “the Bible.”

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Given that they’re the best source we have on who Jesus is/was, it would be good to know how reliable they are.

After deconstructing nearly every other aspect of the Christian faith that was handed down to me as a child, I thought it was time to do a mini-series on the question: “who is Jesus to me now?”

One way to answer that question is to see what the people who walked and talked with him had to say: his family, friends, disciples, and others at the time.  There are four books available that have long been regarded as the best source for that kind of eye-witness material: the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 

Some have blindly embraced those books unquestioned.  They’ve seen the Gospel accounts as inerrant, infallible, and absolutely authoritative; distinct in these respects from all other books not found in the Bible.  And to bolster these high claims, they will invoke a quality … a process … an affirmation … which can’t be defined nor tested nor explained: divine inspiration.

Others, on the other hand, who have spent years or even decades closely studying those books, have found many reasons to question the reliability of these “eye-witness” accounts.

So, this will be the starting point for this mini-series.  We’re going to look at: inspiration, versus revelation on the one hand, and dictation on the other; divine inspiration versus human impulses; “apparent” contradictions versus plain-and-simple contradictions; Bibliolatry (treating the Bible itself as a deity to be worshipped); the role of faulty human memory and differing worldviews in shaping the stories that are written; how copyists produce textual variants (copies with different wording), accidentally or intentionally, and how interpreters try to deal with that.

In the end, we see that human influences have indeed shaped the Gospel accounts that we now hold in our hands in the 21st century.  Some willfully choose to ignore that fact, while others use that as their reason to reject the Bible entirely.  We suggest a more nuanced and enlightened approach: read the Gospel accounts knowing how they reflect human flaws, human choices, human insights, human hopes …. the humanity of these artefacts!  And for those who also choose to believe in the Divine, they can calibrate the degree to which the Divine worked around and through that.

If you liked this episode, you may also like several of our previous episodes collected thematically under “The Bible.”

Episode image by Andrew …… thanks Andrew!

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No, humans did not arise out of apes. We arose out of fish! And we bear many scars and souvenirs from that journey.

Yes, again!  We are indeed talking about Young Earth Creationism again, because folks: YECism is alive and well in large swathes of Western society. And they’re building a giant cultural silo — their own school systems (from junior kindergarten to university), publishing houses, media and news networks, TV and radio stations — to perpetuate the continuation of this anti-science / science-denialist worldview.

In this episode, Dr. Janet Kellogg Ray unveils her latest book — her third — which focuses on one of the most forbidden topics for Fundamentalists and YECists: human evolution. In it, she traces the journey that we humans have been on: from fish to us.  And along the way, she pauses to look closely at some of the major tripping points: Concordism … the Cambrian explosion … Intelligent Design … embryology … genetics … endogenous retroviral scars … the image of God … and so much more. We also spend a fair bit of time talking about a variety of aspects of human physiology and dysfunction which can be traced back to our fish-y ancestry:

She left us with lots to think about. We highly recommend this book.

As always, tell us your thoughts on this topic …

Find out more about Dr. Janet Kellogg Ray and her books at her Eerdmans web-page.

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy several of our previous episodes collected thematically under “Human Evolution“, or Luke’s book on Human Evolution.

Episode image created by Andrew …. thanks Andrew!

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Dr Joel Duff helps us critique Young Earth Creationist and Intelligent Design ideas about predation strategies in particular, and science in general

This week, we talked to Dr. Joel Duff about the focus of our previous episodes on venomous snakes and the Green Jewel Wasp.  Joel not only has decades of experience at a state university doing hands-on research and teaching in biology and genetics, he also hosts a blog site and YouTube channel focusing on how Young Earth Creationists either resist science or distort it.  It was one of their articles which prompted him to write a blog post — and us to release the previous two podcast episodes — on examples of “defense and attack structures.”

We compared Joel’s observations about Young Earth Creationists with our own about Intelligent Design proponents, and found that:

Joel also gave us some perspectives on personnel-shuffling and leadership changes going on at Answers-in-Genesis, their up-coming fund-raising and building projects, and how it seems their mission and strategy are moving away from confronting scientific challenges to Christian faith, and toward creating theme parks and home entertainment programming.

As always, tell us your thoughts on this topic …

Find out more about Dr. Joel Duff at his faculty website or his blog site, or his YouTube channel.

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy several of our previous episodes collected thematically under “Young Earth Creationism.”

Episode image by Andrew …… thanks Andrew!

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The Emerald Jewel Wasp brings new meaning to the phrases “eating out” and “having someone over for dinner”.

The Emerald Jewel Wasp is an amazing example of “Extreme Evolution.”  They propagate their own species by stinging their prey — cockroaches — three times in a very carefully orchestrated dance.  

The first sting is directed at the mid-section of the cockroach to briefly stun and paralyze it for only a minute or two, while the wasp re-positions itself for the second sting.  The latter is directed at a soft spot underneath the “chin” of the cockroach, and with surgical precision aimed at a very specific brain region which controls the cockroach’s “escape reflex.”  This essentially lobotomizes the cockroach, making it completely compliant to the wasps commands while leaving other parts of the brain intact to activate the “walking reflexes”.  In this state, the wasp can lead the non-resistant zombified cockroach, like a dog on a leash, into an underground burrow, where it lays an egg in the “armpit” of one of the legs and then covers up the entrance of the burrow to trap the cockroach inside and keep other predators out.

In the meantime, the egg hatches and a jewel wasp larva crawls out and begins to eat its way through the entrapped cockroach.  But that baby dines in a very careful, strategic, pre-programmed way, eating certain internal organs and not others, in order to keep that lethargic cockroach alive for many days.  Eventually, though, enough of the cockroach is eaten that it finally dies.  A couple weeks later, a brand new Jewel Wasp chews its way out of the dead husk of that poor victim and flies away, to repeat the cycle.

The precision and orchestration of this reproduction strategy is simultaneously fascinating and horrifying.

As always, tell us your thoughts on this topic …

You can find more information about our guest  — Dr. Ryan Arvidson — at his faculty page at the university.

Episode image by Andrew …… Thanks Andrew!

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy several of our previous episodes collected thematically under “Human Evolution.”

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The evolution of venomous snakes was an incredibly complex journey that took hundreds of millions of years.

Here’s the short version of this interview (~45 minutes) … with much of the really technical scientific bits removed ….

And here’s the full-length version (over an hour) of our conversation with our guest expert. Buckle up your seat belts for this one, folks …

Dr. Bryan Fry, a world-renowned herpetologist unpacks for us the evolutionary journey that snakes have been on for the past couple hundred million years. 

We first compared what scientists can learn from the fossil record versus the genetic record.  Then we talked about how, when and why their predecessors lost their legs, and added a couple dozen vertebrae with ribs.  Spoiler alert: this involved DNA regulatory coding sequences called “sonic hedgehog” genes. 

The next major step in their evolutionary journey was the transformation of one or more of their salivary glands into a devious laboratory for the weaponization of otherwise normal proteins into a potent and lethal venom.  This venom doesn’t have to simply kill the prey: even just briefly stunning or paralyzing the prey is enough “to immobilize it long enough to swallow the prey whole and let it suffocate in the stomach.”

After that came the transformation of certain canine teeth into long, inwardly-curved, retractable and hollow fangs, to act like a syringe needle for that venom. 

Finally, we learned about a very recent evolutionary adaptation for snakes: a new behavioral response to the appearance of primates and humans on the evolutionary scene just a few million years ago, because those hominids had a nasty tendency of grabbing a stick and beating the snakes whenever the two species came into contact.  The snakes learned how to squirt their venom at those attackers, and then they revised  the venom to contain new components that induced intense pain (rather than paralyzing or killing the prey), which they then learned how to aim directly at the eyes of their attackers to ward them off!

Such an excellent case study in a variety of aspects of evolutionary theory: anatomical, biochemical and behavioral changes that result in exaptation … gene duplication … amplification … consolidation … and speciation.

We highly recommend checking out Bryan’s books and videos. Find out more about Dr. Bryan Fry at his personal website or his faculty page at the university.

As always, tell us your thoughts on this topic …

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy several of our previous episodes collected thematically under “Human Evolution.”

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Introducing Young Earth Creationist and Intelligent Design proponents to the Emerald Green Wasp, the hooded cobra, and Ridley Scott’s Xenomorph

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to do a bit of a deep-dive into the origin of defense and attack strategies in animals.  How snakes developed hollow fangs that inject a toxic venom.  And how the horrifying specter in Ridley Scott’s Alien movie franchise ­— which implants an embryonic alien into humans, which then gestates inside its prey and eventually bursts out in full glory through the human’s chest — has a real-life correlate in the Emerald Jewel Wasp (Ampulex compressa).

Why are we doing this?  Because Young Earth Creationists and Intelligent Design proponents have a problem with the reality of predator-prey relationships.  Science shows us that predation has been driving health, innovation, resilience and beauty in all of nature for billions of years before humans came on the scene.   Young Earth Creationists, however, see predators as devolved, broken, degenerate and evil distortions of an originally perfect creation, in which all animals were vegetarian and peaceful until humans appeared and cursed the cosmos through their “original sin”.  And Intelligent Design proponents are quick to attribute biological phenomena that evoke awe and amazement to an intelligent Designer, but don’t do the same for equally intric ate phenomena that evoke horror and revulsion.

Both groups have a track record of confronting these unpleasant aspects of predation with arguments that oversimplify science to the point of distortion.

So we’re going to talk to experts in the field.  Today’s episode briefly introduces a couple highly accredited scientific experts with whom we’re going to have incredibly science-heavy conversations on the subject of their research expertise, over the next few weeks.  The first is a world-renowned herpetologist with decades of academic experience with venomous snakes and scorpions, and who will tell us the full and detailed story of how venomous snakes evolved from lizards.  The second will be an entomologist who has spent his research career studying the predatory behavior of the Emerald Jewel Wasp.  And then hope to talk to a biologist who has spent decades watching Answers-in-Genesis — the primary driver of, and provider of resources for, the Young Earth Creationist movement worldwide — and the strategies and arguments they use to promote their ideas.

So strap in … the next few weeks are going to be quite scientifically dense!

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy several of our previous episodes collected thematically under “Young Earth Creationism” and under “Intelligent Design.”

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Five centuries of vicious, in-house conflicts over the control of emergent Christian orthodoxy.

This week’s guest — Dr. Paula Fredriksen — discusses her latest book: Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years.  Yes, that’s “Christianities” … plural!  The focus of this retrospective is the multiple strands of Christian thinking which were vying for control during the first five centuries.  It was a vicious, in-house competition to define Christian orthodoxy, with each side vilifying the other, caricaturing the ideas and their proponents, and even martyring them.  And the ultimate winner of this competition got to re-write Christian history and almost completely erase our collective memory of the various “losers”. 

We looked at the origin of Christianity. It was a derivative of Judaism, which itself had been morphing through various stages: from Abraham’s “Judaism” (a very polytheistic, Babylonian religion, which he focused onto one particular God), to that of Moses (a more monotheistic faith, although its adherents still struggled with polytheistic tendencies, with a very distinctive Egyptian flavor), to that of those Jews living during the Babylonian captivity after the first temple was destroyed, to the “Second Temple Judaism” that Jesus and the Apostle Paul knew.

We also looked at the driving forces on Judaism which eventually led to the branching out of Christianity. Was it the influence of Jesus?  Or did Paul have a greater influence (because he traveled more widely, was fluent in a more global language, and actually wrote his ideas down)?  Or did Greek Hellenization really set the stage for the inevitable split?

And then we talked about some of the many disputes and conflicts during those first five centuries over a variety of theological issues: the nature of God … Atonement … the end of the world … and of course, sex!

It was a great conversation, and Dr. Fredriksen has written a great book that is easily accessible to the non-expert.  We highly recommend both!

As always, tell us your thoughts on this topic …

Find out more about Dr. Paula Fredriksen at her faculty page at Boston University, and her latest book at Princeton University Press.

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Professor of New Testament studies traded his traditional Evangelical faith for one that is much more authentic and relevant.

In this episode, we talk to Dr. James F. McGrath about a new book he’s just published with Eerdmans: Beyond Deconstruction — Building a More Expansive Faith.  It’s a very easy reading book which is quasi-autobiographical: not because it tells his life story, but instead because he draws on personal experiences as he unpacks what he’s learned.

Just like us and our listeners, James has moved far away from the Evangelical worldview he had many years ago, before the cognitive dissonance and unanswered or poorly answered questions began to overwhelm him.  One thing he said during our conversation really impacted me: “Anyone who calls themselves a Christian, especially those who understand theology and historic theology of Christianity, should have a healthy dose of agnosticism.  Because it is part and parcel of our theological tradition to emphasize the limits of human language. If you can describe the thing that you are talking about  — with perfect accuracy — using human language, then you’re not talking about God, right?  You’ve got an idol.”

He’s now set aside many of the aspects of his previous Christian faith which are incongruent with the world he lives in, and feels the faith he has now is much more authentic and relevant.   We have much to learn from him.

Tell us what you think …

Find out more about Dr. James McGrath and this book at his departmental page or at his blog site at Patheos

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