Lies concerning the historical testomony

In evaluate: 

Lies My Preacher told Me

a decent appear on the historic testomony

by means of Brent A. Strawn Westminster John Knox Press purchase from book shop.org

as a minimum three times during this book, Brent Strawn assures readers that he doesn't accept as true with that Christian preachers and teachers deliberately inform lies concerning the historic testament. however that doesn't curb the seriousness of the mistruths that are general in pulpit and pew.

Strawn calls them mistruths instead of lies partly to stress how unhealthy they can be. "in the case of a lie, the fact easily needs to be delivered to mild for issues to be set right," he writes. whereas lies will also be set straight with the reality, mistruths are more durable to identify. they have deeper (and infrequently unexamined) roots of misinformation or prejudice. "Mistruths are as a consequence way more insidious and intractable than a bald-confronted lie," Strawn explains.

Sally Dyck is a bishop and ecumenical officer of the United Methodist Church. 

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The publication covers ten mistruths referring to a variety of themes, including God's nature, violence within the scriptures, what the law is (and is not), and how the ancient testament pertains to Jesus Christ.

Strawn starts with the standard mistruth that "the historical testament is 'somebody else's mail,'" that means that it wasn't written for Christians. Pastors and lecturers regularly bring the narratives and teachings of the ancient testament in a way that fails to connect them with the Christian story. And yet the humanity of many historical testament characters makes them inspiring examples for Christians. Moses, Aaron, and Miriam model a way to reside in the course of adversity; Daniel and Esther exemplify the need to be courageous. The historic testomony's teachings, too, present timeless truths that seek to connect us with God and our neighbors.

in all probability a more confusing mistruth is that "the ancient testomony is an uneventful background e-book." Au contraire! The studies of the Torah in certain are reasonably scintillating from time to time. Are there troubling experiences in the course of them? yes, and Strawn addresses some of these, especially in his dialogue of the mistruth that "the historic testomony is hyper-violent." These and the different mistruths that Strawn raises are crucial for Chris­tians to agree with as we be taught extra about the ancient testament and its function in our personal lifestyle.

"The ancient testomony isn't spiritually enriching" is a really unfortunate mistruth for people that have adopted it. The chapter on this discipline is one in every of Strawn's strongest. He draws out the many ways historic testomony genres—the Psalms, narratives like the exodus—have historically been and proceed to be sources of excellent proposal when we enable them to enter our hearts in addition to our heads.

i might have appreciated for Strawn to spend greater time unpacking the mistruth that "the old testomony has been rendered permanently obsolete." Of the entire mistruths, I've found this one to be essentially the most widely wide-spread in my very own ministry. I've encountered many Christians with supersessionist beliefs, through which the church is considered as the new Israel. in the New testament there is loads of language contrasting what's new with what is historical—suppose historical and new wineskins, for example. Strawn counters this conception with the indisputable fact that a lot of the new testomony attracts on the historical testament "in terms of citation and allusion." He argues that "historic doesn't mean unhealthy" and "new doesn't imply Christian." Yet I concern that the mistruth of supersessionism is predominant fuel for anti-Semitism in the church's educating.

despite the fact I discovered this e-book each wonderful and enlightening, i was distracted with the aid of habitual questions. I saved wondering which of the publication's mistruths, if any, I've learned along the way. which of them have I preached or taught, although unintentionally? This prompting to self-reflection is the e-book's energy, notably however now not exclusively for those of us who have spent lots time within the scriptures, the pulpit, and the classroom.

I also saved trying to figure out the place the mistruths come from. With few exceptions, Strawn doesn't spend plenty time addressing the underlying factors of the mistruths he identifies. Are there particular facets of historical past, church existence, or American culture that lead us to include and perpetuate these mistruths? These are unavoidable questions that reflection and dialogue can convey out with the e-book as a e book.

These questions permeated no longer simplest my waking hours but my sleep, too. I aroused from sleep one morning to the awareness that the mistruths arise from at the least two distinct influences.

the first is the increasing lack of biblical literacy in both pews and pulpits. This makes it complex to distinguish fact about the Bible from mistruth. How would an informal reader be aware of that the book of Revelation has a lot of Ezekiel and other old testament allusions in it?

extra troubling is the 2d intent these mistruths are so generic: they're the effect as neatly as the supply of anti-Semitism in subculture. Strawn tells the story of Marcion, the second-century preacher who declared the historic testament completely obsolete because of Jesus. whereas Marcion changed into eventually excommunicated for heresy, he nevertheless had an have an impact on on the unfold of the thought that Christ abolished the historical testomony. Strawn names anti-Judaism as an element in Marcion's rejection of the historical testomony, however he doesn't then hint that anti-Judaism even in a cursory means during the background of Christian interpretation of scripture. Marcion is an evident instance, but there are many other perpetrators of anti-Jewish readings of the Bible within the background of the church, including Martin Luther.

Strawn does mention anti-Semitism in the conclusion, recognizing "the perilously shut relationship between ne­glect and denigration of the ancient Testa­ment and awful acts of anti-Semitism" which are found amongst White supremacist groups that use Christian language. He continues that participants of these hate corporations "don't use the entire Bible." They engage in "ideological cherry-deciding upon" stemming from the mistruths, half-truths, and misinformation they received from their Christian upbringing.