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The Theology of Hospitality ˜ 339
The Dismal History of the Bible, by Ed Loring
J u n e 1 9 8 9
Recently the local newspaper published a story about Robert Funk and his
cohorts, who converge every so often at the University of Montana to vote on
the authenticity of the sayings of Jesus. These biblical scholars are producing a
“colored bible” (no offense to African Americans: the colored Bible stands in opposition
to the Black liberation struggle in North America). The colors represent
the possible and plausible accuracy of the sayings of Jesus.
Thus, green might represent 85 percent of these grown folks’ opinion that
Jesus really, really, really said it; yellow might represent that he possibly might
have and maybe could have said it. In either case, Dr. Funk, whom I knew during
my graduate-student days at Vanderbilt University, and friends are wasting
their time and our newspaper’s copy space. The only way to “know” the Bible
and to test the authenticity of its contents is to live it. The streets, not the university,
are the place to discover the word of God.
At the other end of the spectrum are our brothers and sisters in the Southern
Baptist Convention. They believe the whole Bible is greener than green!
Every word is fully inspired and is as authoritative for science as for doctrine! Yet
the Baptists do not take a stand against charging interest on loans to the poor—
a precept which fills the pages of the Old Testament. Also, Southern Baptists
support the death penalty for homicide (as do the majority of North American
Christians), but they do not stone to death rebellious sons and adultery-committing
wives. In fact, for the majority of Southern Baptists, the “completely inspired
word of God without fault or error” basically means that they are safe
members of the Republican Party. The white middle-class American way of life
is the real standard-bearer. Dr. Robert Funk and the Southern Baptists end up
at about the same place, as defenders of the status quo in a sea of injustice. What
about the Bible What about this Word of God
The Bible is among the most radical documents of human history. In the
Old Testament, it presents the story of liberation from oppression and slavery;
in the New Testament, the same story is told in terms of life conquering death.
Liberation and life are understood as personal and political struggles. No book
is more intimately personal, no book is more concretely political than the Bible.
Its politics are revolutionary; its economics are radical; and its message of personal
wholeness and health is empowering. The Bible is good news to the poor
and liberty to the captives. If you read the Bible in the streets, you can evaluate
clearly the ideology of the white, Southern Baptist, flag-waving theologians just
as you grasp the impossibility of faithfulness according to Dr. Robert Funk and
academic Christians.