Karen Keen

A Few Thoughts on Faith and Historical Criticism

Reading Scripture, Reconstructing Faith / By

Recently, I wrote an article for Logia’s blog entitled, “How Historical Criticism Challenged My Faith . . . Then Strengthened It.” Commonly, when graduate students from evangelical backgrounds continue their studies in theology and the Bible, they encounter truths they didn’t know before, facts that can be unsettling at first. In the article, I share my own journey (as much as one can in a short blog post). If you or anyone you know has felt disoriented or disillusioned when your long-held presuppositions about the Bible are challenged, you might find this article helpful. Here’s an excerpt:

“I began to ask new questions, including what does the world behind the text mean for me as a Christian? At my previous seminary, I was told it didn’t matter because, ultimately, the biblical authors provide their interpretation of history. They selectively reported on events to advance a particular inspired message from God. Other historical facts, then, were superfluous for the spiritual life. And yet, as I studied the world behind the text, I realized it, too, had something truthful to say. Sometimes that truth conflicted with ways I had been taught to read Scripture.

The tension between historical criticism and theological interpretation challenged my faith. In retrospect, that tension was reflected in Prof. G’s response to me. He was an evangelical desiring to be seen as a legitimate scholar within the guild at large. That required him to care about mainstream methodologies. Yet, he hadn’t reconciled the two in his heart. Some part of him believed he needed to suppress religious passion to be a reputable scholar. While my seminary responded to the mainstream guild by ignoring it, Prof. G craved its validation. Neither approach seemed right to me.”

Read the rest at Logia. Logia is an initiative in partnership with The Logos Institute at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland. The program and blog site are currently under the oversight of Executive Director, Christa McKirland, who is based out of Carey Baptist College in New Zealand. The initiative was founded in 2017 to address barriers that women face in higher education and theological leadership. The program is “designed a) to highlight the excellence of women already active in leadership in the academy and the church; and b) to develop the excellence of women training for such roles.”

Movie Review: Noah by Darren Aronofsky & Ari Handel

Book Reviews, Reading Scripture / By

Have you seen the movie Noah starring Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly? Given my interest in Old Testament reception history, I could not pass it up. How would two modern Jewish men interpret this flood story? The Genesis account itself is a product of unique Israelite interpretation of a common ancient Near Eastern narrative. The story appeared in ancient texts long before Genesis was written. But, the biblical authors offer their own theological perspective on the event.

Similarly, the flood has been the subject of midrash (Jewish interpretation of the biblical text) throughout history. Ancient Jewish writers sought to fill in narrative gaps in Genesis with commentaries like I Enoch and Jubilees. In fact, from these ancient Jewish texts, the movie draws content about the Watchers and Noah’s visit to Methuselah—narrative details not found in most biblical canons. Those Transformer-looking rock creatures in the film might seem like fantasy fiction made up on the fly, but their role did not come out of thin air! They are the fallen angels of lore—albeit their appearance a bit embellished.  

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Review: The Bible Made Impossible by Christian Smith

Book Reviews, Reading Scripture / By

I recently read Christian Smith’s book The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture (2012) published by Brazos Press. It critiques a form of biblical interpretation that too often treats the Bible in a wooden and rule book fashion, thereby diminishing the richness of Scripture. Having grown up in fundamentalism, I understand the problem he is describing. At the same time, I often felt he did not capture important nuances by choosing to critique the most fundamentalist version of evangelical Scripturreading.

What is Biblicism?

Smith defines biblicism as “a theory about the Bible that emphasizes together its exclusive authority, infallibility, perspicuity, self-sufficiency, internal consistency, self-evident meaning, and universal applicability” (viii). He lists ten assumptions of biblicism:

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Review: The Bible Tells Me So by Peter Enns

Book Reviews, Ethics, Reading Scripture / By
Book link to Peter Enns's book The Bible Tells Me So

How do we make sense of difficult passages in the Bible? What about the violence or apparent contradictions? Peter Enns addresses these concerns in his book The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It. Enns is concerned that instead of honest engagement with Scripture some Christian thinkers make unreasonable attempts to cover up or explain away the challenges. He specifically sees this occurring among those who treat the Bible like a rule book of fixed, timeless truths. Instead of a rule book, Enns suggests we read Scripture in the genre of storytelling, with inspired examples of how God-fearers of the past have wrestled with their faith.

To be clear, Enns affirms the value of Scripture—we know God better by reading it—but he believes we have erroneous expectations of it. He wants to help his readers understand the nature of Scripture and, therefore, how to correctly read and apply it. Instead of diminishing reverence for the Bible, Enns seeks to affirm it by accepting it for what it really is: an inspired but messy text.

Before I provide my own reflection on the book, here are the stats. The book is divided into seven chapters that each have multiple, short readable essays. He centers his thesis on three primary realizations that challenged him to re-think the nature of Scripture. The Bible depicts:

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Three Reviews: Ethics and Old Testament Violence

1 Comment / Book Reviews, Ethics, Reading Scripture / By

Numerous books have been published in recent years addressing challenging passages in the Old Testament. Many of them have focused on the Israelite conquest of Canaan, while others discuss a palette of “problems.” In this post I review three books that engage these challenges. I especially consider how they handle violence in the Old Testament.

Book 1: Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan, Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God (BakerBooks, 2014)

Book link to Did God Really Command Genocide

Did God really command the Israelites to slaughter the Canaanites? That is the moral dilemma that Copan and Flannagan take up. These scholars offer an apologetic response to philosophers and New Atheists who dismiss the Old Testament as barbaric. But, does their apologetic meet the task? Yes and No.

The book has four parts:

  • Genocide Texts and the Problem of Scriptural Authority
  • Occasional Commands, Hyperbolic Texts, and Genocidal Massacres
  • Is It Always Wrong to Kill Innocent People?
  • Religion and Violence

The book is largely a summary of the apologetic arguments espoused by William Lane Craig and Nicholas Wolterstorff with atheist philosopher, Wes Morriston, serving as one of their primary opponents. In this regard, the book serves as “Cliff Notes” to broader conversations happening on the topic. The authors begin by asserting that the words of Scripture are not the result of mechanical dictation. In other words, they acknowledge the human side of Scripture; God does not always affirm what the human author affirms, such as psalms of vengeance (28). That is, we must consider whether or not what the human author wrote is what God wants to say to us today through Scripture. God might want to appropriate the words of Scripture for an intention different than the original authors. The original meaning might have been important only for the Israelites’ time and place, and now we have to draw a general principle from the text. At the same time, Copan and Flannagan reject the dichotomy between the Old and New Testament God (war God vs. loving God), as well as Seibert’s distinction between the “textual” God (how the Israelites imagined God to be) and the “real” God (who is not always like the Israelites portrayed God to be; 39-44).

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The Remarkable Life of Pauli Murray

Reconstructing Faith, Sex and Gender / By

This post is part of the Uncommon Saints series hosted at Bakos Project that features inspiring works and sermons by LGBTQ followers of Christ who encourage us in the Christian faith.

One of the most amazing people that has changed history for the better, and yet who most people have never heard of, is Pauli Murray (1910-1985). I first learned about Pauli when I lived in Durham, North Carolina, which happens to be the hometown of this remarkable Christian. Across Durham, you will find beautiful murals of Pauli tucked away in various parts of the city, along with a childhood home still standing and now preserved as The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice. It’s the home where Pauli was sent to live  with relatives after becoming an orphan at the age of three.

Pauli Murray autobiography, Song in a Weary Throat

Pauli experienced tremendous adversity from both racial and sex discrimination, including being barred from enrollment at the University of North Carolina for being Black and later being barred from Harvard for being a woman. Pauli also experienced the stress of being attracted to the same-sex and gender atypical at a time when both were taboo (looking for answers, an exploratory surgery was performed to discern if an intersex condition was present). Pauli persevered, eventually graduating from Yale Law School (1965) and is credited by Thurgood Marshall as the influence behind the arguments that overturned segregation laws. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) similarly credits Pauli with the arguments in Reed v. Reed, a landmark Supreme Court case that ruled against sex discrimination. Pauli was many things: a lawyer, poet, human rights advocate, professor, and pastor. This brief description doesn’t begin to do justice. I was awestruck reading Pauli’s autobiography, Song in a Weary Throat, which is rich with major historical events that Pauli was actively involved in. A true history maker.

A life-long Christian, Pauli entered seminary at the age of 62 and helped to overturn a ban on the ordination of women in the Episcopal church. In one interview Pauli said, “If you want to talk in theological terms, I would say I have been led, guided, and directed all my life. This door was closed so this door would open. I’ve always been more or less a devout Christian . . . I take very little credit for the things I’ve done except . . . that I’ve been responsive to the Holy Spirit.”  To meet Pauli, watch the excellent new documentary My Name is Pauli Murray (available on Prime). The trailer is below:

Note: Photo of Pauli Murray mural is from Durham, NC. Photo taken by Karen R. Keen. The artist behind the murals is Brett Cook. Click here to learn more about this community project.

B.T. Harman’s Gift of Storytelling

Reconstructing Faith, Sex and Gender / By

This post is part of the Uncommon Saints series at Bakos Project that features inspiring works and sermons by LGBTQ followers of Christ who encourage us in the Christian faith.

I first encountered B. T. Harman through his amazing podcast called Blue Babies Pink, which tells the story of what it’s like to grow up in the Bible Belt and realize you are gay. Later, I was able to get to know him in-person through LGBTQ Christian leadership circles. His story, Blue Babies Pink, is truly riveting. Thousands of people have listened to it or read the blog version. Episodes of the podcast have been downloaded more than a million times and it reached #1 on iTunes Religion/Spirituality chart. The story has been transformative for many people who listen to it. I want you to have the chance get to know B. T., too, and be inspired by his story. Click below on the image below to get started.

B. T. Harman was born in Texas, but raised in Alabama after his family moved there when he was just six years old. As the son of a Baptist preacher, B. T. has a strong Christian faith and still attends a Baptist church in Atlanta, where he lives with his husband, Brett. For many years, B. T. worked for Booster, an organization that helps schools raise much needed funds. With his corporate team, he raised millions of dollars for elementary schools. Since 2016, he has launched his own speaking and consulting business, which includes teaching others storytelling for creative campaigns, leadership skills, as well as addressing LGBTQ concerns. One of the outreaches he started is Harbor, which provides support and education for parents of LGBTQ people.

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