Posted on 06/25/2003 8:41:20 AM PDT by Loyalist
"Liberalism good. Conservatism bad."
Only four words are needed to summarize Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers and Religious Liberals (Beacon Press) by Unitarian minister John Buehrens.
Some words he uses in depicting liberalism: "up-to-date," "intellectually respectable," "justice-oriented," "spiritually enriching," "authentic," "progressive," "honest," "true discipleship," "wisdom," "freedom," "liberation," "peace," "exultation, expectation and inspiration."
Words for conservatism: "disguised fear," "massive injustice," "bigots," "reactionaries," "chauvinists," "sins," "exploitation," "oppressive," "captive," "superficial," "not authentic," "kill," "violate," "racism," "sexism," "homophobia."
And that's just in the first five pages.
Buehrens, minister of the First Parish church in Needham, Mass., was president of the Unitarian Universalist Association through 2001 and will lead a workshop on his book at its Boston convention later this month.
His bid to revive interest in the Bible among "skeptics, seekers and religious liberals" (hereafter SSRLs) reflects a wider attempt to strengthen some sense of the spiritual in a denomination where even mention of "God" can be controversial.
The book is a pleasant summary of liberal thinking, but surprisingly superficial for a Harvard Divinity alumnus who led a denomination clogged with college graduates.
That reflects the way North American culture and education have circumscribed SSRLs who may know next to nothing about western civilization's most formative book. However, they'd benefit from a less partisan introductory book.
Buehrens believes "you don't need to believe in the God of the Bible to understand its stories. You don't even need to believe that the Bible is consistent in its image of God; it isn't. Neither are we human beings. At times the Bible's images of God seem tragic, oppressive, punitive, cruel or destructive. So are we."
In line with Unitarian orthodoxy, Buehrens gives the Bible a feminist interpretation and is at pains to liberate modern readers from the negative attitude toward homosexual activity in the Old Testament law and the letters of the Apostle Paul.
The Old Testament opposition was entangled with priestly purity codes that hardly anyone observes any longer, he says. And Paul was simply unaware of the modern possibility of "faithful loyalty between same-sex partners." Yet recent scholarship indicates the matter is considerably more complicated.
Predictably, Buehrens downplays whether Old Testament events actually happened, preferring to focus on the "non-literal wisdom" in the Jewish writings.
However, he's no hardline skeptic. He says the stories of Abraham and the patriarchs were "largely legendary" (not totally so) and that the Exodus from Egypt under Moses was "likely grounded in some actuality of history."
Buehrens' treatment of the New Testament is especially interesting because Unitarianism originated with rejection of the orthodox doctrine that Jesus is God. Buehrens remains faithful to that heritage but hopes a human Jesus can provide inspiration.
Jesus was crucified by the Romans, Buehrens writes, but that's "one of the few things we know for certain" about his life. Like liberals within Christianity, he thinks some or much of the Gospels was concocted, though he rarely pauses to explain his basis for such conclusions.
Buehrens likewise thinks the stories of Jesus' miracles "now threaten to become barriers" that keep SSRLs from grasping the Bible's "deeper message" about an undefined "Transcendent" as the "ultimate source of wholeness and justice."
Miracle No. 1, of course, is Jesus' resurrection from the dead. To Buehrens, it's almost impossible to say what really happened the first Easter and "perhaps not even helpful to ask." His own guess? The grief-stricken disciples felt Jesus' ongoing presence after he died.
He says SSRLs should believe that Easter "symbolizes the truth that God will not stay dead" and that we see Jesus alive in other people.
On the Net: Unitarian Universalists and Beacon Press:
A good article by John MacArthur
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