Evangelicalism is a Culture

Part of John MacArthurs’s racist and misogynistic commentary at his Truth Matters conference was his opposition to the SBC’s June resolution which affirmed intersectionality as an important component of Bible translation. This so-called pastor brazenly mocked the idea of a woman, an African-American, and a Latino serving on a Bible translation committee, suggesting such persons couldn’t possibly be Greek or Hebrew scholars.

A few quotes:

“If the culture has the right to interpret the Bible…liberalism will take over. This is an evidence that they are allowing the culture to interpret the Scripture.”

“When you literally overturn the clear teaching of Scripture to empower people who want power, you have given up biblical authority.”

“But when you decide to let the culture interpret the Scripture and you need cultural cues to translate the Bible, the horse is out of the barn.”

Where do I begin? I am so tired of hearing the line that those who challenge conservative understandings of Scripture are “just trying to bend the Bible to fit the culture,” or, “using culture to interpret Scripture.”

It completely ignores the fact that conservative Christianity itself is a culture!

No one exists outside of culture. MacArthur may decry “the world,” but he’s part of cultures and subcultures nonetheless (the broader world too, I’m afraid), and in this case, evangelicalism. He does not read the Bible objectively, because no one does. MacArthur reads Scripture through his cultural lens of evangelicalism.

So what are the cultural norms of evangelicalism? Male leadership. White leadership. Traditional marriage. Sex assigned at birth = gender. American pride. Only Christians are saved.

When I consider America, and the wider Western world, the cultural norms are more or less identical to those of evangelicalism: Patriarchy. White supremacy. Homophobia. Transphobia. Nationalism. Christian superiority.

“The assumption here is that the Bible is sexist and therefore we should be sexist. My assumption is that God is just, and I know that my culture, and every culture in all times and places, have been sexist.” — Chesna Hinkley, Faith and Feminism podcast, Episode 42

I have to wonder if evangelicals are not guilty of the very crime they charge others with – “allowing the culture to interpret the Scripture.”

• Because I see a lot of “1 Timothy 2 means that women can’t preach.”
• I see a lot of “Romans 1 proves that homosexuality is a sin.”
• I see a lot of “Genesis 1 shows that God only creates people as male or female.”
• I see a lot of “Romans 13 says we have to respect our government leaders.”
• I see a lot of “Matthew 7:13 says wide is the path of destruction, and narrow is the gate that leads to eternal life.”

Commonplace evangelical interpretations do not defy the culture in which they exist, they uphold it.

Evangelicals love the narrative that they are the persecuted minority. But they belong to the dominant group — most of America is Christian.

You say the Bible is countercultural? I agree! I see a magnificent trajectory in Scripture from patriarchy to egalitarianism, from slavery to freedom, from the Law to Jesus, from punishment to grace, from God being for Israel alone to God being for the whole world, from a God who does violence to others to a Cruciform God who would rather endure the violence Himself.

If you want to oppose dominant culture, here are some ideas:

• Feminism is countercultural
• Racial equity is countercultural
• Marriage equality is countercultural
• Transgender equality is countercultural
• Immigrant and refugee justice is countercultural
• Dignity for other faiths is countercultural

For goodness sake, Jesus was a Jewish brown-skinned refugee from humble beginnings who hung out with women, the poor, the disabled, the sick, and the outcast.

The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

If MacArthur is so passionately committed to the concept that the Bible must push back on dominant culture, somebody tell him – he’s playing for the wrong team.

What else? Culture doesn’t have “the right” to interpret Scripture, it simply does. You can’t swim without water, you can’t breathe without air, you can’t interpret without culture. It is impossible to read anything divorced from culture; only God could do that, and MacArthur, honey — you’re not Him.

And as Rozella White pointed out to me, the very concept of human objectivity is itself a signpost of white supremacy, as it furthers the belief there is one correct perspective that everyone adheres to.

Also, there is no clear understanding of Scripture.

And he can get out of here with the lecture on power-grabbing. Projection, much? Since his own power is at stake, he’s gotta undercut anyone seeking an equitable piece of the pie — and he’ll smear your name as a traitor to “biblical authority” if you pursue justice for the oppressed.

“I don’t have use for the authority, be it of Scripture or otherwise, that is used to abuse beloved children of God. To those who use and misuse and abuse the text in order to gain and protect power for themselves, all under the guise of biblical authority, to them I say, ‘Get behind me, Satan!’” – Rev. Jasper Peters, Evolving Faith conference 2019

And holy hell, YES, you need cultural cues to translate the Bible!!! I don’t know a better way to say this….it’s a book. An ancient book. It was written by particular people (oppressed, brown, colonized people) in a particular places (Ancient Near East) at particular times (roughly 2,000 – 3,000 years ago). It was written in Hebrew and Greek, not English! It includes poetry, narrative, letters, parables – a wide variety of literary genres. 

If you want to know what it’s saying, you must know the context, and that means the verses before and after, but also the world into which those verses were written.

For John MacArthur to mock the necessity of exhaustive cultural study in order to responsibly translate the Bible is the height of arrogance. In doing so, he puts himself on par with God, suggesting he can perfectly understand the Divine with no tools beyond his own intellect. To MacArthur, perched among the evangelical elite and willing to spew vitriol to retain his power, I’ll say this: the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

Additional reading:

• Why White Women Should Be Just as Angry About John MacArthur’s Take on Race by Rozella Haydee White
• Nope, Not Going Home by Sarah Bessey (scroll halfway down)
• Liturgists’ episode “Live from Austin” — it’s all great, but especially the last 20 minutes with “I’m a Roman” from Mike McHargue

Photo credits in order:

• Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash
• Photo by Marc Scaturro on Unsplash
• Photo by Riley McCullough on Unsplash
• Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash