Storyteller's World

Quite a few of the blogs I read are by ex-evangelicals, post-evangelicals, fugitives from evangelicalism, people who still wrestle with their evangelical faith or background, people who are victims of, or scarred by, evangelical theology. And I too am one, or more, or all, of these.

Leaving aside the question, Why is it so difficult to get out, once you've been in? (possibly for a later post), what's pretty obvious is that many of those who still proudly wave the evangelical banner are seriously alienating the rest of us, along with the great majority of the human race. In the Church of England, you've only got to look at the antics of Reform or Anglican Mainstream to get the picture. (What, you thought I was going to link to them? I know links are what blogs are supposed to do, but, no way!)

But, bad as this may be, over in the States it looks even worse. There, it looks to us for all the world as if being an evangelical means, as an article of faith, that you are a member of the Religious Right, vote Republican, and believe whole-heartedly in Bush and all his works. It's great to read Tony Campolo's interview (thanks to Jenee and textweek for this link) in which he claims that Evangelical Christianity has been hijacked by the Religious Right, to support their political, social and economic agenda. But oh, it's as if he's having to walk on egg-shells, to avoid alienating any more of the constituency which are also his bread and butter. Applause to him, though, for at least trying to speak out.

But even he gives the game away about what is surely the real problem, when he says,

However, the thing that evangelicals would add to the Apostles' Creed is their view of holy scripture. They contend, and I contend, that the Bible is an infallible message from God, inspired. The writers were inspired by the Holy Spirit and [the Bible] is a message that provides an infallible guide for faith and practice.

If the infallibility and inerrancy of scripture are the centre of evangelicalism, as they seem to be, then no wonder the whole edifice is flawed. For this is a dogma which is literally unbelievable, manifestly false, and bound to cause extreme psychological and spiritual harm to anyone who is constrained (by self or others) to try to believe it.

As an Anglican I believe that scripture is supremely authoritative. It is the prime means by which God speaks to us, it is the word of life. But even in what it says (let alone what others through the centuries have understood it to say, and asserted that it says) it contains inaccuracies, mistakes, downright bad stuff. Why? Because, unlike scriptures which claim to have been dictated by God, it was written by human beings. And human beings make mistakes. But this actually makes it superior to those other scriptures. For because it was written by fallible humans, and has that human and divine nature, it is to us the bearer of Christ, who was himself both fully human and fully divine.

I would love to see evangelicalism rescued from this Babylonian Captivity to a dogma about scripture, and rediscover what I think is its true heart: the good news of the possibility of a true deep and loving relationship with God, through commitment to a Jesus who is worthy of that commitment, because he is - as he always called himself - the Truly Human One.