I speak of political Dominionism everyday and how this extreme version of Christianity has taken conservative politics in America. The most frequent question I am asked is, "What is it?" Followed by, "I've never heard of it before, why?"
So much of the anger and lashing out by Christian Dominionists when ever they feel they are under attack or being persecuted can be attributed to the devout belief that “The” Bible is inerrant…in other words, “without error”, the direct word of God. That combined with a personal lapse in biblical knowledge that is solely reliant on a church leader that has been indoctrinated into a preaching position, rather than a theologian who has been actually educated about religions, the study of Christianity, the study of the Bible, the study of Christ himself and so much more!
U-Can-B a Preacher
It doesn’t take much to call oneself a “minister”, “preacher”, “man of God”, etc. nowadays given the recruitment methods used in Christian Dominionism circles in particular. You can attend a 5 day “Evangelism Explosion” seminar and you are on your way to earning your own pulpit! There are many, many ways tobecome ordained in this day and age of internet sales in addition to attending seminars that directly indoctrinate. I can see the lure of that as they tend to be well funded, organized and can readily set you up with an “insta-church”.
This is very disturbing on several levels. 1) it diminishes the wisdom and experience of Christian theologians who are proverbial students of biblical critical studies; and 2) it misleads whole congregations down simple-minded paths where the messages from Christ are distilled down into cherry-picked verses that (depending on the dramatic oratory skills of the “performer” can be quite elaborate) can be completely transformed into messages of fear, retribution, intolerance and paranoia.
Read what Pastor Bess has to share on this subject…
Literary Devices and the Bible Writers
by Pastor Howard Bess
One task of critical scholars is to identify and examine the particular literary forms that are used by Bible writers. Most prominent is the art of storytelling.
Story telling in our own society has become very sophisticated. Movies, dramatic television series, live theatre and written novels are all highly developed forms of an ancient art. The most successful teachers, preachers and politicians are master storytellers. Every successful family features the telling of stories. Parents share the stories of their daily activities. Children share with parents the story of their day at school. At family gatherings grandparents share the stories of their growing up to their grandchildren.
Storytelling predates the development of written language by millenniums. Storytelling in ancient civilizations was the primary tool of a clan to pass to following generations their experiences, their values, and their culture. The storyteller was a special and honored person in the clan. The stories were told over and over and were passed from generation to generation.
But WHY??
Critical studies of the Bible material confront the Bible student with facts difficult to accept by many Christians. Prior to the establishment of the nation of Israel under King David, the Israelites had no historians. They had no written history. They had only storytellers. Their only sense of history came from oral tradition, not from written history. The Israelites had a collection of stories that defined who they were. These stories and their messages were reinforced by rituals and festivals at which they repeated the stories and acted out their most precious beliefs. Through storytelling, festivals, and rituals, the Israelites knew they were children of Abraham, chosen people of their God, Yahweh Within that collection of stories, real persons may or may not be identified, and real events may or may not be reported. Whether based on real people and real events, the earliest stories of Israel do not measure up to any reasonable standard to be called history.
Critical Biblical studies will not allow storytelling to be equated with history.
I grew up reading the King James translations of the Bible. This particular translation of the Bible is slavishly divided into numbered chapters and verses. These divisions are very helpful to the reader looking for a particular passage. However, the King James Version gave the reader no clue that much of the Old Testament is written in poetic form. The KJV gave no hint that all of the Psalms were written in poetic form, as are also the beautiful love poems of the Song of Songs.
In 1952 the Revised Standard Version of the Bible was published. The RSV translators understood the poetic nature of major portions of the Old Testament writings and put them in proper form. For the first time, when I read the new Revised Standard Version, I realized that the great prophets of the Old Testament were poets, not preachers. The Isaiah writers, Jeremiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, and Micah were poets and their materials should be read and interpreted as poetry.
Critical Biblical studies will not allow literal interpretations of poetic expressions.
Early written history of the Israelites does make up significant portions of the Old Testament. First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, and First and Second Chronicles are all written history about the rise of King David, the establishment of Jerusalem as a capital city and the succession of kings that followed David in both northern and southern Palestine. These histories are at times redundant and conflicting. These written histories are often mixed with legend. These attempts at writing the history of the Israelites are not carefully written histories as we now understand the discipline.
WARNING! Do NOT take literally!
It is the task of critical Biblical studies to sort through these books of history, to sort out the discrepancies that are found, to separate legends from history, to put legends into historical context, and to compare the information with written histories of other nations of the Near East. Written Israelite history does not get a free pass from critical scholarship simply because it is in the Bible.
Bible materials in written form reflect at least 1,000 years of authorships. Some authors can be identified. Many authors remain anonymous or unidentified. In addition to authors, the Bible material has had many, many redactors. Redactors were collectors of materials, who merged those materials and added bridge materials.
The first five books of the Old Testament are often called the Five Books of Moses or the Pentateuch. Tradition identified Moses as the author of the material. Many Fundamentalist Christians still vigorously hold on to Mosaic authorship. Critical scholarship asserts that Mosaic authorship is not possible. Four of the Five Books of Moses were put into the form that we read today during the Babylonian captivity in the sixth century B.C.E., some 7-8 centuries after the death of Moses. Multiple authorships and the role of the redactor are essential to our understanding of the Five Books of Moses. Critical scholars conclude that the evidences fall on the side of their collective research and conclusions.
In New Testament studies critical scholars find a parallel, especially in the analysis of the four Gospels….Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Except in Evangelical/Fundamentalist schools, I do not know where a scholar can be found that believes that 1) Matthew, the disciple of Jesus, wrote the Gospel of Matthew, 2) Mark, a friend of Paul, wrote the Gospel of Mark, 3) Luke, the writer of the Gospel of Luke, was an eyewitness of any event in the life of Jesus, or 4) John, a disciple of Jesus, wrote the Gospel of John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written 1 ½-2 generations after the death of Jesus, and John was written three generations after the death of Jesus.
The authors of all four gospels were collectors of Jesus stories, parables and sayings. They were story-tellers in a historical setting in which story-telling was cultural communication. They were all redactors working with second and third hand material.
At the time of the teaching ministry of Jesus, there was no one in the crowds with an electronic recorder. The parables that Jesus told and the sayings that he repeated became stored in the memories of those who listened. Storytellers became the first custodians of the words of Jesus. The stories were told and retold. They became a part of a sizeable body of oral tradition. They did not become a part of a written record for at least a generation.
Critical Biblical scholarship does not allow the four gospels to be read as error free records of history with an error free recording of the exact words of Jesus.
This brief introduction to the literary complexity of the Bible is meant to make the reader more sensitive to “what we are reading.” My special interest is to look at a very special type of storytelling that holds the keys to understanding the Bible messages.
Fortunately for ALL of us, Christian, non-Christian, of other faiths or no faith…we can look forward to so much more from this studied scholar, who by sharing is helping the rest of us understand what true Christians believe. Statistics are showing that even though a majority of Americans self-identify as “Christians”, the actual numbers of congregants is declining. It is not hard to imagine why when we research, read and are assaulted with the type of intolerant and hateful words and acts of the dominionists.
I submit that it is the extreme messages and agendas of the Christian Dominionists who single-handedly have done more to alienate a growing number of “walkaways” than any claims that they make attributing this attrition to Satan.
The perception of “Christian” is now soundly taking on the branding of the dominionists rather than true Mainline Christianity.
The dominionist teaches Old Testament stories meant to harvest souls through fear, hate and intolerance. I can only speak for myself, but that version of Christianity espoused by the Evangelical Lutheran Church that my mother took us to is exactly what made me dig deeper into the real meaning of Christ.
I know, I know…this is what gets people ALL riled up and tell me that I am not the “right kind of Christian”. I get that everyday from across the nation, and more recently from some very cowardly ‘c’hristians on my own island who are very willing to say spurious things behind my back and in writing as long as they hide their identity…but I hold to my belief! So sue me!
Jesus WAS a liberal/socialist/minimalist/poor guy
And what is my ideal of who Christ is? A loving, compassionate, caring and empathetic Christ who taught us to live by example. If their “Great Commission” is to bring more into the flock…personally scaring the hell out of young children with images of a fiery eternal hell, Jewish people killed Christ, all other religions are evil and that Phyllis Schlafly and Newt Gingrich are models of faith and purity…well that sure seems pretty lazy and off-topic to me. Not to mention detestable!
This is where the wheels on their wagons fall off for me. Call me naive…but I would totally think that the message of love and kindness would be a much more effective message – not just locally…but globally. Of course that would conflict with that whole message of “you must listen to me-do not question-and become warriors for Christ so that we can dominate as THE global religion-7 Mountain Mandate – thing.
The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.
Author: Mark Twain
Think about this simple sentence and about how the bible is written and re-written over time, and one can see how you, I, and many others feel that the “history” within it is tainted with the prejudice of the teller of the story. The bible is not historical record. And even if it was, Mr. Twain was clear in pointing out skewed it can become once human beings begin to interpret the story.
For the dominionists to insist that everyone conform to their version of history is to insist that everyone drop their own prejudices and ability to discern truth. That is brain-washing and cult behavior if I have ever seen it. And to top it off, they instill fear that reaches down into one’s soul itself. That’s pretty powerful stuff.
Postings such as this are a major reason I come to this blog! I really appreciate your position, Leah, and the presentations of Pastor Bess. I have never understood why so many faith leaders "talk down" to the faithful, spoon-feeding them interpretations of their sacred texts when what those same leaders should be doing is teaching the faithful to think and appreciate the spirit of the texts.
Faith can be such an uplifting, positive experience, but all too often devolves in dogma and negative, limiting traditions. If only more people could access the positive potential of faith, it could transform our world into the compassionate, supportive environment we need and want it to be. Being kind to one another and ourselves seems to be the founding principle of true faith – trusting that life is precious and our ability to learn and evolve is a sacrament in and of itself.
Thank you, once again, for these insightful, soul-expanding postings. People need to learn how to appreciate and understand their faith on a higher level than they do now.
You aren't alone. I would say most of the mainline churches take this approach to Biblical scholarship. The problem is we are quiet about it. Absolutely we would bring more into "the fold" with love than with the current hate. I've thought long about this. Why don't the progressive Christians stand up and refute this definition of christianity we are seeing? I think the fact that we are more involved with following our understanding of Jesus than "preaching the gospel". We are out there feeding the hungry, getting housing/clothing etc. for the poor, fighting for health care and, in general, doing what we can to make things better for folk. We are more likely to be talking about our passion for this work, than the faith which underlies and drives that passion.
Many of us are appalled at what we are seeing. The right wing christians don't meet any definition of Christian I know. But any tiny hint of criticism and these people attack, viciously, and personally. These people have been taught to fear and hate, so they are fearfilled and hateful. How very sad.
In my view the leadership of the dominionists are straight up political animals using the name of God and constantly stoked fears for purely political purposes. Their lust for power and wealth is remarkably obvious yet they successfully present themselves as 'righteous' among men.
The huge organizational and personal use of god to support and excuse this purely temporal quest by way of deceptive and misleading methods, truly boggles the mind. Such committed behaviour from people who won't say a swear word for fear of "Taking the Lord's name in vain."
How can your really believe in such a wrathful judge, condemn whole categories of people to eternal torture, while living such an obvious and grievous sin?
This non-believer suspects that there are some very dishonest non-believers in many dominionist pulpits.
Thank you for your thoughtful posts. I grew up in Colorado Springs in the late 80s/early 90s and went to a small "Christian" school. We were told that God had placed the school and church leaders in authority over us, so we were not to question them because that was equivalent to questioning God. Our political science class was an overview of various schools of American dominionist thought (or the precursors). We spent a semester of American history learning about how the real purpose of the Civil War was to force public schools on the South and thus erode the South's Christian foundations. I could go on.
It is so refreshing to encounter Christians who are intelligent, thoughtful, articulate, compassionate, and actually loving. (I will never forget our church pastor saying, "We love homosexuals by telling them that what they do is an abomination before God.")
I can honestly say that I have never heard that before, but their paranoia and revisionist history talents truly know no bounds! It does explain why some southern-confederate-minded-Christian patriot dominionists-types are quick to deny that slavery was really an issue at all. It really is chocked so full of power, control and absurdity that it scares me how many people in America alone fall for this tripe.
Their definition of "love" as Christians deviates enormously form mine. Thank you for your comment…greatly appreciated! And please share more with us when you can.
Schools in the north taught that the Civil War was about slavery. Schools in the south taught that it was about states rights. This is the first I'm hearing the Christian Colorado version. Amazing.
This wasn't even a published curriculum–the teacher (also the school principal) literally dictated an outline to us from typewritten notes in a three-ring binder. I'm not sure if he knew the author or had heard about the work via World magazine. (**Note to those not familiar with this incestuous little world: The founder of World magazine attended the same college as my h.s. principal. World magazine's current editor served as Sarah Palin's co-writer/ghost writer for "Going Rogue.") I tossed my notes from the class long ago, so I've been doing some web-surfing to see if I can track down any info about it. I'd love to revisit that document now!
You've nailed it! It is brain-washing and cult behavior — as blatant as it can be. I'm libertarian, and one of these dominionists actually teaches that a person cannot be Christian and a libertarian at the same time. His explanation didn't make one bit of sense to me, yet a whole seminary full of students and faculty sat there, wide eyed, just absorbing what he said. I'm sure they understand nothing of the real subject, but they can spit back this guy's rhetoric, loaded with informal logical fallacy, not realizing how ignorant they really are.
They do capitalize on fear, too. I love Chip Berlet's description of "Right Wing Populism" (at public eye.org), and this same outlook is very much present in both the ends of the dominionist continuum. What is nice about the free will folks is that they at least want to help and "save" as many people as possible. The angry erzatz Calvinist zealots work to restrict heaven and salvation from those they fear will "contaminate" them. They behave as though they think that if more people get into heaven, there will be a lot less heaven there for them. This is exactly what Jesus, that hippie-like dissident, said of the Pharisees in Matthew 23. (I'd rather be accused of giving too much of heaven away.)
Jesus said that His kingdom was not of this world. Christians had a chance to maintain an influence in the civil government, and they abdicated much of their place. But the way to accomplish the regaining of the ground is grass roots, following the example of Jesus. He was not interested in the government but in the single soul that pretty much everyone else had thrown away. And He told His followers to love their enemies and to do good to them, not to curse them. If, as Christians, we've done a miserable job of that and lost our place in the world, we have no one to blame but ourselves. The answer is not authoritarian aggression. It is the simple admonishment to love God and love one's neighbor as we love ourselves.
If God is who we claim Him to be, I think He is powerful enough to work it out. He doesn't need government regulations or anything else to make that happen. Frankly, at the end of the day of working to comfort those Christians upon whom the Christian Taliban has tread and crushed, I don't have much more energy to do much else.
Thank you , Leah, for all you do.
I am grateful for the freedom that our founding fathers gave us in the United States, but I am willing as an American to fight and die for those with whom I disagree to enjoy those same rights. As a Christian, I will help bind their wounds (though I may be praying all the while for an opportunity to lovingly share my faith with them in an atmosphere of respect, hoping that my witness does honor to Jesus).
Part of the problem with the dominionist mentality is that instead of looking to Jesus and trying to follow his example, they base a lot of their ideology in the Old Testament, where God blessed and cursed nations as a whole. So, for example, they believe God will judge both them as individuals and the United States as a whole for things like abortion and gay rights. I grew up hearing this constantly. It took me years to realize how inherently selfish this view is–not helping people out of love or compassion, but trying to change poltiics so God doesn't judge them?
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This is very disturbing on several levels. 1) it diminishes the wisdom and experience of Christian theologians who are proverbial students of biblical critical studies; and 2) it misleads whole congregations down simple-minded paths where the messages from Christ are distilled down into cherry-picked verses that (depending on the dramatic oratory skills of the “performer” can be quite elaborate) can be completely transformed into messages of fear, retribution, intolerance and paranoia.
Fortunately for ALL of us, Christian, non-Christian, of other faiths or no faith…we can look forward to so much more from this studied scholar, who by sharing is helping the rest of us understand what true Christians believe. Statistics are showing that even though a majority of Americans self-identify as “Christians”, the actual numbers of congregants is declining. It is not hard to imagine why when we research, read and are assaulted with the type of intolerant and hateful words and acts of the dominionists.
And what is my ideal of who Christ is? A loving, compassionate, caring and empathetic Christ who taught us to live by example. If their “Great Commission” is to bring more into the flock…personally scaring the hell out of young children with images of a fiery eternal hell, Jewish people killed Christ, all other religions are evil and that Phyllis Schlafly and Newt Gingrich are models of faith and purity…well that sure seems pretty lazy and off-topic to me. Not to mention detestable!
The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.
Author: Mark Twain
Think about this simple sentence and about how the bible is written and re-written over time, and one can see how you, I, and many others feel that the “history” within it is tainted with the prejudice of the teller of the story. The bible is not historical record. And even if it was, Mr. Twain was clear in pointing out skewed it can become once human beings begin to interpret the story.
For the dominionists to insist that everyone conform to their version of history is to insist that everyone drop their own prejudices and ability to discern truth. That is brain-washing and cult behavior if I have ever seen it. And to top it off, they instill fear that reaches down into one’s soul itself. That’s pretty powerful stuff.
Sorry, I’ll pass.
Postings such as this are a major reason I come to this blog! I really appreciate your position, Leah, and the presentations of Pastor Bess. I have never understood why so many faith leaders "talk down" to the faithful, spoon-feeding them interpretations of their sacred texts when what those same leaders should be doing is teaching the faithful to think and appreciate the spirit of the texts.
Faith can be such an uplifting, positive experience, but all too often devolves in dogma and negative, limiting traditions. If only more people could access the positive potential of faith, it could transform our world into the compassionate, supportive environment we need and want it to be. Being kind to one another and ourselves seems to be the founding principle of true faith – trusting that life is precious and our ability to learn and evolve is a sacrament in and of itself.
Thank you, once again, for these insightful, soul-expanding postings. People need to learn how to appreciate and understand their faith on a higher level than they do now.
You aren't alone. I would say most of the mainline churches take this approach to Biblical scholarship. The problem is we are quiet about it. Absolutely we would bring more into "the fold" with love than with the current hate. I've thought long about this. Why don't the progressive Christians stand up and refute this definition of christianity we are seeing? I think the fact that we are more involved with following our understanding of Jesus than "preaching the gospel". We are out there feeding the hungry, getting housing/clothing etc. for the poor, fighting for health care and, in general, doing what we can to make things better for folk. We are more likely to be talking about our passion for this work, than the faith which underlies and drives that passion.
Many of us are appalled at what we are seeing. The right wing christians don't meet any definition of Christian I know. But any tiny hint of criticism and these people attack, viciously, and personally. These people have been taught to fear and hate, so they are fearfilled and hateful. How very sad.
In my view the leadership of the dominionists are straight up political animals using the name of God and constantly stoked fears for purely political purposes. Their lust for power and wealth is remarkably obvious yet they successfully present themselves as 'righteous' among men.
The huge organizational and personal use of god to support and excuse this purely temporal quest by way of deceptive and misleading methods, truly boggles the mind. Such committed behaviour from people who won't say a swear word for fear of "Taking the Lord's name in vain."
How can your really believe in such a wrathful judge, condemn whole categories of people to eternal torture, while living such an obvious and grievous sin?
This non-believer suspects that there are some very dishonest non-believers in many dominionist pulpits.
Great little essay, thanks for posting it.
Excellent post, Leah, as usual! Both you and Pastor Bess actually make SENSE.
…and don't think THAT isn't a scary thought for the dominionist crowd!
Thank you for your thoughtful posts. I grew up in Colorado Springs in the late 80s/early 90s and went to a small "Christian" school. We were told that God had placed the school and church leaders in authority over us, so we were not to question them because that was equivalent to questioning God. Our political science class was an overview of various schools of American dominionist thought (or the precursors). We spent a semester of American history learning about how the real purpose of the Civil War was to force public schools on the South and thus erode the South's Christian foundations. I could go on.
It is so refreshing to encounter Christians who are intelligent, thoughtful, articulate, compassionate, and actually loving. (I will never forget our church pastor saying, "We love homosexuals by telling them that what they do is an abomination before God.")
So thank you, again.
I can honestly say that I have never heard that before, but their paranoia and revisionist history talents truly know no bounds! It does explain why some southern-confederate-minded-Christian patriot dominionists-types are quick to deny that slavery was really an issue at all. It really is chocked so full of power, control and absurdity that it scares me how many people in America alone fall for this tripe.
Their definition of "love" as Christians deviates enormously form mine. Thank you for your comment…greatly appreciated! And please share more with us when you can.
Schools in the north taught that the Civil War was about slavery. Schools in the south taught that it was about states rights. This is the first I'm hearing the Christian Colorado version. Amazing.
This wasn't even a published curriculum–the teacher (also the school principal) literally dictated an outline to us from typewritten notes in a three-ring binder. I'm not sure if he knew the author or had heard about the work via World magazine. (**Note to those not familiar with this incestuous little world: The founder of World magazine attended the same college as my h.s. principal. World magazine's current editor served as Sarah Palin's co-writer/ghost writer for "Going Rogue.") I tossed my notes from the class long ago, so I've been doing some web-surfing to see if I can track down any info about it. I'd love to revisit that document now!
And now we have a new bible scholar, Glenn Beck. He will personally re write the innerant word of God for the right's tea bagger 'christians'.
Phyllis Schlafley's son is already doing that.
Ripley,
You've nailed it! It is brain-washing and cult behavior — as blatant as it can be. I'm libertarian, and one of these dominionists actually teaches that a person cannot be Christian and a libertarian at the same time. His explanation didn't make one bit of sense to me, yet a whole seminary full of students and faculty sat there, wide eyed, just absorbing what he said. I'm sure they understand nothing of the real subject, but they can spit back this guy's rhetoric, loaded with informal logical fallacy, not realizing how ignorant they really are.
They do capitalize on fear, too. I love Chip Berlet's description of "Right Wing Populism" (at public eye.org), and this same outlook is very much present in both the ends of the dominionist continuum. What is nice about the free will folks is that they at least want to help and "save" as many people as possible. The angry erzatz Calvinist zealots work to restrict heaven and salvation from those they fear will "contaminate" them. They behave as though they think that if more people get into heaven, there will be a lot less heaven there for them. This is exactly what Jesus, that hippie-like dissident, said of the Pharisees in Matthew 23. (I'd rather be accused of giving too much of heaven away.)
Jesus said that His kingdom was not of this world. Christians had a chance to maintain an influence in the civil government, and they abdicated much of their place. But the way to accomplish the regaining of the ground is grass roots, following the example of Jesus. He was not interested in the government but in the single soul that pretty much everyone else had thrown away. And He told His followers to love their enemies and to do good to them, not to curse them. If, as Christians, we've done a miserable job of that and lost our place in the world, we have no one to blame but ourselves. The answer is not authoritarian aggression. It is the simple admonishment to love God and love one's neighbor as we love ourselves.
If God is who we claim Him to be, I think He is powerful enough to work it out. He doesn't need government regulations or anything else to make that happen. Frankly, at the end of the day of working to comfort those Christians upon whom the Christian Taliban has tread and crushed, I don't have much more energy to do much else.
Thank you , Leah, for all you do.
I am grateful for the freedom that our founding fathers gave us in the United States, but I am willing as an American to fight and die for those with whom I disagree to enjoy those same rights. As a Christian, I will help bind their wounds (though I may be praying all the while for an opportunity to lovingly share my faith with them in an atmosphere of respect, hoping that my witness does honor to Jesus).
Part of the problem with the dominionist mentality is that instead of looking to Jesus and trying to follow his example, they base a lot of their ideology in the Old Testament, where God blessed and cursed nations as a whole. So, for example, they believe God will judge both them as individuals and the United States as a whole for things like abortion and gay rights. I grew up hearing this constantly. It took me years to realize how inherently selfish this view is–not helping people out of love or compassion, but trying to change poltiics so God doesn't judge them?
Too bad Pastor Bess' article isn't included as a forward to the bible, printed on gold-tinged glossy paper so people would pay attention.
Isn't THAT a great thought!
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