October 17, 2025 • 20 mins
This is Episode 151 of Christian Research Journal Reads. This is an audio version of the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL article, “The Theological Legacy of Rachel Held Evans” by Anne Kennedy. The following article was an Online-exclusive. For the purposes of academic citation, it would be considered part of Volume 42 No. 02. https://www.equip.org/articles/the-theological-legacy-of-rachel-held-evans/
It was accompanied by Postmodern Realities Episode 125 The Theological Legacy of Rachel Held Evans.
This podcast presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. As the flagship publication of the Christian Research Institute, the Journal seeks to equip followers of Christ to think and to live Christianly—to exercise truth and experience life. Truth, especially essential Christian doctrine, forms the basis for how we live our lives in Christ. As the apostle Paul instructed Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”The Christian Research Journal enjoyed a print incarnation of almost 45 years. Now exclusively an online publication, the Journal consists of thousands of free articles. We hope that through these audio articles you are not only equipped to proclaim and defend your faith but that as a disciple you also draw closer to Christ in your walk with Him. You can find the written version of each article that is an episode of Christian Research Journal Reads at the website of the Christian Research Institute, equip.org. All Christian Research Journal articles at equip.org are completely free and do not require a subscription and are not under a paywall.All episodes will be available at the following podcast platforms with more being added daily! You can help spread the word about this new podcast by giving us a rating and review from the other channels we are listed on and telling others!You can view off our Website at the at this link and off our Journal main page.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/christian-research-journal-reads--6022978/support.
It was accompanied by Postmodern Realities Episode 125 The Theological Legacy of Rachel Held Evans.
This podcast presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. As the flagship publication of the Christian Research Institute, the Journal seeks to equip followers of Christ to think and to live Christianly—to exercise truth and experience life. Truth, especially essential Christian doctrine, forms the basis for how we live our lives in Christ. As the apostle Paul instructed Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”The Christian Research Journal enjoyed a print incarnation of almost 45 years. Now exclusively an online publication, the Journal consists of thousands of free articles. We hope that through these audio articles you are not only equipped to proclaim and defend your faith but that as a disciple you also draw closer to Christ in your walk with Him. You can find the written version of each article that is an episode of Christian Research Journal Reads at the website of the Christian Research Institute, equip.org. All Christian Research Journal articles at equip.org are completely free and do not require a subscription and are not under a paywall.All episodes will be available at the following podcast platforms with more being added daily! You can help spread the word about this new podcast by giving us a rating and review from the other channels we are listed on and telling others!You can view off our Website at the at this link and off our Journal main page.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/christian-research-journal-reads--6022978/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is episode one hundred and fifty one of the
Christian Research Journal Reads Podcast. The Theological Legacy of Rachel
held Evans by Ann Kennedy. This article is an online
exclusive for volume forty two, number two in May of
(00:27):
twenty nineteen. The Christian Research Journal Reads Podcast presents audio
versions of Christian Research Journal articles. To read the full
text of this article and its documentation, go to equip
dot org that see quip dot org. The Theological Legacy
(00:50):
of Rachel held Evans by Ann Kennedy. A life cut
short early Saturday morning, May five, twenty ninetheen Rachel held Evans,
only thirty seven, died suddenly after a brief hospitalization. She
left behind her husband, two very young children, and a
(01:12):
theological legacy that will take years to unravel. She was
immediately and intensely mourned on Twitter, her preferred social media
platform and a Christian subcultural space she helped shape. Evans
rose to prominence in the early two thousands as a blogger.
Her first book, Evolving in Monkey Town Sondervan twenty ten,
(01:33):
articulates the doubts about creation and Hell and ultimately destroyed
her childhood faith. In her second book, a year of
Biblical Womanhood Thomas Nelson twenty twelve. She undertook to observe
all the Biblical commands regarding women, or as many of
them as she could realistically manage to their literal extreme.
(01:57):
Many of the tributes to her on social media were
referred back to her as the Proverbs thirty one woman
of valor, a term she popularized in the course of
that project. Her next book, Searching for Sunday Nelson Books
twenty fifteen, arose from her exit from evangelicalism and her
reception into the Episcopal Church. This and her final work
(02:20):
inspired Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again.
Nelson Books twenty eighteen made her a Christian Internet mainstay.
Outside of publishing, Evans is well known for the Why
Christian and Evolving Faith conferences, both rallying points for disaffected evangelicals.
(02:41):
There she promoted other now famous voices Nadia Boltswebber, Jen Hatmaker,
and Austin Channing Brown. The outpouring on social media was immediate, poignant,
and heartbreaking. During her life, her swift kindness and agile
theological comment that brought many Christians both on the right
(03:02):
and left into her circle. She graciously responded to anyone
who tagged or questioned her. She privately encouraged a broad
range of both well known and obscure Twitter followers, and
there were many stories of people who, no matter what
they greeted her or not, were moved by her willingness
to engage. Indeed, though Evans fled Bible Belt evangelicalism for
(03:27):
the comfortable doubts of the Episcopal Church, frustrated that she
had not been able to carve out theological space for herself,
if she could have witnessed the heartbreak, she would have
seen that she had irrevocably altered the face of American
evangelical Christianity. Sarah Pullion Bailey's prescient commentary in twenty fifteen
(03:49):
still rings true from her self made pulpit. Evans has
openly wrestled with fate and evolution, where women fit in
church leadership and who will end up in hell. With
no formal seminary training or institutional backing, she has challenged
traditional evangelical biblical interpretation on the place of LGBT people
(04:11):
in the church, advocating for allowing them to join and
even become leaders, especially contentious topics in evangelical circles a
refuge of doubt. Evans's appeal grew out of her deep
roots within evangelicalism and the Bible belt. Her facility with
(04:31):
the scriptures, combined with her wit, humor, and fluid prose,
gave a way for believer and non believer alike to
consider faith in a fresh, lively way. In particular, evangelicals
wary of the culture wars, angry about notorious hypocrisy within
the church, and disenchanted with the conflation of culture, politics,
(04:54):
and biblical faith found in her a refuge. Evans. Hermnutity, however,
should be problematic for orthodox Christians of every stripe and tradition.
She approaches scripture from a human centered perspective rather than
a christocentric one, and her primary exegetical tool is doubt.
Quote you search the scriptures because you think that in
(05:18):
them you have eternal life end quote. Laments Jesus in
combat with the religious authorities of his day, and yet
quote it is they that bear witness about me end
quote John five thirty nine ESV. Jesus himself is the
key that unlocks the meaning of every Biblical text. Understanding
(05:39):
who Jesus is both who he claims to be, and
how he himself reads the scriptures is the first and
most critical hermenodical task. Jesus is fully God and fully
man John one pin one Hebrews four fifteen, the second
person of the Godhead, the foundational source that holds the
(06:03):
universe together Colossians one fifteen through seventeen, and the substitutionary
atoning sacrifice for sin on the Cross Hebrews ten one
through fifteen. His life, death, resurrection, and ascension fulfill the
old Covenant law and restore a desolate humanity to communion
(06:25):
with God Ephesians two eleven through sixteen. Without his divinely
ordained and obedient sacrifice for sinners, the whole Bible, but
especially the Old Testament, is rendered incoherent biblical. And yet
many Christians throw around the word quote biblical end quote
(06:48):
as a mere device by which to make decisions untethered
to the complex narrative of scripture and the person of Jesus.
Evans is not far wrong when she writes in the
beginning of a year of Biblical womanhood quote. Now, we
evangelicals have a nasty habit of throwing the word biblical
(07:09):
around like it's Martin Luther's middle name. We especially like
to stick it in front of other loaded words like economics, sexuality, politics,
and marriage to create impression that God has definitive opinions
about such things, opinions that just so happen to correspond
with our own. Despite insistent claims that we don't pick
(07:33):
and choose which part of the Bible we take seriously,
using the word biblical prescriptively like this almost always involves
selectivity end quote. Her point is well taken. Christians have
contended for centuries over how faith in Christ should inform
and shape daily life, let alone political and ecclesial order.
(07:57):
Every age comes to its own conclusions by yarns, exoriating
the past and succumbing to nostalgia. That being so, the
Church has adopted a certain hermeneutical principles to guide the
Christian's reading of Scripture. Some of these principles are basic
common sense practices. One is to let the teaching portions
(08:19):
of the Bible shape the reader's interpretation of the narrative portions.
That Jacob married both Rachel and Leah does not mean
that polygamy is quote taught end quote in scripture. Another
principle is that the Old Testament law, which regulated without
condoning certain practices, must be read in light of New
(08:42):
Covenant teaching. Old Testament laws concerning polygamy find their answer
in Jesus's restoration of marriage to Eden Matthew nineteen three
through nine and the ultimate establishment of it in himself
Ephesians five thirty two Evans, whether she intends to or not,
(09:04):
ignores both these principles, she writes, quote, after all, technically speaking,
it is biblical for a woman to be sold by
her father Exodus twenty one seven, biblical, for her to
be forced to marry her rapist Deuteronomy twenty two, twenty
eight through twenty nine, biblical, for her to remain silent
(09:27):
in church Verse Corinthians fourteen thirty four and thirty five biblical,
for her to cover her head Verse Corinthians eleven six,
and biblical, for her to be one of multiple wives
Exodus twenty one ten end quote. In this way, she
claims that the Bible canonizes contradiction that a Biblical view
(09:49):
of marriage includes polygamy, imitating that perhaps the sin of
misogyny may be laid at the feet of God himself.
New readers of the Bible will often be appalled by
the bad life choices of the patriarchs, by callous acts
of violence, and by the calamitous behavior of King David's children,
(10:10):
not to mention David himself. As the novice labors along
through the text, humanity's evil mounts up into an overshadowing
mountain of guilt, guilt that God judges by sending his
own chosen people into captivity to the Assyrians and Babylonians.
(10:32):
For the modern reader, who is used to having every
moral lesson spelled out plainly, it can be frustrating to
find little or no judgment declared within the Old Testament's
narrative portions. The Levite's concubine is brutalized and left dead,
with only hints in the shape of the story that
something has gone terribly wry. Ellens does not adopt a
(10:57):
harmonizing posture towards those notoriously difficult passages, letting the didactic
sections of scripture govern biblical narratives and the New Testament
interpret the Old. Instead, she nurtures the natural inclination of
the reader to stumble over them, picking and choosing. Christians
(11:19):
have historically understood that it is not about picking and choosing,
and that Jesus himself is not arbitrarily throwing away some
part of the law, as Evans alleges here quote. As
a Christian, I do take some comfort in the fact
that Jesus got himself into quite a bit of trouble
for his own selective literalism. Known for healing on the Sabbath,
(11:44):
touching the untouchables, and fraternizing with prostitutes and tax collectors,
Jesus liked to begin his sermons by quoting a passage
of scripture, you have heard that it was said, and
then turning it on his head. But I tell you.
Perhaps the most famous example of this technique is captured
(12:06):
in Matthew five forty three through forty five, where Jesus says,
you have heard that it was said, love your neighbor
and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies,
and pray for those who persecute you, that you may
be children of your Father in Heaven end quote. There
is no text in any portion of the Bible that
(12:27):
commands any one to quote hate your enemy end quote.
Jesus is addressing either a scribal or popular misapplication of
the Old Covenant law quote love your neighbor as yourself
end quote, which justified the adversarial treatment of Samaritans in
particular and Gentiles in general Luke ten, twenty five thirty seven.
(12:50):
A coherent Christo centric reading of the Bible reveals that
loving one's enemy is at the very heart of the Gospel,
beginning in Genesis three, when Adam and Eve become enemies
of God. God, in response sets about to love them
and all their fallen ancestors with the self sacrificial love
(13:14):
that characterizes his own person. It is a complicated story,
a story of love of Agape, a story that takes
millennia to unfold. It culminates in a dehumanized, rejected Christ
on the cross. It is the perfect picture of a
(13:36):
God reconciling himself to his enemies. The close reader understands
that Jesus did not quote, overturn end quote the law,
but perfectly and fully embodied it. Love has to be
defined by his character, person, and actions in the scripture.
(13:57):
We cannot take a twenty first century me Center definition
of love and impose it on the text. Furthermore, the
preponderance of the times Jesus said quote you have heard
it said that end quote, he was not quoting the
law itself, but rabbinical additions to the law. When he
(14:19):
said quote, but I say end quote, he was stripping
the law back to its root, affirming its goodness, and
offering himself as its merciful fulfillment to those who could
never keep it. The instructions of Jesus and his apostles
in the New Testament make it very clear that God's
(14:42):
own people, whom he nursed in his bosom, rejected him,
that his just wrath demands a true sacrifice for a
rebellious humanity, and that his mercy rescues the repentant out
of that just fire. To reiterate examples in the previous section,
(15:03):
Abraham sinned in taking Hagar Israel, herself was vomited out
on the land for her idolatry, and yet God loved
his enemies and accomplished the salvation of those who hated him.
A cacophony of voices Evans everywhere misuses the term literalism,
(15:26):
applying it disparagingly to those who believe the Bible is
understandable and consistent with itself. Because she does not believe
that God is able to speak clearly, the text becomes
for her a useful cacophony of voices, without a substitutionary atonement,
(15:47):
without a respectful and nuanced reading of the Old Testament
law that takes Christ as its fulfillment and culmination. Without
the dual natures of Christ, and without the distinction between
teaching and narrative, the Bible is fragmented and unintelligible. And
(16:08):
yet for centuries Christians have known that God speaks coherently
in every age and in every place. God is a poet,
a teacher, a master of metaphor, a narrator, so devoted
to a perfect arch that he encompasses the totality of
(16:29):
human history within his divine purposes. Indeed, God so relies
on the complexities and subtleties of human speech as to
adopt for himself the name quote, the word end quote.
When God says quote, do not lie in quote, everybody
understands what he means. When Jesus stands sorrowing over the
(16:53):
city of Jerusalem, grieving that he would have gathered her
as a hen gathers her check Matthew, twenty three thirty seven,
even a small child understands that he is not a chicken,
but that he deeply desires not the death of sinners,
but that they should turn to him and live. Increasingly
(17:16):
marginalized American mainline denominations embraced a splintered reading of scripture
throughout the last century, without making any real mark on evangelicalism.
Evans popularized this confused reading, reaching many disenfranchised evangelicals just
at the moment when they hungered and thirsted for a
(17:39):
more culturally palatable Bible. As modern day heresies present upon
the church, Evans made a way in the Bible belt
for adventagious, unorthodox, incoherent interpretations. Most of all, she nursed
ordinary people into a strange comfort, not of bringing the
(18:02):
difficult and terrifying questions of life and death to be
answered by a kind and merciful Savior in the life
giving scriptures, but of finding refuge in their own doubts,
their supposedly unanswerable questions. This is perhaps the most tragic
portion of her legacy, and one with which the Church
(18:23):
will have to wrestle for many decades to come. Evangelicals, now,
along with the main lines, can quote live into the
questions end quote can use a radically inclusive definition of
love to redefine God himself and can discount the scriptures.
What The New York Times intended as a tribute is
(18:45):
a grievous indictment of the state of the church today.
Quote Her congregation was online and her Twitter feed became
her church a gathering place for thousands to question, find
safety in their de outs, and learn to believe in
a new way. End quote. Thank you for listening to
(19:07):
another episode from the Christian Research Journal Reads podcast, which
provides audio articles of Christian Research Journal articles. If you
go to equip dot org, you will find a brand
new article for the Christian Research Journal published weekly. In addition,
please subscribe to our other podcasts. Wherever you find your
(19:29):
favorite podcast, you will find the Christian Research Journal Reads podcast,
the Postmodern Realities podcast, which features interviews with Christian Research
Journal authors, our flagship podcast, The Bible answer Man Broadcast,
and the Hank Unplugged podcast, where CRI President Hank Canagraph
(19:52):
takes you out of the studio and into his study
to engage in in depth, free flowing, essential Christian conversations
on critical issues with some of the most interesting and
informative people on the planet. At equip dot org, you
will also find a lot of resources to equip you,
including many thousands of Christian research journal articles. That's e
(20:17):
q u I P dot O r G
This is episode one hundred and fifty one of the
Christian Research Journal Reads Podcast. The Theological Legacy of Rachel
held Evans by Ann Kennedy. This article is an online
exclusive for volume forty two, number two in May of
(00:27):
twenty nineteen. The Christian Research Journal Reads Podcast presents audio
versions of Christian Research Journal articles. To read the full
text of this article and its documentation, go to equip
dot org that see quip dot org. The Theological Legacy
(00:50):
of Rachel held Evans by Ann Kennedy. A life cut
short early Saturday morning, May five, twenty ninetheen Rachel held Evans,
only thirty seven, died suddenly after a brief hospitalization. She
left behind her husband, two very young children, and a
(01:12):
theological legacy that will take years to unravel. She was
immediately and intensely mourned on Twitter, her preferred social media
platform and a Christian subcultural space she helped shape. Evans
rose to prominence in the early two thousands as a blogger.
Her first book, Evolving in Monkey Town Sondervan twenty ten,
(01:33):
articulates the doubts about creation and Hell and ultimately destroyed
her childhood faith. In her second book, a year of
Biblical Womanhood Thomas Nelson twenty twelve. She undertook to observe
all the Biblical commands regarding women, or as many of
them as she could realistically manage to their literal extreme.
(01:57):
Many of the tributes to her on social media were
referred back to her as the Proverbs thirty one woman
of valor, a term she popularized in the course of
that project. Her next book, Searching for Sunday Nelson Books
twenty fifteen, arose from her exit from evangelicalism and her
reception into the Episcopal Church. This and her final work
(02:20):
inspired Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again.
Nelson Books twenty eighteen made her a Christian Internet mainstay.
Outside of publishing, Evans is well known for the Why
Christian and Evolving Faith conferences, both rallying points for disaffected evangelicals.
(02:41):
There she promoted other now famous voices Nadia Boltswebber, Jen Hatmaker,
and Austin Channing Brown. The outpouring on social media was immediate, poignant,
and heartbreaking. During her life, her swift kindness and agile
theological comment that brought many Christians both on the right
(03:02):
and left into her circle. She graciously responded to anyone
who tagged or questioned her. She privately encouraged a broad
range of both well known and obscure Twitter followers, and
there were many stories of people who, no matter what
they greeted her or not, were moved by her willingness
to engage. Indeed, though Evans fled Bible Belt evangelicalism for
(03:27):
the comfortable doubts of the Episcopal Church, frustrated that she
had not been able to carve out theological space for herself,
if she could have witnessed the heartbreak, she would have
seen that she had irrevocably altered the face of American
evangelical Christianity. Sarah Pullion Bailey's prescient commentary in twenty fifteen
(03:49):
still rings true from her self made pulpit. Evans has
openly wrestled with fate and evolution, where women fit in
church leadership and who will end up in hell. With
no formal seminary training or institutional backing, she has challenged
traditional evangelical biblical interpretation on the place of LGBT people
(04:11):
in the church, advocating for allowing them to join and
even become leaders, especially contentious topics in evangelical circles a
refuge of doubt. Evans's appeal grew out of her deep
roots within evangelicalism and the Bible belt. Her facility with
(04:31):
the scriptures, combined with her wit, humor, and fluid prose,
gave a way for believer and non believer alike to
consider faith in a fresh, lively way. In particular, evangelicals
wary of the culture wars, angry about notorious hypocrisy within
the church, and disenchanted with the conflation of culture, politics,
(04:54):
and biblical faith found in her a refuge. Evans. Hermnutity, however,
should be problematic for orthodox Christians of every stripe and tradition.
She approaches scripture from a human centered perspective rather than
a christocentric one, and her primary exegetical tool is doubt.
Quote you search the scriptures because you think that in
(05:18):
them you have eternal life end quote. Laments Jesus in
combat with the religious authorities of his day, and yet
quote it is they that bear witness about me end
quote John five thirty nine ESV. Jesus himself is the
key that unlocks the meaning of every Biblical text. Understanding
(05:39):
who Jesus is both who he claims to be, and
how he himself reads the scriptures is the first and
most critical hermenodical task. Jesus is fully God and fully
man John one pin one Hebrews four fifteen, the second
person of the Godhead, the foundational source that holds the
(06:03):
universe together Colossians one fifteen through seventeen, and the substitutionary
atoning sacrifice for sin on the Cross Hebrews ten one
through fifteen. His life, death, resurrection, and ascension fulfill the
old Covenant law and restore a desolate humanity to communion
(06:25):
with God Ephesians two eleven through sixteen. Without his divinely
ordained and obedient sacrifice for sinners, the whole Bible, but
especially the Old Testament, is rendered incoherent biblical. And yet
many Christians throw around the word quote biblical end quote
(06:48):
as a mere device by which to make decisions untethered
to the complex narrative of scripture and the person of Jesus.
Evans is not far wrong when she writes in the
beginning of a year of Biblical womanhood quote. Now, we
evangelicals have a nasty habit of throwing the word biblical
(07:09):
around like it's Martin Luther's middle name. We especially like
to stick it in front of other loaded words like economics, sexuality, politics,
and marriage to create impression that God has definitive opinions
about such things, opinions that just so happen to correspond
with our own. Despite insistent claims that we don't pick
(07:33):
and choose which part of the Bible we take seriously,
using the word biblical prescriptively like this almost always involves
selectivity end quote. Her point is well taken. Christians have
contended for centuries over how faith in Christ should inform
and shape daily life, let alone political and ecclesial order.
(07:57):
Every age comes to its own conclusions by yarns, exoriating
the past and succumbing to nostalgia. That being so, the
Church has adopted a certain hermeneutical principles to guide the
Christian's reading of Scripture. Some of these principles are basic
common sense practices. One is to let the teaching portions
(08:19):
of the Bible shape the reader's interpretation of the narrative portions.
That Jacob married both Rachel and Leah does not mean
that polygamy is quote taught end quote in scripture. Another
principle is that the Old Testament law, which regulated without
condoning certain practices, must be read in light of New
(08:42):
Covenant teaching. Old Testament laws concerning polygamy find their answer
in Jesus's restoration of marriage to Eden Matthew nineteen three
through nine and the ultimate establishment of it in himself
Ephesians five thirty two Evans, whether she intends to or not,
(09:04):
ignores both these principles, she writes, quote, after all, technically speaking,
it is biblical for a woman to be sold by
her father Exodus twenty one seven, biblical, for her to
be forced to marry her rapist Deuteronomy twenty two, twenty
eight through twenty nine, biblical, for her to remain silent
(09:27):
in church Verse Corinthians fourteen thirty four and thirty five biblical,
for her to cover her head Verse Corinthians eleven six,
and biblical, for her to be one of multiple wives
Exodus twenty one ten end quote. In this way, she
claims that the Bible canonizes contradiction that a Biblical view
(09:49):
of marriage includes polygamy, imitating that perhaps the sin of
misogyny may be laid at the feet of God himself.
New readers of the Bible will often be appalled by
the bad life choices of the patriarchs, by callous acts
of violence, and by the calamitous behavior of King David's children,
(10:10):
not to mention David himself. As the novice labors along
through the text, humanity's evil mounts up into an overshadowing
mountain of guilt, guilt that God judges by sending his
own chosen people into captivity to the Assyrians and Babylonians.
(10:32):
For the modern reader, who is used to having every
moral lesson spelled out plainly, it can be frustrating to
find little or no judgment declared within the Old Testament's
narrative portions. The Levite's concubine is brutalized and left dead,
with only hints in the shape of the story that
something has gone terribly wry. Ellens does not adopt a
(10:57):
harmonizing posture towards those notoriously difficult passages, letting the didactic
sections of scripture govern biblical narratives and the New Testament
interpret the Old. Instead, she nurtures the natural inclination of
the reader to stumble over them, picking and choosing. Christians
(11:19):
have historically understood that it is not about picking and choosing,
and that Jesus himself is not arbitrarily throwing away some
part of the law, as Evans alleges here quote. As
a Christian, I do take some comfort in the fact
that Jesus got himself into quite a bit of trouble
for his own selective literalism. Known for healing on the Sabbath,
(11:44):
touching the untouchables, and fraternizing with prostitutes and tax collectors,
Jesus liked to begin his sermons by quoting a passage
of scripture, you have heard that it was said, and
then turning it on his head. But I tell you.
Perhaps the most famous example of this technique is captured
(12:06):
in Matthew five forty three through forty five, where Jesus says,
you have heard that it was said, love your neighbor
and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies,
and pray for those who persecute you, that you may
be children of your Father in Heaven end quote. There
is no text in any portion of the Bible that
(12:27):
commands any one to quote hate your enemy end quote.
Jesus is addressing either a scribal or popular misapplication of
the Old Covenant law quote love your neighbor as yourself
end quote, which justified the adversarial treatment of Samaritans in
particular and Gentiles in general Luke ten, twenty five thirty seven.
(12:50):
A coherent Christo centric reading of the Bible reveals that
loving one's enemy is at the very heart of the Gospel,
beginning in Genesis three, when Adam and Eve become enemies
of God. God, in response sets about to love them
and all their fallen ancestors with the self sacrificial love
(13:14):
that characterizes his own person. It is a complicated story,
a story of love of Agape, a story that takes
millennia to unfold. It culminates in a dehumanized, rejected Christ
on the cross. It is the perfect picture of a
(13:36):
God reconciling himself to his enemies. The close reader understands
that Jesus did not quote, overturn end quote the law,
but perfectly and fully embodied it. Love has to be
defined by his character, person, and actions in the scripture.
(13:57):
We cannot take a twenty first century me Center definition
of love and impose it on the text. Furthermore, the
preponderance of the times Jesus said quote you have heard
it said that end quote, he was not quoting the
law itself, but rabbinical additions to the law. When he
(14:19):
said quote, but I say end quote, he was stripping
the law back to its root, affirming its goodness, and
offering himself as its merciful fulfillment to those who could
never keep it. The instructions of Jesus and his apostles
in the New Testament make it very clear that God's
(14:42):
own people, whom he nursed in his bosom, rejected him,
that his just wrath demands a true sacrifice for a
rebellious humanity, and that his mercy rescues the repentant out
of that just fire. To reiterate examples in the previous section,
(15:03):
Abraham sinned in taking Hagar Israel, herself was vomited out
on the land for her idolatry, and yet God loved
his enemies and accomplished the salvation of those who hated him.
A cacophony of voices Evans everywhere misuses the term literalism,
(15:26):
applying it disparagingly to those who believe the Bible is
understandable and consistent with itself. Because she does not believe
that God is able to speak clearly, the text becomes
for her a useful cacophony of voices, without a substitutionary atonement,
(15:47):
without a respectful and nuanced reading of the Old Testament
law that takes Christ as its fulfillment and culmination. Without
the dual natures of Christ, and without the distinction between
teaching and narrative, the Bible is fragmented and unintelligible. And
(16:08):
yet for centuries Christians have known that God speaks coherently
in every age and in every place. God is a poet,
a teacher, a master of metaphor, a narrator, so devoted
to a perfect arch that he encompasses the totality of
(16:29):
human history within his divine purposes. Indeed, God so relies
on the complexities and subtleties of human speech as to
adopt for himself the name quote, the word end quote.
When God says quote, do not lie in quote, everybody
understands what he means. When Jesus stands sorrowing over the
(16:53):
city of Jerusalem, grieving that he would have gathered her
as a hen gathers her check Matthew, twenty three thirty seven,
even a small child understands that he is not a chicken,
but that he deeply desires not the death of sinners,
but that they should turn to him and live. Increasingly
(17:16):
marginalized American mainline denominations embraced a splintered reading of scripture
throughout the last century, without making any real mark on evangelicalism.
Evans popularized this confused reading, reaching many disenfranchised evangelicals just
at the moment when they hungered and thirsted for a
(17:39):
more culturally palatable Bible. As modern day heresies present upon
the church, Evans made a way in the Bible belt
for adventagious, unorthodox, incoherent interpretations. Most of all, she nursed
ordinary people into a strange comfort, not of bringing the
(18:02):
difficult and terrifying questions of life and death to be
answered by a kind and merciful Savior in the life
giving scriptures, but of finding refuge in their own doubts,
their supposedly unanswerable questions. This is perhaps the most tragic
portion of her legacy, and one with which the Church
(18:23):
will have to wrestle for many decades to come. Evangelicals, now,
along with the main lines, can quote live into the
questions end quote can use a radically inclusive definition of
love to redefine God himself and can discount the scriptures.
What The New York Times intended as a tribute is
(18:45):
a grievous indictment of the state of the church today.
Quote Her congregation was online and her Twitter feed became
her church a gathering place for thousands to question, find
safety in their de outs, and learn to believe in
a new way. End quote. Thank you for listening to
(19:07):
another episode from the Christian Research Journal Reads podcast, which
provides audio articles of Christian Research Journal articles. If you
go to equip dot org, you will find a brand
new article for the Christian Research Journal published weekly. In addition,
please subscribe to our other podcasts. Wherever you find your
(19:29):
favorite podcast, you will find the Christian Research Journal Reads podcast,
the Postmodern Realities podcast, which features interviews with Christian Research
Journal authors, our flagship podcast, The Bible answer Man Broadcast,
and the Hank Unplugged podcast, where CRI President Hank Canagraph
(19:52):
takes you out of the studio and into his study
to engage in in depth, free flowing, essential Christian conversations
on critical issues with some of the most interesting and
informative people on the planet. At equip dot org, you
will also find a lot of resources to equip you,
including many thousands of Christian research journal articles. That's e
(20:17):
q u I P dot O r G
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