As the reader engages with this blog post may they be richly
blessed with revelation and understanding.
I write this post on cultural bias very much aware that I
engage in cultural bias. While this post could be considered a great endeavor of cultural or religious bias I find that I am compelled to address such. Now, that I, and I
would add many others, regardless of the religious/spiritual spectrum, engage in cultural bias is no surprise yet this normative
reality must be addressed if we are to overcome a particular debilitating
hypocrisy which daily seeks to transform the Church and ourselves into a phenomenon of
deception, denying the very life and ministry of Jesus Christ, even the
Cross. Yet I know that the Church and I
are capable of so much more grace and mercy, and it is from this point that
this post emerges.
And so……….
While recuperating from surgery I went to the Christianity
Today magazine website. A conservative
religious publication, it holds a worldview grounded in conservative interpretations
of sacred biblical texts. Exploring the
site I came upon an article on George Fox and California Baptist Universities and housing policy regarding transgender students posted by Kate Tracy 7/15/2014. I posted a comment regarding transgender
inclusion from a viewpoint of liberation based on Isaiah 61:1-3 and further
comments regarding Eunuchs based on Matthew 19:12, Acts 8:26-40, Isaiah 56:3-5 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. Now having started my biblical studies at Regent
University, a conservative seminary in Virginia Beach, Virginia I was familiar
with their interpretation so their responses were not surprising. Comments such as “there is no way Isaiah
61:1-3 could possibly mean the acceptance of crossdressing or “if you have had
the operation then may God keep your soul but if you have not had the operation
then you need to repent.” These were
typical comments. In the midst of this
exchange I began to ask the question of cultural bias and reflection of that
bias in matters of biblical interpretation as a sacred act in myself and in the
wider Church. Cultural bias occurs as we
seek to interpret the sacred text from a standpoint which affirms our own context,
i.e. race, gender, sexuality, economic status, etc. In a nutshell.
Cultural bias is the phenomenon of interpreting and
judging phenomena by standards inherent to one's own culture. The
phenomenon is sometimes considered a problem central to social and human
sciences, such as economics, psychology, anthropology, and sociology.
And this is my concern, that cultural bias opens the door
for all manner of oppressions for the sake of affirming cultural and social
sensibilities based in empirical notions of tribalism and/or nationalism. Patriarchy, racism, sexism, homophobia,
transphobia, bi-phobia, slavery and even capitalism, just to name a few, have their
beginnings and their legitimacy, at least in the context of the western Church, in
biblical interpretations and scholarship that are more often about affirming a particular hegemonic worldview. Scripture, its interpretation and even god "himself"are called to serve at the pleasure
of a narrative skewed as a matter of power, i.e., the sacred now serves at the pleasure of the secular, and faith is now enslaved to reason.
As such any difference from the secular normative is seen and experienced as
adversarial, and the enemy of a supremacy of the "secular righteous.” Politicians then, whether conservative, liberal or progressive, some of whom are ministers in
their respective denominations, who
spout biblical propaganda with a tinge of the apocalyptic to give it the
appropriate hue to get the unsuspecting to vote them and their agenda’s into
office are a danger to the safety and well being of a progressive democratic society and its principles. That said, cultural bias is a dangerous reality and those
who consider themselves sincere about their faith must be mindful of this.
The Great Commonwealth of Love
I suggest that the Apostle Paul addresses the issue of
cultural bias in Galatians 3:28-29 (NRSV) as he critiques identity, calling for
oneness in Christ. Vanessa Sheridan,
author of Crossing Over, Liberating the Transgendered Christian, writes, in her
analysis of Gal 3:29 "There is no longer male or female!. . . Could this
possibly mean that faith in Christ transcends the barriers of sex and gender,
thus rendering each person, regardless of sexual or gender orientation, equally
precious in the sight of God?"[1]
And therefore shall Christ overcome cultural
bias? The Apostle Paul’s critique makes this evident and that the one who
would seek to interpret the text must do so with the utmost integrity in
Christ and this beyond cultural bias.
Christ within, must be the lens of vision, and the origin of the
interpretation.
The experience of crossing the proverbial theological and
biblical battle lines of cultural bias and interpretation reveals the
importance of a Great Commonwealth of
Love. The Great Commonwealth of
Love, based on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:1-12) NRSV becomes the ground
of a great covenant. I want to suggest
here that this covenant, particularly in regard to the Church of the 21st
century must be a covenant rooted in the dynamic life, witness and ministry of
Jesus and community. That said, the one
who would embrace life in the Church must study the life and ministry of Jesus and
the Cost of Discipleship in Luke 14:25-35 (NRSV) in community to ascertain what
it means to be a reflection, a follower, even a disciple of Jesus Christ. Identifying with Jesus and reflecting Jesus
then, in terms of a response to the issues and concerns of life in community,
emerge as a significant discourse of utmost importance within the great
covenant. This is central, particularly
in regard to living and working in a multi-cultural society engaged in various issues
full of implications and consequences.
Three questions asked
How deep shall the disciple delve into the teachings of Jesus Christ?
What presence shall the Holy Spirit have within their soul?
Shall the disciple’s very consciousness become love itself?
Within the implications and complications contained in a
complex, painful and suffering world the joyous beloved embodies Jesus, even
the Christ through fervent prayer, reflection, contemplation and ministry. And this becomes a means to embrace the heart
of God embodied in the life and ministry of Jesus. Beloved, may I be offer clarity on this point
even more so, that the one who seeks to be a disciple of Jesus must do so with
a peculiar mystic joy, a joy necessary to move in a complex world. The follower of Jesus Christ and his teachings
living in a 21st century multi cultural capitalist society is
compelled by the realities of the spirit to develop a critical faith. As the disciple lives a critical faith,
increasingly engaging the deepest depths of love for the sake of humanity, there
is an ever increasing intention towards a consciousness of love. The beloved’s consciousness becomes love.
And is this not what Jesus Christ lived daily, a life of
critical faith, evidence of a love so deep that even now it cannot be fully
understood or comprehended yet so intimate to the human soul.
Having a consciousness of love the issues and concerns of
cultural bias become notions of the juvenile and of no consequence in a
movement of joy and love. For in the
final analysis the goal is not so much to be an image of cultural bias, i.e., the
bible or the bible itself for that matter but to be the beloved disciple of
Jesus Christ.
[1]
Vanessa Sheridan. Crossing Over, Liberating the Transgendered Christian. (Cleveland, OH, The Pilgrim Press) 124.
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