05-28-2016, 07:05 AM
I don't know which part of the world you are in (I could probably find out if I looked at your profile), but here in the U.S. evangelicals are very influential, and they focus a great deal on the old testament, which is definitely filled with a lot of judgementalism and fear-mongering.
I couldn't agree more; this comment seems to echo mine. just look at deutronomy 28 if you want a real example.
I recently read that the new testament can be read to supercede the old testament, but that is not a universal view. I'm not a Christian, by the way. One of the reasons I'm even thinking about all this is that my best friend from childhood is an evangelical minister, and he is famous for asserting that the entire Bible is the literal word of God, and that the six-day creation in Genesis must be taken literally with no knod to science. He criticizes other theologians who interpret the 6-day creation symbolically. For example, some of them interpret "day" to mean an age or era, not just 24 hours.
This is all true, about christian fundamentalists, but the poem doesn't question fundamentalism; it questions christianity.
Anyway, because so many evangelicals say that the Bible must be taken as a whole, and because the old testament is so judgemental, I've come to see the entire Bible as a "book of fear".
again, nothing to disagree with, but your phrasing doesn't capture the bible as a whole. when you say 'his father's book of fear' you're disassociating christ. if the whole bible is the book of fear, then it's christ's book too, not just his father's.
I should add, however, that the Bible is quite sexist, so using the word "men" is consistent with the subject of the poem.
good point
I couldn't agree more; this comment seems to echo mine. just look at deutronomy 28 if you want a real example.
I recently read that the new testament can be read to supercede the old testament, but that is not a universal view. I'm not a Christian, by the way. One of the reasons I'm even thinking about all this is that my best friend from childhood is an evangelical minister, and he is famous for asserting that the entire Bible is the literal word of God, and that the six-day creation in Genesis must be taken literally with no knod to science. He criticizes other theologians who interpret the 6-day creation symbolically. For example, some of them interpret "day" to mean an age or era, not just 24 hours.
This is all true, about christian fundamentalists, but the poem doesn't question fundamentalism; it questions christianity.
Anyway, because so many evangelicals say that the Bible must be taken as a whole, and because the old testament is so judgemental, I've come to see the entire Bible as a "book of fear".
again, nothing to disagree with, but your phrasing doesn't capture the bible as a whole. when you say 'his father's book of fear' you're disassociating christ. if the whole bible is the book of fear, then it's christ's book too, not just his father's.
I should add, however, that the Bible is quite sexist, so using the word "men" is consistent with the subject of the poem.
good point