Our Public Shaming on the Way to Death

In The Old Testament is Dying, Strawn makes extensive use of the analogy that the Old Testament is (like) a language. This eventually requires him to talk about language change and even language death. And this is important, because language death is rarely abrupt. Rather, the death of a language is more nuanced, drown out, and complicated. As for the most critical juncture in the process, it’s “when a generation of speakers stops communicating its language on a regular basis to its children” (p. 69).

Sound familiar?

Yet, for the moment I want to focus on the process of death. Namely, I want to focus on what happens to a language as it dies. According to Strawn, a dying language goes through something called repidginization, where said language is massively and abruptly simplified and reduced. It aggressively retracts and loses all notion of sophistication and complexity (pp. 69–70), and the result is something called a pidgin. During this process, a language is on life-support, used only when absolutely necessary and only for as long as necessary. Eventually, there comes a moment when a language is completely ignored and disregarded. At that moment, a language dies.

Nevertheless, repidginization does not have to result in death. The process could lead into another process called creolization. Creolization describes how a pidgin (a severely retracted and dying language) actually becomes a new language. When this happens, the new language takes on the growth cycles of languages, including expansion and initial moments of intense irregularity (pp. 64–65). Perhaps most importantly, a creole need not display very many, if any at all, vestiges of its historical roots. In other words, the process of creolization could be such that any relationship between the original language and its descendant is only revealed by knowledge of the historical process.

Applied to the Old Testament, the data suggests, as detailed extensively by Strawn, that repidginization is upon us. You don’t have to look far to see popular theologies built upon unsophisticated or erroneous ideas of the Old Testament. There are those of the so-called Prosperity Gospel and what I call “life-coaches-posing-as-preachers” (what Strawn calls “Happiologists”—i.e. Joel Olsteen and company). And I don’t have to mention the general lack of use of the Old Testament by preachers. Yet the criticality of the situation is perhaps most clear when one realizes that certain attacks on the faith are actually zeroing in on Old Testament pidgins and not the real language.

In chapter 4, Strawn interacts with the so-called New Atheists, a flamboyant group of educated enemies of Christianity. Their goal seems to be fairly simple—highlight the ostensible ludicrousness and incoherence of the faith to the point that any Christian is assumed to be a moron. What becomes clear, however, is that Dawkins and company assumes an understanding of and interaction with the Old Testament message that does not properly represent the whole. In keeping with the linguistic analogy, Dawkins targets pidgins of the Old Testament and not the language proper.

What I am trying to say is that the death of the Old Testament is not merely an internal phenomenon. Indeed, it started as in internal issue, but it has now metathesized and opened up the community to external attacks as well. In other words, the death of the Old Testament is now more than just the Church forgetting a critical part of its message. The death of the Old Testament is also now about the public shaming on the way to death. The death of the Old Testament comes with a propaganda video designed to highlight fundamental errors and hypocrisies. Thus, our responsibility in reviving the Old Testament must also be about preserving the coherence of our message so that we can respond to those who seek to trivialize our message for purposes of disingenuous attacks.

But make no mistake. Bringing the Old Testament back from the dead is no magic formula. It will not automatically provide answers to all of life’s questions and enigmas and dissolve all attacks from malicious skeptics. What it will do is revive a Canon necessary for formulating proper answers and responses. It will not render critical theological discourse pointless, but it will make it possible and fruitful. Moreover, it will demonstrate that the effectiveness of any apologetic scheme is directly related to a literacy in the totality of Scripture.

The Old Testament is Dying: Blame the System

Here is a stinging quote from Strawn:

“If individual believers’ knowledge is suffering, if they can’t speak the language, then at least part of the blame must be laid at the door of the religious systems (and their leaders) to which they belong and to which they adhere (even if only loosely, which is, of course, part of the problem). To be more direct, the failures in religious knowledge reported in the [U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey] appear to reflect massive failures in the religious system(s) in question, especially the education arm(s) of said system(s), and the leaders responsible for those systems and that education. For Protestant Christianity, that means not only the failure of “Sunday school” or “Bible study” phenomena (whether for children or adults), but also the failure of the sermon to be an effective tool in disseminating the language that is the Christian faith, not to mention other failures to provide adequate linguistic instruction in the Bible’s—and, more specifically still, the Old Testament’s—contribution to that faith” (The Old Testament is Dying, 27).

In The Old Testament is Dying, Strawn invokes an analogy. The Old Testament is a language. Just as language can describe the world, construct a worldview, and articulate reality, so too can the Old Testament (Scripture as a whole for that matter). Yet just as a language can suffer and die, so too can the Old Testament (as well as Scripture). To prevent the death of a language, it must be used…used often…and used properly. So too for the Old Testament and Scripture. But what happens when the data tells us that a language is suffering? What happens when the data informs us that people no longer use it properly, can handle it, or use only small portions of a language? Logic would tell us that said language is on its way out the door. Or, at the very least, it’s on its way to be being so transformed that it’ll no longer be identifiable.

According to the United States Religious Knowledge Survey, which is discussed extensively by Strawn in his second chapter, this is what’s happening to the Old Testament and Scripture. For example, only 55% of people surveyed know that the Golden Rule is NOT one of the Ten Commandments. Or, only 45% know the names of the four gospels. Perhaps most strikingly, only 16% know that the critical difference between Protestant and Catholic views on the conviction that salvation hinges on faith in Jesus Christ alone (Strawn, 23). Indeed, some of the people in the survey make no claims to be Christian, but what if I told you that the raw data of those who claim to be Christian shows a higher level of error than Jews, Mormons, and atheist/agnostics? To put it bluntly, a vast number of people surveyed who claim to be Protestant Christians know little more than jack-squat.

So, to revisit the linguistic analogy again, “The vast majority of people surveyed are adherents who, presumably and by their own profession, “speak the language of faith,” but who are actually missing huge portions of the most basic vocabulary, syntax, and so forth of their (putative) religious tongue” (Strawn, 26). Thus, we must acknolwedge that we are the farthest thing from being fluent. And if we are not fluent, then the danger of losing the language lurks just around the corner.

Consider an example from my OT 100 class. I ask my students to watch a couple brief videos about the prophetic institution in addition to reading basic material from our textbooks. In turn, I ask them to share some new ideas and revelations about the institution that they have gleaned from the course material. Without exception, there are comments such as, “Well, I just thought the prophets were concerned with predicting the future.” Or, “I didn’t know that some of the prophets were not ‘prophets’ by vocation.” Then there is, “I just thought the prophets spoke to their context.” Translation: there are massive gaps in our students’ understanding of one of the foundational institutions of the Old Testament.

Sadly, all of this makes sense. Strawn goes on to share more data that exemplifies how the Old Testament is used. First, sermons that are “OT-only” sermons are dwarfed by their counterparts, “NT-only” sermons, by approximately 2.5 times. In fact, “OT-only” sermons are surpassed by “no-text” sermons! Second, the Psalter is used with prejudice, and the lectionaries are similarly prejudicial in the OT content they employ. All of this adds up to a scenario where using the Old Testament is highly selective, if at all. The result is, at best, a skewed view of the Old Testament. Again, how can we even begin to call ourselves fluent?

So, in closing let's return to the beginning. We are suffering the results of a flawed system. If Strawn's data is true, and there is really little reason to doubt the essence of what it communicates, then our youngest generations are doomed from the start. We don't give them a steady dose of the Old Testament, and if we do we are giving it to them at our own convenience. Naturally, then, the question that arises is what can we do about this flawed system. Can anything be done? Can it be redeemed? Or, are we merely just going to flounder in our illiteracy until the moment when the language goes the way of ancient Sumerian?  

The Old Testament is Dying...

I am starting to wade through one of Brent Strawn's most recent works, The Old Testament is Dying. I say "one" of his most recent works because this guy must have a team of robots...or monkeys...that help him pump out publications. He also just put out The World Around the Old Testament (with Bill Arnold), and it seems like every time I turn around he is publishing some article or editing some volume.

Nevertheless, I digress.

Strawn is a Professor of Old Testament at Chandler School of Theology (Emory University), a flagship school of theology in the southeast and a darling of the United Methodist Church. He also serves the Church through speaking and what-not. Consequently, when he puts out such a provocative title, I am bound to notice....and take his word under consideration.

So, off the cuff, is the Old Testament dying? To open, Strawn shares a story that solidified his conclusion. While speaking to a group of "saints" at a local church somewhere around Atlanta, he was astonished that his audience did not know that the famous words Jesus uttered on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" (quick, can you recite it in Aramaic...or Hebrew?!), were actually a quotation from the Old Testament. I can't say that I am surprised by this. I grew up in the church, even the United Methodist Church, and the level of biblical illiteracy is more striking by the day. Moreover, I don't see it changing if the status quo remains.

I teach a range of students at a number of institutions devoted to theological education. Every semester it seems that there is an increase of comments such as these.

"I don't really know too much about the Old Testament, but at least I am excited to learn!"

"I really like the psalms because they seem to give me just the right word whenever I need to hear it. But I don't like the historical books. They seem so....historical."

Or think of it this way. When is the last time that you heard a sermon preached that utilized an Old Testament passage as its primary text?

I do remember one time that my father decided to preach a series of sermons on the book of Genesis. One week led to a month, and a month led to multiple months. About a year later, he was still preaching from Genesis, although he would take a break periodically to address special Sundays. This likely was my dad's least popular sermon series. But never mind that it's the foundation of Scripture. Never mind that the cosmic problem that still plagues humanity--that thing called Sin--is introduced there with dramatic detail. Never mind that the cosmic solution to that problem is also introduced in Genesis. And never mind that in articulating that cosmic solution the doorway to Christ is opened. Never mind all of that. "Just give me Jesus...and maybe some Paul..."

So, yeah. I think that the Old Testament is dying. But is it dead? Gosh...I hope not!! Yet more importantly, I still believe that it's possible to reverse the trend. However, bucking trends are never easy. It takes commitment, patience, and a "bull by the horns" mentality.

So, pastors preach from the Old Testament! If you don't know how to handle it, find some guidance! Whether it's a professor near by, a book to guide you, or more formal education, it doesn't matter really. Remember, it's Scripture. And when I say preach from it, don't just use it as a "footnote," merely to support some point. Develop sermon series from an event recollected, a book found therein, or a theme rooted there. Professors, let's make it exciting and fun! Let the Old Testament personalities shine through our boring lectures and assignments. Let's show our students that its content is just as potent today as it was when it was written millennia ago. Above all, let's not back down from what makes it so difficult to handle.

I'm sure that Strawn will have other things to say. However, I do know, based on the sub-title alone, he too believes that there is a treatment to this death spiral.