Gene Poole
2006-07-12 02:06:37 UTC
OT, NT, and QT
Sightings 7/10/06
OT, NT, and QT
-- Martin E. Marty
I don't know whether this is making a mountain out of a mountain or only a
bigger molehill out of a little molehill: It's a tiny item in a brisk and
enjoyable local column, one that trades on a syndrome evidenced in our
daily readings having to do with "the God of the Old Testament" versus
"the God of the New Testament" -- or in this case, with what Jesus asserts
that the Old Testament does not. Here it is in entirety, from Zay N.
Smith's QT column in the Chicago Sun-Times (July 5):
Headline: "What Would Jesus Pay?" Story: "News Headline: Faith-based
groups join effort to increase the minimum wage, citing obligation to help
the least among us." QT comment: "How many times does Karl Rove have to
tell them? Old Testament, Old Testament, Old Testament. Get this New
Testament out of here." If I am reading this right, some exegesis is in
place. Here goes:
QT assumes that a) "faith-based groups" are all conservative evangelicals,
but there are others; b) it is out of character for evangelicals,
especially those in the Christian Right, to support an increase in the
minimum wage, but many moderate evangelicals are changing; c) we'll know
that the reference to "the least of these" is from Jesus, the New
Testament, Matthew 25:35 - 40; and d) Karl Rove, usually a supporter of
faith-based groups, would not like to hear words of Jesus connected with
debates over an increase in the minimum wage. So far, so good.
Assumption e) is the problem. In that reading, concern for the least --
the hungry, thirsty, falsely imprisoned, those lacking clothes and friends
-- is only a New-Testament-based concern, so the New Testament has to be
gotten out of the public policy debate. Again, if I read it right -- and
reading it as I do here is what prompts this comment -- QT sees "the Old
Testament, Old Testament, Old Testament" as a text that allows for no
concern for "the least of these."
Assumptions of this sort go back in early Christianity to the heretic
Marcion and the Marcionites, who posed a wrong God of the Old Testament
versus a right God associated with Jesus in the New Testament. Marcion
even jettisoned the Old Testament, the only scripture Jesus knew, along
with passages in New Testament texts that reflected the Old. It's one of
the more favored heresies -- if I may use that word -- in our culture.
Jews, stuck with the God from which Marcion wanted to get Christians
unstuck, have most at stake here. Christians have second most, since they
are also stuck, believing in the God of the Old Testament and God's
concerns there revealed. Third, everyone else who cares about "the least"
has something at risk, too, because the prophets and other Old Testament
(= Hebrew Scriptures) writings offer hundreds and hundreds of commands,
demands, appeals, prompts, and promises connected with caring for the
least. (Try Isaiah 58 for starters.) And the more citizens that respond to
more texts that show more concern for more "outs," the better off we'll be
in a culture that claims devotion to those Scriptures.
So, Karl, QT might better say, Read also the Old Testament, Old Testament,
Old Testament -- and along with it the New -- but read both with more
empathic and humane interest in mind.
For Further Reading:
For a short summary of "Biblical Basics on Justice" in the Old and New
Testaments, please visit Bread for the World at:
http://www.bread.org/get-involved/at-church/biblical-basics-on-justice.html.
Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, upcoming events,
publications, and contact information can be found at www.illuminos.com.
----------
The current Religion and Culture Web Forum features "Religious Identities
of Latin American Immigrants in Chicago: Preliminary Findings from Field
Research" by Andrea Althoff. To read this article, please visit:
http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/webforum/index.shtml,
----------
Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago
Divinity School.
Submissions policy
Sightings welcomes submissions of 500 to 750 words in length that seek to
illuminate and interpret the forces of faith in a pluralist society.
Previous columns give a good indication of the topical range and tone for
acceptable essays. The editor also encourages new approaches to issues
related to religion and public life.
Attribution
Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the
author of the column, Sightings, and the Martin Marty Center at the
University of Chicago Divinity School. Contact information
Please send all inquiries, comments, and submissions to Jeremy Biles,
managing editor of Sightings, at sightings-***@listhost.uchicago.edu.
Subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage your subscription at the Sightings
subscription page.
----------
--
Faithfully,
Gene Poole
http://grace.break.at
God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com
=============
Remove your hat to e-mail me.
Sightings 7/10/06
OT, NT, and QT
-- Martin E. Marty
I don't know whether this is making a mountain out of a mountain or only a
bigger molehill out of a little molehill: It's a tiny item in a brisk and
enjoyable local column, one that trades on a syndrome evidenced in our
daily readings having to do with "the God of the Old Testament" versus
"the God of the New Testament" -- or in this case, with what Jesus asserts
that the Old Testament does not. Here it is in entirety, from Zay N.
Smith's QT column in the Chicago Sun-Times (July 5):
Headline: "What Would Jesus Pay?" Story: "News Headline: Faith-based
groups join effort to increase the minimum wage, citing obligation to help
the least among us." QT comment: "How many times does Karl Rove have to
tell them? Old Testament, Old Testament, Old Testament. Get this New
Testament out of here." If I am reading this right, some exegesis is in
place. Here goes:
QT assumes that a) "faith-based groups" are all conservative evangelicals,
but there are others; b) it is out of character for evangelicals,
especially those in the Christian Right, to support an increase in the
minimum wage, but many moderate evangelicals are changing; c) we'll know
that the reference to "the least of these" is from Jesus, the New
Testament, Matthew 25:35 - 40; and d) Karl Rove, usually a supporter of
faith-based groups, would not like to hear words of Jesus connected with
debates over an increase in the minimum wage. So far, so good.
Assumption e) is the problem. In that reading, concern for the least --
the hungry, thirsty, falsely imprisoned, those lacking clothes and friends
-- is only a New-Testament-based concern, so the New Testament has to be
gotten out of the public policy debate. Again, if I read it right -- and
reading it as I do here is what prompts this comment -- QT sees "the Old
Testament, Old Testament, Old Testament" as a text that allows for no
concern for "the least of these."
Assumptions of this sort go back in early Christianity to the heretic
Marcion and the Marcionites, who posed a wrong God of the Old Testament
versus a right God associated with Jesus in the New Testament. Marcion
even jettisoned the Old Testament, the only scripture Jesus knew, along
with passages in New Testament texts that reflected the Old. It's one of
the more favored heresies -- if I may use that word -- in our culture.
Jews, stuck with the God from which Marcion wanted to get Christians
unstuck, have most at stake here. Christians have second most, since they
are also stuck, believing in the God of the Old Testament and God's
concerns there revealed. Third, everyone else who cares about "the least"
has something at risk, too, because the prophets and other Old Testament
(= Hebrew Scriptures) writings offer hundreds and hundreds of commands,
demands, appeals, prompts, and promises connected with caring for the
least. (Try Isaiah 58 for starters.) And the more citizens that respond to
more texts that show more concern for more "outs," the better off we'll be
in a culture that claims devotion to those Scriptures.
So, Karl, QT might better say, Read also the Old Testament, Old Testament,
Old Testament -- and along with it the New -- but read both with more
empathic and humane interest in mind.
For Further Reading:
For a short summary of "Biblical Basics on Justice" in the Old and New
Testaments, please visit Bread for the World at:
http://www.bread.org/get-involved/at-church/biblical-basics-on-justice.html.
Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, upcoming events,
publications, and contact information can be found at www.illuminos.com.
----------
The current Religion and Culture Web Forum features "Religious Identities
of Latin American Immigrants in Chicago: Preliminary Findings from Field
Research" by Andrea Althoff. To read this article, please visit:
http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/webforum/index.shtml,
----------
Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago
Divinity School.
Submissions policy
Sightings welcomes submissions of 500 to 750 words in length that seek to
illuminate and interpret the forces of faith in a pluralist society.
Previous columns give a good indication of the topical range and tone for
acceptable essays. The editor also encourages new approaches to issues
related to religion and public life.
Attribution
Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the
author of the column, Sightings, and the Martin Marty Center at the
University of Chicago Divinity School. Contact information
Please send all inquiries, comments, and submissions to Jeremy Biles,
managing editor of Sightings, at sightings-***@listhost.uchicago.edu.
Subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage your subscription at the Sightings
subscription page.
----------
--
Faithfully,
Gene Poole
http://grace.break.at
God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com
=============
Remove your hat to e-mail me.