Biblical Authority Part III

The Plan to Institute a “Biblical America” - Project 2025

If you’ve been following this series, you know that I have come to question the ubiquitous and dubious claim to “biblical authority.” From the earliest days of my connection with the evangelical church - as a student, a board member, an elder, a pastor, and as an observer - the Bible has been foundational first and foremost for just about everything else. From governance, to doctrine, to morality, to ethics, to community, to education, to business, to private life, to public life - if it’s not “biblical,” then it’s out of bounds. 

It’s time to call the question.

If you haven’t identified as this brand of Christian, or if your tradition is some other strand of Christianity, or if you grew up in another religious tradition or no religion at all, then the whole notion of “biblical authority” will sound odd. Because frankly, it is.

Most all religions will lay claim to a collection of sacred writings: a book or books that are set apart and give definition to beliefs or affirm faith. Christianity is no different. It’s The Bible. But these MAGA evangelicals, as we’ve come to know them, take it to another level.

Just this week, historian and author Kristin Kobes du Mez wrote a lengthy Substack essay on Project 2025. We’ve been hearing about Trump’s MAGA following and their plans for his first few months in office should he (God forbid) win back the White House. If you don’t know the name Stephen Miller, I suggest you do some homework - just Google him. He’s been Trump’s go-to speech writer and confidant from the beginning of his first term. Miller gave us the ghastly Trumpian theme: “American Carnage.” Throughout, he has been a primary architect in this very public blueprint to remake our country in line with MAGA worldview.

Kristin quotes PBS Newshour: “With a nearly 1,000-page ‘Project 2025’ handbook and an ‘army’ of Americans, the idea is to have the civic infrastructure in place on Day One to commandeer, reshape and do away with what Republicans deride as the ‘deep state’ bureaucracy, in part by firing as many as 50,000 federal workers.” And that’s not all: there will be mass deportations, invoking the “Insurrection Act,” and a whole host of draconian laws. Project 2025 has a website tauting these plans. There are 100 right wing organizations supporting this effort. A casual review of the endorsers will show you just how pervasive it is.

These same people have issued a “Statement on Christian Nationalism and the Gospel.” They are currently soliciting signatures. There are twenty articles outlining their conviction that Christians must take dominion over the government and all aspects of American life. The first Article lays the foundation: “Article I: The Source of Truth - WE AFFIRM that the Bible is God’s Word, breathed out by Him as the only sufficient, certain, inerrant, infallible, necessary, and final authority for all saving knowledge, faith (what we must believe), and obedience (how we must live).” 

They go on: “WE DENY that true beliefs, good character, or good conduct can be dictated by any  authority other than God’s revelation.” 

This is why I feel compelled to sound the alarm. The whole notion of Biblical authority must be scrutinized. The center does not hold. It’s a naked effort to put everyone on the outside on notice: “God is on our side” in what is becoming way more than a Culture War - it’s a Holy War.  Those of us who do not line up with this agenda, well, we are The Enemy.     

So in this Part III, I offer this passage from My Creed in the chapter simply entitled, “The Bible.” 

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The Tribal Creed

The Tribal creed surrounding the Bible becomes unsustainable when it is stacked up against historical evidence and accepted scholarship. The theological house of cards collapses for many in light of the discoveries of basic origins and compilation. The claims of inerrancy and infallibility are matters of faith; the product of a chauvinistic need to establish the Christian (Evangelical) religion as primary. This doctrine is the fundamental assumption of the other creedal propositions – if they can be established as “biblical,” then they are definitive and divine.

Once we pierce through the faulty presumption of this creedal hypothesis and move beyond it, what are our options? Do we simply dismiss the Bible as an outdated, irrelevant, overrated text?

You may, if you like. But if we do, we miss out on something profound.

As you now know, I do not think of the Bible as a fantastical missive delivered from somewhere out there in the cosmos by a bearded old white man as a rescue plan for a remnant otherwise destined for the ash-heap of a burned-up planet. That this view of the Bible stands as an essential focal point of our tribal narrative is, at best, speculation. At worst, nonsense. Many dismiss our tribal faith as a shameless collection of “fairy tales.” On one level, they have a point.

So, what is my alternative?

Let’s go to definitions. The terms “infallible” and “inerrant” were concocted by Christian apologists and quasi-theologians to fend off the insights of textual critics around a hundred and fifty years ago. These researchers and linguistic analysts challenged the church’s assumptions about the holy book, threatening the church’s hold on the faithful. The notion that the Bible’s prophecies are true and reliable, that its prescriptions for life and salvation are indisputable, that its account of history and events are completely reliable were all threatened by “modern criticism.” The set-up, as in so many of the creeds, is an either/or. Yes or no. Affirm or deny. Which is often the essence of religion – are you one of us, or one of them?

But this reaction to the conclusions of scholarship is a reductionism that is unnecessary, unwarranted and misleading. The Bible is so much more than “The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.”

Instead, the Bible is a rich collection of stories and characters, paupers and kings, prophets who are not so much predicting the future as speaking truth to power. They seek liberation and prosperity and confront tyrants and power-mongers. They meditate over the wonders of what they would consider the created world, and their contemplations are full of mystery and awe. They praise what is good and wholesome and beautiful; and call for the condemnation of exploiters and abusers and thieves and cruelty. They long for a world of peace and goodness; but they also get caught up in the bloody battles that betray greed and fear and the overgrown egos of warriors and kings and conquerors.

The Bible as Baptism

The Bible gives justification to all sorts of contradictory movements. It has been used to justify (baptize) both the existence of slavery and the abolition of slavery. War and peace. Domestic abuse and the escape from abuse. Discrimination and non-discrimination. Complementarianism and egalitarianism. Capitalism and socialism. Democrat and Republican. Denominationalism and non-denominationalism.

The primary purpose of any of these uses of the Bible is to justify a distinct point of view. Each employs a selective literalism.

To appreciate the Bible then, I must let go of my need to utilize the text to reinforce my personal preferences and prejudice.

I approach the book with an open mind and heart. I want to know sources and historical periods and context and contemporaneous extrabiblical literature and archeological findings. But most of all, I must understand the power of story. Jonah did not literally survive three days on the belly of a big fish (great white shark?), but he did run away from who he was. The earth did not stand still. But time stopped in the mind of the writer who gave the mysterious account of the heat of battle. The Red Sea did not reverse the natural force of gravity to expose dry ground while high walls of turbulent water stood like parallel retaining walls allowing for passage – but the children of Israel unpredictably and inexplicably escaped the clutches of an evil empire and found liberation from years of slavery. 

These are legends.

But legends live because they capture a truth about existence, and give the tribe a narrative that delivers identity, pride and unity of purpose.

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To be continued in Part IV

The preceding is from my book My Creed: An Unauthorized Rewrite of the Generally Accepted Evangelical Doctrinal Statement: Reflections on Authentic Belief by Kenneth Kemp (2020) Kindle and hard copy available on Amazon