A Response to Benjamin Corey’s “10 Reasons Why Reading The Bible Makes Us More Progressive”

Benjamin Corey is a once upon a time “fundamentalist” who shifted to being a “Christian Progressive” when he began attending Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2008. He accredits this shift not to GCTS, which is conservative, generally, but to his increased reading of Scripture, citing a recent Christianity Today article titled “Survey: Frequent Bible Reading Can Turn You Liberal.”[1]

First, I applaud Corey’s seeming willingness to have an open discussion on topics that are normally trip-wired in the modern mind. It is much easier to address ideas when one can actually discuss the issues.

This can be a bit tricksy, however, for a sense of open discussion often blinds one to the foundational ideology driving various sides of the conversation… i.e. the discussion only appears to be open, when it is, in point of fact, more often than not, a double monologue where each side logically unpacks his own, often personally-unknown, foundational visions of reality and rudimentary reasoning processes… visions and processes that inoculate each to the other’s ideas. Imagine two people discussing the concept of equality when defines equality in terms of legal process and essence and the other defines it in terms of cosmic rectifying and final outcomes. We actually need to discuss the issues behind the issues before we can meaningfully discuss the issues on the table.

Second, while I will not deny here the potential legitimacy of either Corey’s claims to being moved left by reading Scripture, nor of the survey referenced by Christianity today, I would like to deny what seems to be an underlying assumption by both… that the reason people today move left by reading more Bible is because the Bible actually supports leftist ideas or inclinations.

So, while I am willing to concede that in this era, increased bible reading seems to push many people left, it is not coming from the Scriptures by design. Serious Bible reading has certainly has NOT consistently produced this result over the millennia.

The more important question for the future of the church is why is an increased reading of Scripture pushing certain modern readers left today?

The equation is not (Bible = Left). Though this seems to be the thought of Aaron B. Franzen, author of the Christianity Today article.[3]

I would suggest a better equation: (Bible + Modern Reasoning Processes + Common Hermeneutic = A Push to the Political Left).  There are several aspects to our present social dynamic embodied in modern reasoning processes and commonly practiced hermeneutics that explain why so many drift left as a reaction to increased Bible reading.

1. Modern reasoning processes represent a dialogical pursuit of truth that has been hamstrung by an overwhelming and fictitious narrative from the left. This means that many are limited in their ability to track the real results of actions in order to evaluate them because they have armored their minds against the past with a vicious prejudice and cut themselves off from a millennia-long discussion on the practical and spiritual results of certain thoughts and actions.

They assume things like, “Socialism is the caring system, capitalism is the exploiting system” even though the real history of each is the exact opposite. Socialist systems are not new. We have thousands of years to observe the real nature and real world outcome of socialist systems. It is always the same. They disincentivize work, are built, not on equality as they claim, but on oppressive total government solutions, and always lead to scarcity of everything except early death. Capitalism, however, better understood as free-market economies kept fair by governing referees who enforce equal rules for all, incentivize labor with property rights, and empower each citizen for shaping society with hundreds of free choices made within those markets a day. Free market economies have done more for human equality and the elevation of the poor out of poverty in a couple hundred years than all the empty promises of socialist systems combined over more than six millennia. Indeed, it was the penchant for government controlled economies that kept the human race down until the articulation and allowance of free markets. 

Unfortunately, today, the all-pervasive media overwhelms any natural discovery of cause-effect by bombarding our society with a scripted presentation of cause-effect based on ideological wishes rather than reality. They are re-inventing the social wheel, convinced that all the patterns of the past are the product of calculated prejudice and power maneuvers; thus, they want no truck with the “Western, white, patriarchal, cis-gendered, heteronormative, ableist, racist cultural visions” of that past. They share a general compulsion to feel their way through Scripture judging what they find there through that emotional lens, and responding to anything that they can cast in that vision whether by hook or by crook. This stands diametrically opposed to ancient wisdom. There the humble worshiper accepts prophetically revealed truth as truth and then enters into the reasoned discussion of the ages in order to fully understand those truths through an observation of the way of things as revealed over generations.

2. A significant part of this overwhelming and fictitious narrative of the left, is the insidious idea that anything that should be done, should be done by the government. The false equation of entitlement programs with charity clouds every discussion. It does not matter that each concept has radically different impacts on both the giver and receiver… if you don’t support a government solution then you just don’t care about the poor… Oh! and you’re racist too.

3. The narcissistic and, at times, nearly solipsistic mentality of many renders interpretation of Scripture a game of “How does that make you feel?” They raise reader centered interpretation to new levels, lacking any sense of the vitality of author-centered interpretation, the historical, grammatical, literary hermeneutic that supports it, and the proper relationship of the testaments. I suspect this is because, in that historical & grammatical context, they see nothing but patriarchal oppression, sweeping prejudice, and war mongering, but regard New Testament spirituality as some reparation to Old Testament Law. For many, acceptance & functional equality have replaced righteousness & Holiness as primary virtues and, thus, as primary interpretive lenses.

4. Cut off from the past through vicious prejudice and a narcissistic hermeneutic, the all pervasive thrum of left wing ideology, social vision and agenda shapes the reading of scripture. Certain elements, like concern for the poor and down trodden & forgiving those who sin against you, strike a chord because they seem to harmonize with the incessant and so reasonable rap pouring from almost every electronic device we encounter. “The Death Penalty is cruel,” & “Only the Government can really help the poor.” They possess little skill for understanding either the unity of both forgiveness and legal judgment, or the different demands of spirituality and social order. 

So, no, Mr. Corey and Franzen reading the Bible does not push you left. Reading the Bible with bad hermeneutics and a leftist worldview in place allows you to keep journeying left.