One of the many things that we encounter when we study the history of national and social groups, is that many times those groups that have been in a condition of subjugation and oppression, when they are liberated from those conditions, in turn subjugate and oppress others. That appears to be the history of humankind. Even those nations that at one time have been colonies of others, in turn become the colonizing nations of the world. Our own nation, the U.S.A. is a perfect example of what I am saying. Our history is one of genocide, land-grabbing, and slavery. After liberating ourselves from British colonialism, we engaged in making colonies out of other nations in the Caribbean and in the Pacific.
In one of my recent classes on Liberation Theology at the college where I serve as Visiting Professor, one of our international students who happens to be a pastor in his home country (Malawi) posed the question of how we can justify from a biblical/theological standpoint, the people of Israel coming out of bondage in Egypt, and then upon their release, go and commit acts of genocide and colonization against other nations. That question, indeed, invites us to think about inconsistency and even outright hypocrisy. My answer to the student was that if one takes the approach that the Bible in its entirety is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God, then one would arrive at the conclusion that it was God Herself/Himself who ordered the Hebrew people to carry out these atrocities against the Canaanites. After all, (according to this view), God had promised Abraham that he and his descendants would be given and inherit this land. Therefore, according to this scheme of biblical interpretation, God was the engineer and master-mind of the Hebrew massacre and the land-grabbing colonization that we find alluded to in the pages of the Old Testament.
On the other hand, I told the student, if one takes the approach that the Bible is a mixture of divine inspiration and human concoction, then it would be possible for one to see that the writers of Scripture used the name of God to justify the land-grabbing and accompanying genocide. This approach would require that one does not subscribe to the belief in the inerrant and infallible Scripture. It would leave room for the human element in initiating the writings.
These questions pose problems for the most ardent believer in the biblical message. Even a pastor whom I happen to know personally, has recently shared with me that he is "having problems with the Bible." The Bible, as a literary document, challenges those of us who live many centuries after the original writings of Scripture. The standards by which we judge fairness and justice are not necessarily the same standards that were utilized at the time that the Bible was written. The challenges posed by these questions, pose, in turn, another set of questions such as:
What do we mean by "inspiration?" How relevant, if so, are the issues of inerrancy and infallibility? Do we claim these characteristics only for the original autographs of the Bible, or do we believe that these characteristics also apply to the subsequent manuscripts (hand-written copies of the originals) and the translations which were based on the manuscripts?
These challenges are in turn, generated by what I referred to in a previous writing as our "enslavement to the text." We become so enslaved to the text (in the modern languages, totally ignoring the history of the transmission of the text), that we can't think outside of the "textual box."
As a theologian who believes in the biblical message, I confess that these questions pose for me, a conundrum. They are a challenge to my faith and to my image of a just and loving God. I have no answer to these very puzzling questions.
The task of theology relative to the field of biblical studies is a very daunting one. I recently shared with my spouse that the task of theology is, among other things, to demonstrate that there are no absolute and final answers to every single question that we can raise. In the attempt to make the Christian faith a "thinking faith," theology simultaneously makes it clear that our faith is accompanied by and blended with doubt and speculation. No one, whether it be the average everyday Christian, or whether it be a clergy person, scholar, and/or theologian, can claim to have "all the answers" in her/his pocket. Theology, just like our faith journey, is full of questions and surprises. We are called, however, to believe that the God who has invited us on this journey, will guide us, progressively, albeit, to the knowledge of the truth, and to an eventual understanding of the complexities which are posed by those questions.
In the Name of the Creator, and of the Word, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dr. Juan A. Carmona
Visiting Professor of Theology, Tainan Theological College/Seminary
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