Literalism Attacks Tradition

By Ernesto Tinajero

Truth becomes a pivot point on which our lives revolve. We meditate on truth to build a life. God advises to be still and know God and when we do we find a deeper truth. To understand is, indeed, an older version of truth. In this older way, truth becomes a mystery when we meditate and contemplate and engage the world, ourselves and the grace Jesus gives us. In my post about the neglect of the Trinity by the contemporary church came a comment by Tom Schmidt about how useful the doctrine of the Trinity is. Should we Christians abandon the Trinity as not making sense? In many ways the church has, as most Evangelicals, only given a passing glance to the the Trinity.

Schmidt, a fellow writer and a thoughtful thinker, tied the Trinity to a literal interpretation of Scripture. I found this comment telling, as it is precisely the rise of literalism that marks the decline in the church contemplating the Trinity. Literalism was a modernist response to the challenges of 19th century biblical criticism. Literalism is an applying of modern views of truth as propositions that have to be affirmed. Much like science propositions, you say yes or not to what is being affirmed. Of course science is not religious truth. God did call us to meditate on his word, but literalism limits any contemplation. Hence, as the church moved to literalism, it forgot to contemplate, even if God commands us to. So why does literalism fail?

Literalism then has its source in secularism and materialism. The reasons the seven day creation has to be forcefully affirmed despite any and all observations is a bow to materialism. The idea is that the Bible has to be about materialism and only in its materialism can be held up as truth. Seven days literalism says the truth of the story in Genesis is only how it corresponds. This of course, is a direct challenge to the traditional view of biblical interpretation. In fact literalism is a radical rejection of the fourfold method which was how Paul and all the early church fathers read their Bible. It may seem outlandish to say Young Earth Creationist Ken Ham really offers a radical secularist threat to traditional and orthodox Christianity, but it also very true.

Since, literalism and its secular understanding of truth is nothing more than propositions to be agreed or affirmed, it would make since that the older form of truth as a point of meditation would fall off in general and with it the mediation on the Trinity, the cross, suffering, joy and resurrection. It is by no accident that much of the contemporary church has made the atonement more a commercial exchange. Jesus pays the bills, so to speak, on our debts and we get heaven. A straight and very materialistic economic exchange. You say the sinners prayer and claim your prize of heaven. Yet, we lose so much when we secularize the Gospel with such a materialistic literalism. Be still, and know I am God, betrays our wanting to be like Gods and make the Bible into a secular tool of our own making. Literalism always comes back to making the Bible say what we want it to say. It is not a stretch to see how many literalists use their literalism to support supply side economics, attacks on ACA (Obamacare) and also as a tool for the right principles to invest money for a better return. Literalism does wrap itself in sheep’s clothing of orthodoxy, but a wolf howls at what preceded it. Such literalism, with its heart of secular materialism, makes the Word of God a tin box for us to project our desires and wishes, and less a mirror to contemplate our own sin, God’s love and God’s nature.

It is not a mystery why sanctification, Trinity, resurrection are no longer topics of much serious interest to contemporary Christians. Replaced by concerns for making money, being moral (with special concern for sexual purity), finding success, being a leader and living the American Dream.