Religion + Politics

Mr. Speaker, There’s No Such Thing as a “Bible-Believing” Christian

Why the myth of a single biblical world-view is so dangerous

I am an ordained Christian minister who has served various local Christian congregations in a ministerial capacity since 1990. I am also a Professor of Religion with a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from Yale University. My area of training is biblical studies and social history of the early Jesus movement.

As a biblical scholar, I spend quite a bit of time reading the Bible. I don’t read the Bible because I’m a biblical scholar. I’m a biblical scholar because I enjoy reading the Bible. I have taught “Introduction to Biblical Studies” to undergraduate college students since 2001.

I teach in the religion department of a small liberal arts college associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). While the college has a “religion” general education requirement that all students must satisfy, the religion department is a “religion” department that promotes “religious studies” rather than a “Christianity” department that promotes “Christian studies.”

The myth of a single biblical worldview

Recent comments made by the newly elected U.S. Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, remind me of comments I often hear from undergraduate students who claim to be “Bible-believing” Christians. Johnson said in a recent interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News that the best way to learn how he feels about “any issue under the sun” is to read the Bible.

In the interview, Johnson states,

I am a Bible-believing Christian. Someone asked me today in the media, they said, ‘… People are curious. What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’ I said, well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it — that’s my worldview.

Because the Bible is a collection of texts written throughout hundreds of years and reflecting a diversity of perspectives, there is no one single “worldview” represented in the Bible. There are a diversity of voices and worldviews in the Bible. The question, therefore, is which biblical worldview does Speaker Johnson embrace?

Does he embrace the worldview where eunuchs and all non-Israelites are rejected by the God of Israel and prohibited from being admitted into the assembly of Israel (Deuteronomy 23:1–3), or does he embrace the worldview where eunuchs and non-Israelites are valued and welcomed by the God of Israel because the temple of said God “shall be called a house of prayer for all people” (Isaiah 56:3–7)

Does Johnson embrace the worldview where inter-religious and interracial marriages are prohibited, as reflected in the book of Ezra, or the worldview where such unions are praised and celebrated, as in the book of Ruth?

Does Johnson believe that Jesus is the “lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” and was crucified before the Jewish Passover at the same time it was being prepared (Nisan 14) as depicted in the Gospel According to John, or does he believe that Jesus instituted a “new covenant” with his “body” and “blood” following the Passover meal and was crucified after the meal on what then was Passover day (Nisan 15) as depicted in the Synoptic Gospels?

Not only are there multiple conflicting and contradictory perspectives and worldviews presented in the Bible, but many of the views in the Bible regarding women, children, slavery, homosexuality, genocide, and various other topics are incredibly antiquated and problematic.

One of my all-time favorite television scenes dealing with so-called “Bible-believing” Christians is from an episode of “The West Wing.” With the midterm elections coming up, a member of the incumbent President’s administration is looking for a way to minimize the influence of political rivals who are fundamentalist Christian extremists. The episode is classic and highly relevant to our current political moment. It’s a “must-see” episode for considering the role of Christian fundamentalism in American politics!

Despite claims made by Mike Johnson and other so-called “Bible-believing” Christians, no one can believe everything in the Bible. There are certain things in the Bible that people choose to believe and certain things people choose not to believe. No one, however, can believe everything in the Bible. Either I believe Jesus was crucified before Passover, or he was crucified after Passover. I can’t, however, believe he was crucified at BOTH times.

Why biblical education is so important

The newly elected Speaker of the House has advanced extreme views as an attorney and legislator, particularly against abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. As an attorney, Johnson represented the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which monitors far-right activity, the ADF:

has supported the recriminalization of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ adults in the U.S. and criminalization abroad; has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad; has contended that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in pedophilia; and claims that a ‘homosexual agenda’ will destroy Christianity and society

In addition to defending the ADF, Johnson has often invoked his so-called “personal” beliefs in the Bible and his false claim of being a “Bible-believing” Christian embracing a “biblical worldview” as justification for other dangerous and oppressive legislative decisions, like voting against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Johnson argued that the Act places too many restrictions on those found guilty or accused of domestic violence.

When I was a Ph.D. candidate in Yale University’s New Testament program, I had the honor of preaching at an ordination service for a classmate who was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. Following the service, a number of my classmates asked me why I wanted to spend four to seven years pursuing a Ph.D. in New Testament when I had a “gift” for preaching. I responded that it was my academic study of the Bible, coupled with my life experiences, that illumined and enlivened my preaching.

I did not grow up reading the Bible. I was almost 19 years old and a soldier in the U.S. Army stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany when I purchased my first Bible. A series of life-changing events led me to “accept Jesus Christ as my lord and savior.”

A few months after purchasing my first Bible, I attended a revival service at a local church. I returned to post that evening describing the service to fellow soldiers, who, along with myself, comprised a group self-identified as the “Soul Patrol” (we were African-American Christians who strongly believed in Christian evangelization).

As I told them about the revival service, I emphasized what I considered the “miraculous.” I described how people were getting up out of wheelchairs and throwing down crutches and how blind people were claiming to see, and deaf people were claiming to hear. I described how people were prophesying and “speaking in tongues” and being “slain in the spirit.”

At some point in my description, three stopped me and said, “Brother Nave, what did you just say?”

I repeated my description of all the miraculous events, but they impatiently interrupted with, “No … no … the preacher …, you said something about the preacher.”

I responded with, “Yes! The preacher was powerful! She was …”

They interrupted again, saying, “Stop … Did you say she?”

“Yes,” I responded, somewhat confused, “the preacher was a woman.”

Immediately, the retort was, “Brother Nave, you know women can’t preach.”

I responded, “What do you mean, ‘women can’t preach’? That was some of the most powerful preaching I’ve ever heard.”

“Brother Nave, you believe the Bible is the ‘Word of God,’ don’t you?”

“Of course, I believe the Bible is the ‘Word of God.’ What does that have to do with anything?”

I was defending the Bible as the “Word of God” after only reading it for a few months. My peers confidently responded that the Bible “clearly” states that women are not permitted to teach or to have authority over men. One of them opened his Bible to 1 Timothy 2:8–15 and explained how God had entrusted spiritual leadership exclusively to men.

I looked at the passage for quite some time, confused. I shared with them personal experiences of growing up in Indiana, where my father and I would get up every morning before my mother woke up to remove burning crosses from our front lawn. We were the first black family to integrate an all-white neighborhood.

I also shared stories of being confused as a young boy wanting to eat at a particular restaurant where I saw a lot of white children eating. My father would tell me that we couldn’t go inside and eat. We could pick up food from the back, but we couldn’t sit and eat inside.

I shared with them how I had spent what felt like all of my life resisting and fighting against being told there were things I could not do simply because I was black. I expressed that there was no way I was now going to do to women the same things that had been done to me all of my life.

While I thought they would understand my line of reasoning since they had previously shared experiences of racism they had encountered growing up, they were adamant that the Bible was “clear.” While I was baffled and conflicted, I was sure about one thing: I could not do to anyone else what had been done to me all of my life.

While I believed the Bible was the “Word of God,” I also knew no amount of reading the Bible would cause me to accept the teachings of 1 Timothy. If that passage of scripture accurately reflected the will of God, then I wanted nothing to do with God.

I did not realize it then, but that moment marked the beginning of my journey toward attaining a Ph.D. in New Testament studies. Nearly 40 years, three Master’s degrees, and one Ph.D. later, I can confidently articulate how 1 Timothy (like all biblical writings) is a product of its social-historical context.

After decades of reading and studying the Bible, I can illustrate how and why the author of 1 Timothy was responding to accusations that the early “Jesus movement” promoted a “discipleship of equals” and disrupted the patriarchal social order of imperial Roman society by advancing notions of “equality” among women and enslaved people (see Galatians 3:28).

I can demonstrate how many late first-century and early second-century Christian texts were written to encourage Jesus-followers to honor and respect the oppressive social mores of the Roman Empire to promote the acceptance of this new religious movement within a pantheon of “accepted” Roman religions.

I can explain how and why the content of 1 Timothy contradicts much of what Paul writes in his earlier letters, where he acknowledges and commends female church leaders, identifying them with the same title he uses to identify himself — “servant of Christ.”

I can demonstrate the transition from the acceptance of women’s leadership in the early Jesus movement to the eventual rejection of women’s leadership. I can even show how the name of a woman apostle, “Junia,” was removed from Paul’s letter to the Romans and replaced with a man’s name, “Junias” (Romans 16:7).

While a person does not need a Ph.D. to read and understand the Bible, my academic study has taught me more than I ever imagined regarding the complexities of this collection of writings. Most importantly, my academic training has taught me that there has never been one biblical worldview nor one universal understanding of God and/or Jesus.

A choice between an exclusive or an inclusive worldview

A significant number of students arrive in my Introduction to Biblical Studies course having been taught the dangerous myth perpetuated by Christians like Mike Johnson that there is a single biblical worldview that represents the so-called “will of God.”

Often, many of these students have struggled with their own religious identity, being made to feel as though they are not Christian or part of the Christian community because they read and understand the Bible (and even Christianity) differently than the so-called “traditional” way.

I admit that many passages in the Bible are “clear” and do not require a Ph.D. to understand. When the authors of Colossians, Ephesians, and 1 Peter declare, “Slaves obey your masters,” the meaning of the text is clear.

American enslavers in the 17th and 18th centuries read these passages to enslaved people because the meaning of the texts was clear. While these texts represent a particular worldview, they don’t represent the only worldview found in the Bible. Other biblical texts present an anti-slavery worldview as well. This is why biblical education is so important.

When Martin Luther King Jr. began serving a jail sentence in Birmingham, Ala., in October 1967 for leading peaceful protests in Birmingham in 1963 against unconstitutional bans on “race mixing,” his Ph.D. along with his life experiences contributed to his reading of Romans 13:1–7 about obeying legal authorities differently than white ministers in Alabama who criticized King for his “civil disobedience.” These white ministers also accused the King of disobeying the “Word of God.”

While a Ph.D. is not necessary to read and/or understand the Bible, my reading of the Bible has been enriched by my academic study of the Bible. My Ph.D. has taught me to read and understand the Bible in ways the Church has rarely taught me — to read in ways that promote the worth, value, and acceptance of all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, ability, or any other category.

There are worldviews in the Bible that promote exclusion and worldviews that promote inclusion. Both worldviews are present within the Bible, and neither represents THE biblical worldview. We only realize this the more we read and study the Bible. This is why biblical education is so important.

Ultimately, the worldview we select says far more about who we are than about God or the Bible. Johnson is not a “Bible-believing” Christian; he’s a Christian who chooses and uses particular portions of the Bible to support a worldview he already embraces.

People rarely (if ever) make the choices they make because they are “Bible-believing” Christians. No one believes everything in the Bible. We always choose to “believe” certain worldviews in the Bible and not other worldviews in the Bible. However we read the Bible, the choice is always ours. Do we choose to believe in inclusive worldviews, or do we choose to believe in exclusive worldviews, and why?

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