Rating: 3/5

The other day, listening to the OnScript podcast, I listened to professor Iain Provan explain how to transition from a literal interpretation of the Bible to one one that literarily looks at the Bible. I wondered what this could mean?

Thankfully, scripture and the poetic imagination opens the door to answering that question but in reverse.  As David Lyle Jeffrey puts it, the book’s purpose is to “explore some of the ways Holy Scripture has shaped the English poetic imagination…” (p. xii).  Starting with Caedmon and walking us through Dante, Chaucer and others, we examine the influence of scripture throughout the world of English literature.  The implications are profound: “God does not talk like a lawyer, philosopher, or even a theologian… Very often… he speaks like a poet” (p. 10).

The experience is transformative.  Understanding the Bible itself as literature can move us away from that myopic way in which a “literal” reading removes the imagination itself from scripture.  And through reverse osmosis, Jeffrey shows us that in fact, the original poet is God himself—perhaps all of the Bible (much like poetry) deserves a keen eye toward its refreshing form, synthesis and arrangement.

Jeffrey, of course, has a different project in mind. He opens up the world of literature to readings that may be forgotten or cast aside in modernity. Those readings root themselves in the Bible.

Yet, we do get lost in the project as a whole.  The book is arranged as a series of somewhat discursively placed essays that open windows into discrete biblical passages and authors and it’s possible to miss the global view of Jeffrey’s thesis. This book might be better suited for the classroom than for casual reading. His Epilogue brings us back and is a beautiful lament on the diminishing Biblical literacy of students, teachers and literary critics. We are missing out on the truth of literature when we become so estranged from its scriptural roots and for this, I admire Jeffrey’s work.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Baker Academic
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 16, 2019

Rating: 4/5

I was enthralled by the first few chapters of Kristin Du Mez’ new book. Here was a sweeping historiography of Evangelicalism through the lens of gender. I was ready to enter my own deconstruction following the book but in the end, it’s just not that shocking, even if it’s fun as hell to read. Yet, as a critique of Evangelical Christianity, it’s unparalleled.

If you’re looking for a book that’s well written and explores the roots of our current “white Evangelical crisis,” then this is a terrific starting point. Just don’t expect a true history. I can see why so many academic reviewers have given this book and its critique of Christian nationalism, a platform and high marks to boot. I also see why the negative critiques of this book generally point to its lack of solutions to the problem of Christian nationalism among white Evangelicals. The response that many have is, it’s a history and that’s not the historian’s role. But it’s not.

It certainly is a controversial book. Michael Young’s critique is entitled, “When Activism Masquerades as History,” because Du Mez is relentless in her critique and less so in her creed. While I don’t have the stomach to sit her and deconstuct the endless critiques from Evangelical pundits, I am going to say that many of them are reactionary and wrong.

Du Mez’ book is a jeremiad of Evangelical leaders’ failings over the years and I’m happy to read it as almost prophetic. Like the Old Testament, it falls right into that Jewish tradition of critique from within, which N.T. Wright is fond of referencing.

The bigger issue, and I’ll be brief, if only to insert another voice into this discourse, is that Du Mez is captive to a serious problem: seeing history as being guided by a series of heroic individuals (or in this case, fallen heroic individuals). I am less convinced that her methodology is appropriate as a history, than those who spend their time wondering why she can’t see the bright side of Evangelicalism. What I mean is, do the case studies that Du Mez hits on really reflect Evangelicalism as a whole? Is she trying to say that each individual she highlights somehow led Evangelicals into the next iteration of their movement. The question needs to be answered because I am still unclear of Falwell made the moral majority or the moral majority made Falwell. That is something we never hear from Du Mez and it’s troubling… if she’s writing history. She’s not.

As a cultural critique, the book is perfect and we can stop pretending that it needs to be historiography. My assumptions going in were challenged and I felt renewed by Du Mez’ eloquent patchwork of historical snapshots. It’s more like a book by Randall Balmer than George Marsden, so let’s treat it as such and respond accordingly. I highly recommend.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Liveright (June 23, 2020)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 23, 2020