Newsweek, the Bible, and Trash Journalism
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Newsweek, the Bible, and Trash Journalism by Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D. Associate Professor of New Testament, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary – Author of The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics (Abingdon Press; 500 pgs.) and co-author of Homosexuality and the Bible: Two Views (Fortress Press) [email protected] - www.robgagnon.net January 14, 2015 Newsweek, a once prestigious news magazine end of the article, if not before, the careful that sold for $1 in 2010, has published as its reader will see that Eichenwald’s ultimate cover feature for the New Year (Jan. 2-9; bête noire is any Christian appeal to the Bible online Dec. 23) what can fairly be described as as a basis for rejecting homosexual practice as trash journalism. The article, entitled “So sin. Apparently, by undermining the authority Misrepresented It’s a Sin,” is a hit piece of Scripture Eichenwald hopes to undermine against evangelical/orthodox views of the any appeal to a male-female requirement for Bible that offend the leftwing political sexual relations. sensibilities, particularly as regards Already in the first sentence Eichenwald homosexual relations. Its contents ironically states, “They wave their Bibles at passersby, illustrate the title, not by correcting screaming their condemnations of misrepresentations of Scripture but rather by homosexuals”; then goes on to speak of “the advancing them. illiteracy of self-proclaimed Biblical literalists The author of the article is Kurt lead[ing] parents to banish children from their Eichenwald, who is a contributing editor of homes … engender*ing+ hate and Vanity Fair and a former reporter for the New condemnation.” The last two hysterical York Times. Eichenwald’s primary expertise is references are connected later in his article to as an investigative reporter of business the issue of homosexuality. Two large photos scandals, not as an interpreter of the Bible (a center on the issue of homosexuality, one fact that the article makes abundantly showing “God hates fags” signs from the evident). Eichenwald’s rant against orthodox Phelps family—depicted as representative views of Scripture rambles from the alleged when in fact their rhetoric is repudiated by faulty transmission and translation of the the entirety of American evangelicalism. The biblical text, to the presumed error of the longest section by far of the article has to do Trinity as the stimulus for murdering others, with homosexuality (almost 200 words more and to the heinous act of public prayer. By the than the next longest section). That’s not © 2015 Robert A. J. Gagnon Page 1 counting the concluding section “Judge Not,” Bible’s history and meaning is not intended to whose theme fits better his rant against a advance a particular theology.” I can only male-female prerequisite for sex than his imagine what the article would have looked rants against school prayer, creationism, and like if Eichenwald had allowed himself to the deity of Christ. become tendentious. Not that any of this is surprising for Newsweek. This is not the first Eichenwald’s rhetoric throughout is time that the editors at Newsweek have made abrasive, clearly designed to make Christians assaulting the scriptural stance against ashamed of ever making such an appeal to homosexual practice their crusading issue (for the Bible again. Christians who regard example, see here and here). homosexual practice as sin (or who— horror!—favor prayer in public school) “are There is so much error and absurd God’s frauds, cafeteria Christians,” reasoning in this 7600-word article that this “hypocrites,” “Biblical illiterates,” review can hardly cover all the nonsense “fundamentalists and political opportunists,” within the space limit of 1000, 5000, or even and “Pharisees.” Alongside Eichenwald’s 7600 words. This is especially true because it abusive rhetoric is his one-sided and sparse takes longer to show patiently why heresy “research.” He cites as his authorities left-of- and incompetent exegesis are what they are center writers like Bart Ehrman and Jason than to spout such. The essay that follows is BeDuhn (with a little bit of Richard Elliott divided into two main parts: (1) Eichenwald’s Friedman thrown in). missteps on Scripture, Christology, the process of canonization, and public prayer; With all this, Eichenwald has the temerity and (2) Eichenwald’s missteps on the Bible to say: “Newsweek’s exploration here of the and homosexual practice. Part I: Eichenwald’s Missteps on Scripture, Christology, Canonization, and Prayer Eichenwald sets up his article first to Playing Make-Believe with the Word of God undermine reliance on Scripture as a supreme Eichenwald first tries to make a case that the authority for moral discernment and then to New Testament Greek text is unreliable. The show how Christians, oblivious to the truth is the exact opposite. Eichenwald cites problems with a high view of biblical the number of New Testament manuscripts inspiration, also ignore its clear teaching in available to us as a negative when in reality it the matter of public prayer. is a positive. The fewer and later the manuscripts for an ancient text, the more © 2015 Robert A. J. Gagnon Page 2 difficult it is for scholars to be confident about major Christian doctrine hangs in the balance the overall reliability of the manuscript base. because of these variations. No ancient text has come down to us with Eichenwald makes much of two stories greater reliability. For example, the oldest inserted by later scribes: the story of the surviving manuscript for a significant portion woman caught in adultery in John 7:53-8:11 of Plato’s fourth-century B.C. dialogues dates and the story of Jesus’ resurrection to the end of the ninth century; for the appearances in Mark 16:9-20. Yet neither of Discourses of Epictetus the twelfth century. these interpolations is representative of Contrast that with the New Testament, where scribal alterations. In fact, they are the two we have one substantial Greek papyrus dating largest interpolations in the NT. Moreover, to around 200 (Paul, Hebrews) and another to there is no uncertainty in NT scholarship the third century (Gospels, Acts). There are regarding their secondary status. (The same is another 125 fragmentary papyri dating from true of the Trinitarian formula appearing in the 2nd to 7th centuries. In addition, we have some later manuscripts of 1 John 5:7, likewise more than three hundred upper-case cited by Eichenwald.) Contemporary English parchment (i.e. animal-skin) manuscripts of translations all give readers an indication that NT writings (called uncials or majuscules), these texts were added by a later hand. dating largely from the 4th to 10th centuries, Eichenwald asserts that the story of the including half a dozen 4th-5th century woman caught in adultery “simply never manuscripts containing most of the New happened” and that “scribes made it up Testament. To these can be added hundreds sometime in the Middle Ages.” As it happens, of lower-case parchment manuscripts (called the earliest manuscript evidence dates to the minuscules) dating from the 9th to 16th fifth century and there are indications of the century. Then there are many manuscripts story’s existence from third-century Christian from the 4th century on that are translated texts. It is possible that the story in some form into other languages (Latin, Syriac, Coptic) and circulated orally at a much earlier date. thousands of citations from various Church Whether the event happened or not, it well Fathers. The manuscript base possessed by NT epitomizes what we know elsewhere of Jesus’ scholars is the envy of all other historians of reaction to sexual sinners. ancient history. Eichenwald shows his lack of knowledge of Only a tiny fraction of the total number of text-critical issues when he states that the variations among the NT manuscripts pose saying over the cup in Luke 22:20 and the any serious problem for scholars in statement about Jesus being “carried up into determining the original text. Eichenwald’s heaven” in Luke 24:51 “first appeared in reference to the lone variant in Luke 3:16 manuscripts used by the translators who rather proves this point. Furthermore, no created the King James Bible, but are not in © 2015 Robert A. J. Gagnon Page 3 the Greek copies from hundreds of years have little hope of determining essential earlier.” Most of the earliest manuscripts Christian doctrine. The King James Version is contain these readings, as anyone who can no longer “the gold standard of English read the textual apparatus in a modern Bibles” (contra Eichenwald). Of course, some edition of the Greek New Testament knows. modern translations are better than others; Although a minority of early manuscripts lacks but the number of good English offerings is these texts and one can posit scribal better today than it has ever been (including motivation for their insertion, on the whole the NAB, NRSV, ESV, NET, CEB, HCSB, REB, the evidence favors their originality. NASB, NIV, NJB, and NLT). For further discussion of Eichenwald’s Eichenwald cites as his key example of failings on text-critical matters see the translation inaccuracy renderings of the Greek discussions by two other scholars, Daniel verb proskunéō (προςκυνέω) as “worship” Wallace and Michael Kruger. when applied to Jesus. He is correct in asserting that the verb’s basic sense is “prostrate oneself (before)” (literally, “kiss Translating the Heaven Out of Jesus’ Divinity toward”). He seems to prefer (erroneously) the meaning “praise God” over “worship” Eichenwald states that no one “has ever read when applied to a deity (against the standard the Bible…. At best, we’ve all read a bad lexicons: LSJ and BDAG). But his main translation—a translation of translations of complaint is that translating the verb as translations of hand-copied copies of copies “worship” when Jesus is the object constitutes of copies of copies, and on and on, hundreds “translational trickery” whereby “a of times.” Ah, Mr.