(Re)Discovering a Midrashic Biblical Imagination for the Progressive-Liberal Community

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

(Re)Discovering a Midrashic Biblical Imagination for the Progressive-Liberal Community Luther Seminary Digital Commons @ Luther Seminary Doctor of Ministry Theses Student Theses 5-20-2018 (Re)Discovering a Midrashic Biblical Imagination for the Progressive-Liberal Community Elisabeth R. Jones Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.luthersem.edu/dmin_theses Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, and the Liturgy and Worship Commons Recommended Citation Jones, Elisabeth R., "(Re)Discovering a Midrashic Biblical Imagination for the Progressive-Liberal Community" (2018). Doctor of Ministry Theses. 32. https://digitalcommons.luthersem.edu/dmin_theses/32 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses at Digital Commons @ Luther Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Ministry Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Luther Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. (RE)DISCOVERING A MIDRASHIC BIBLICAL IMAGINATION FOR THE PROGRESSIVE-LIBERAL CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY by ELISABETH R. JONES A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Luther Seminary In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF MINISTRY ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA 2018 © 2018 by Elisabeth R. Jones All rights reserved ABSTRACT (Re)Discovering a Midrashic Biblical Imagination for the Progressive-Liberal Community by Elisabeth R. Jones This thesis presents the case for the development of a sustainable community practice of midrashic biblical imagination as a catalyst for transformative engagement with the Bible in progressive Christian congregations. Notes that a midrashic imagination applied to the polyvalent testimonies of the biblical canon is an apt partner for post- modern, progressive congregations, whose theology embraces diversity, plurality, and critique of hegemonic structures. Uses a longitudinal qualitative methodology, with Appreciative Inquiry, to trace the various methods used for cultivating curiosity among Scriptural skeptics over nine years, concluding with the Midrashic Imagination Project, which involves the community in study, worship, preaching and discipleship. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS If you are reading, have read, or if you will ever read this, thank you! Richard Rehfeldt, Brian Fraser, Cameron Howard and Karoline Lewis are at the top of the list of the many advisors, mentors, and colleagues in ministry who have tightened the loose ends, strengthened the weak spots, asked the hard questions, and believed enough in this project to encourage me through this writing process. Thank you too, Luther Seminary, for believing enough in biblical preaching to offer this Doctor of Ministry degree programme, and for staffing it with amazing core and visiting faculty, and administrative support staff who navigated the ins and outs of international student visas, Zotero, heat-waves, and classroom swaps. I especially want to thank Professor Richard Ward, who took away the biblical text so that I could find it already within; your course was pivotal to the development of this thesis in ways I would not have thought possible. Cohort 2015, we simply cannot stop now! I have learned so much in your company. You have all become treasured colleagues in this odd and wondrous calling, and the most rock-solid soul kin anyone could ask for. To Chris, thanks for your air- conditioned, riverside sanctuary from the scorching heat, and for the pastoral theology filled car rides. None of this would have happened were it not for the blessed mixture of skepticism and curiosity of the faith community of Cedar Park United Church. To the members of the Congregational Response Groups and all the study groups, as well as to iii the worshipping community of all ages, your willingness to turn a text upside down and inside out has taught me “infinitely more than we could have asked or imagined” about the Lively Word hiding in plain sight in our midst. My thanks to you all, especially to Shawm (age two), for sharing your cheerios on the Feast of Epiphany. To my family, and most especially to Norman, whose weekends, evenings, and even vacations have been sacrificed on the altar of midrashic study, I owe debts of gratitude I will never repay, but will enjoy trying. To you, I promise a summer without turning a text! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................... iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................. viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................. ix 1. INTRODUCTION: A LOVE STORY...........................................................................1 A Love Story: The Prologue ......................................................................1 The Challenge: Progressives Don’t Read the Bible (much) ......................3 A Progressive-Liberal Community of Faith ..............................................7 …In a Post-everything world ..................................................................11 Recovering a Biblical Imagination ..........................................................12 Provoking Curiosity, Fostering Imagination ...........................................15 Outline: How this Thesis will proceed ....................................................18 2. BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS ...............................................21 Imagination ..............................................................................................22 Theological and Biblical Imagination .....................................................25 Excursus: Midrash 101 ............................................................................33 Midrashic Literature (Product) .........................................................34 Midrashic Process ............................................................................36 Midrashic Biblical Imagination in the Progressive Liberal Community .40 Conclusion ...............................................................................................44 3. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................46 Contextual Studies ...................................................................................47 Defining “Progressive-Liberal” ...............................................................50 Biblical Imagination ................................................................................55 Midrash Studies .......................................................................................58 Performance Theory ................................................................................61 Conclusion ...............................................................................................64 4. PROJECT DESCRIPTION ..........................................................................................65 Methodological Questions .......................................................................65 Research Context .....................................................................................70 What’s Past is Prologue (2008-2015) ......................................................71 Biblical Imagination in Worship, 2012-2015 ...................................73 The Midrashic Imagination Project (2016-2017) ....................................76 v Workshops: “Follow the White Rabbit” ..........................................78 “Texts and Textures” Seasonal Series ..............................................79 Sunday Worship ...............................................................................83 Midrash in Ordinary Time ................................................................85 Focus Group and Journals ................................................................86 Participation and Evaluation methods ..............................................86 Conclusion ...............................................................................................87 5. ANALYSIS OF PROJECT ..........................................................................................89 Research Protocols. .................................................................................89 Preliminary and Prototype Phases: Analytical Summary ........................92 Midrashic Imagination Project ................................................................94 Texts and Textures ...........................................................................96 1. Advent Texts and Textures. .........................................................98 2. Lenten Textures: We Walk this Road Together. ........................105 3. Easter Texts and Textures: This Changes Everything ...............110 4. Ordinary Time ............................................................................115 5. Focus Group ...............................................................................116 Conclusion .............................................................................................118 6. EVALUATION..........................................................................................................120 Did the Thesis Deliver? .........................................................................121 a. Research Questions: Outcomes ..................................................121 b. Anticipated Outcomes ................................................................125
Recommended publications
  • Death Before the Fall : Biblical Literalism and the Problem of Animal Suffering Pdf, Epub, Ebook
    DEATH BEFORE THE FALL : BIBLICAL LITERALISM AND THE PROBLEM OF ANIMAL SUFFERING PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Ronald E. Osborn | 197 pages | 06 Mar 2014 | InterVarsity Press | 9780830840465 | English | Illinois, United States Death Before the Fall : Biblical Literalism and the Problem of Animal Suffering PDF Book Harris, Laird R. Beall, Todd S. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. The immediate context of Exod is vv. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. Louisville, Ky. Science A complete course on theoretical physics: from classical mechanics to advanced quantum statistics, To engineer is human: the role of failure in successful design , The question then becomes: in some unknown future tens of millions of years from now does God join the story again? But I don't think that there's a beetle exceptionalism, I don't think there's a dinosaur exceptionalism. The best we can do is speculate and try to build a picture of what the goodness of God might look like. Cleon L. The undefeated, Darrel Falk, who believes God used evolution to create the earth. How do you reconcile the idea of special divine action with creaturely freedom? A guide for sustaining conversations on racism, identity, and our mutual humanity , Nothing in the known universe has more moving parts, more complexly organized, than living organisms—most of all, us. Actually, his third point is the most interesting. It has the Hebrew participial form, but it diverges considerably from the others noted in the preceding verse.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the Bible Participant Guide
    UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE Opening Prayer Lord Jesus, you are the Word made flesh and the most perfect way in which God has revealed Himself to us. We ask you to help us understand Your word that we may know you better and become better disciples of You. We ask this in Your most holy Name. Amen. Scripture Reading Luke 4:14-21 In this Gospel, Jesus reads from the Sacred Scripture in the synagogue at Nazareth. He reveals that the prophet Isaiah prefigures His mission on earth and that He has come to fulfill the Hebrew Scriptures. What is important to read Sacred Scripture? The Church has always venerated the divine scriptures as it has venerated the Body of the Lord. Scripture is the “living word of God.” Access to the sacred scripture ought to be widely available to the Christian faithful. Taught by the Holy Spirit [the Church] strives to reach an increasingly more profound understanding of the Sacred Scriptures, in order to nourish its children with God’s words. Christianity is the religion of the “Word” of God, a word which is “not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living.” If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, “open our minds to understand the Scriptures” (CCC, 108). “Ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (St. Jerome). Therefore, let them go gladly to the sacred text itself, whether in the sacred liturgy or in devout reading. Remember that prayer should accompany the reading of sacred scripture, so that it becomes a dialogue between God and the human reader (Dei Verbum 21-25).
    [Show full text]
  • Uses of the Judeo-Christian Bible in the Anti-Abolitionist
    THIS FIERCE GEOMETRY: USES OF THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN BIBLE IN THE ANTI-ABOLITIONIST AND ANTI-GAY RHETORIC OF THE UNITED STATES by Michael J. Mazza B. A., State University of New York at Buffalo, 1990 M. A., University of Pittsburgh, 1996 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2009 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Michael J. Mazza It was defended on April 15, 2009 and approved by Nancy Glazener, University of Pittsburgh Moni McIntyre, Duquesne University William Scott, University of Pittsburgh Committee Chair: Jean Ferguson Carr, University of Pittsburgh ii THIS FIERCE GEOMETRY: USES OF THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN BIBLE IN THE ANTI-ABOLITIONIST AND ANTI-GAY RHETORIC OF THE UNITED STATES Michael J. Mazza, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2009 Copyright © by Michael J. Mazza 2009 iii Jean Ferguson Carr_______ THIS FIERCE GEOMETRY: USES OF THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN BIBLE IN THE ANTI-ABOLITIONIST AND ANTI-GAY RHETORIC OF THE UNITED STATES Michael J. Mazza, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2009 This dissertation examines the citational use of the Judeo-Christian Bible in two sociopolitical debates within the United States: first, the debate over the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century, and second, the contemporary debate over gay rights. This study incorporates two core theses. First, I argue that the contemporary religious right, in its anti-gay use of the Bible, is replicating the hermeneutical practices used by opponents of the abolitionist movement. My second thesis parallels the first: I argue that the contemporary activists who reclaim the Bible as a pro-gay instrument are standing in the same hermeneutical tradition as nineteenth-century Christian abolitionists.
    [Show full text]
  • HERMENEUTICAL CRITICISMS: by Mark E
    Issues of Interpretation Ozark Christian College, GB 216-2 Professor Mark E. Moore, Ph.D. Table of Contents: 1. Hermeneutical Constructs .......................................................................................................2 2. A Chart of the History of Hermeneutics .................................................................................5 3. History of Interpretation .........................................................................................................7 4. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 1.1.10.......................................................................29 5. Allegory of 153 Fish, Jn 21:11 .............................................................................................30 6. How the Holy Spirit Helps in Interpretation .........................................................................31 7. Problem Passages ..................................................................................................................32 8. Principles for Dealing with Problem Passages .....................................................................33 9. Cultural vs. Universal ...........................................................................................................34 10. Hermeneutical Constructs .....................................................................................................36 11. Hermeneutical Shifts .............................................................................................................38 12. Hermeneutical Constructs:
    [Show full text]
  • The Crisis in Protestant Biblical Theology
    The Crisis in Protestant Biblical Theology Warren A. Gage, Th.M., J.D., Ph.D. In a very few years we Protestants will celebrate the 500th anniversary of our Reformation. The passing of such a milestone will have our now worldwide community celebrating many astonishing accomplishments. In retrospect it is clear that a virtual fountain of liberty, both spiritual and political, poured forth from the nail–pierced door in Wittenberg. The gospel of free grace was recovered in 1517, resulting in a robust proclamation of spiritual freedom justified by an appeal to Scripture alone. This gospel of liberty was restated by Luther and the Reformers in a message so powerful that many multitudes of Europeans, both in their home countries and later in their many colonies around the world, ascribed salvation from the bondage of sin to the singular work of God, who raised Christ Jesus from the dead in order to make His people free. The foremost achievement of the Reformation was to give the Bible to the common man.1 In order to disciple the nations to the teaching of the Scripture, men and women had to be taught to read. As a consequence, schools were founded in Protestant communities in Europe and North America. The resulting increase of popular literacy enabled enlightened and liberal communities to emerge in the wake of the Reformed missionary and in response to the pulpit of the Reformed pastor. Moreover, the Bible gave the Protestant church an eschatological vision which required a teleological understanding of the world and a linear understanding of historical progress.
    [Show full text]
  • Reading Narratives in the Septuagint: a Discourse on Method1
    READING NARRATIVES IN THE SEPTUAGINT: A DISCOURSE ON METHOD1 Dichk M. Kanonge North-West University, Potchefstroom A. INTRODUCTION The interpretation of texts depends greatly upon their literary genres. Narratives are the predominant genre in the Septuagint. More than a third of the Hebrew Bible, even without the Apocrypha, consists of narratives.2 Despite its abundance however, this literary genre is often interpreted without taking its distinctiveness into account. Narrative interpretation is still dependent either on grammatical- historical3 or on historical-critical analysis.4 It is the contention of this article that, with regard to narrative analysis, these two approaches are limited, unless they are coupled with rhetorical analysis. Principles “for dealing with the literary form of the text as part and parcel of the 1 This article is a version of a paper read at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Septuagint in South Africa, held at the University of Stellenbosch in 2008 (August 14 to 15). It is a part of the author’s Ph.D. thesis at North-West University, Potchefstroom campus, under the supervision of Prof P. J. Jordaan. 2 Bar-Efrat, Narrative art in the Bible (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000), 9; W. C. Kaiser and M. Silva, An Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics: The Search for Meaning (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 54. 3 The grammatical-historical approach was the preferred method of the reformers because “they were concerned to recover the original sense, which they felt had been buried under centuries of spiritual interpretation” K. J. Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in This Text? The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), 118.
    [Show full text]
  • A Comparative Study of Jewish Commentaries and Patristic Literature on the Book of Ruth
    A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF JEWISH COMMENTARIES AND PATRISTIC LITERATURE ON THE BOOK OF RUTH by CHAN MAN KI A Dissertation submitted to the University of Pretoria for the degree of PHILOSOPHIAE DOCTOR Department of Old Testament Studies Faculty of Theology University of Pretoria South Africa Promoter: PIETER M. VENTER JANUARY, 2010 © University of Pretoria Summary Title : A comparative study of Jewish Commentaries and Patristic Literature on the Book of Ruth Researcher : Chan Man Ki Promoter : Pieter M. Venter, D.D. Department : Old Testament Studies Degree :Doctor of Philosophy This dissertation deals with two exegetical traditions, that of the early Jewish and the patristic schools. The research work for this project urges the need to analyze both Jewish and Patristic literature in which specific types of hermeneutics are found. The title of the thesis (“compared study of patristic and Jewish exegesis”) indicates the goal and the scope of this study. These two different hermeneutical approaches from a specific period of time will be compared with each other illustrated by their interpretation of the book of Ruth. The thesis discusses how the process of interpretation was affected by the interpreters’ society in which they lived. This work in turn shows the relationship between the cultural variants of the exegetes and the biblical interpretation. Both methodologies represented by Jewish and patristic exegesis were applicable and social relevant. They maintained the interest of community and fulfilled the need of their generation. Referring to early Jewish exegesis, the interpretations upheld the position of Ruth as a heir of the Davidic dynasty. They advocated the importance of Boaz’s and Ruth’s virtue as a good illustration of morality in Judaism.
    [Show full text]
  • A Test of the Compensatory Schema Hypothesis Among Anglicans in England
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by York St John University Institutional Repository 1 Running head: Biblical literalism Biblical literalism: A test of the compensatory schema hypothesis among Anglicans in England Andrew Village York St John University Author Note Andrew Village, Faculty of Education and Theology, York St John University I thank Leslie Francis and Mandy Robbins for allowing me to use a dataset on clergy which we collected together. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr Andrew Village, York St John University, Lord Mayor’s Walk, York YO31 7EX, UK. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Biblical literalism: A test of the compensatory schema hypothesis among Anglicans in England Abstract The compensatory schema hypothesis (Hoffmann and Bartkowski 2008) has been used to explain why women seem to have higher levels of biblical literalism than men in some Christian denominations. Based on social structuration and gender theories, it proposes that biblical literalism is a key social schema in some denominations that deny women access to institutional power. Women compensate for the lack of access to institutional social resources (leadership) by stressing the accepted schema (literalism) more strongly than men. The theory was tested using two samples from the Church of England, one lay (N = 394) and one ordained (N = 1052). Laywomen were more literal than laymen among evangelicals and Anglo-catholics, where opposition to women's ordination is highest, but in both cases the difference was largely explained by differences in education levels between the sexes.
    [Show full text]
  • Prophecy and Enervation in the American Political Tradition
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 10-2014 Right Without Might: Prophecy and Enervation in the American Political Tradition Jonathan Keller Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/358 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] RIGHT WITHOUT MIGHT: PROPHECY AND ENERVATION IN THE AMERICAN POLITICAL TRADITION by JONATHAN J. KELLER A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Political Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2014 © 2014 JONATHAN J. KELLER All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Political Science in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. PROFESSOR COREY ROBIN _______________ __________________________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee PROFESSOR ALYSON COLE _______________ __________________________________________ Date Executive Officer PROFESSOR ANDREW J. POLSKY PROFESSOR THOMAS HALPER PROFESSOR BRYAN TURNER PROFESSOR NICHOLAS XENOS __________________________________________ Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract RIGHT WITHOUT MIGHT: PROPHECY AND ENERVATION IN THE AMERICAN POLITICAL TRADITION by JONATHAN J. KELLER Adviser: Professor Corey Robin This dissertation examines the ways Old Testament prophecy has influenced American political thought and rhetoric. Although political scientists have long recognized the impact of the Scriptures on the ways Americans express and think about themselves, they have misunderstood this important part of America’s political tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • Biblical Literalism and Science Attitudes 2
    BIBLICAL LITERALISM AND SCIENCE ATTITUDES 2 Train up a child in the way he should go: Parents’ biblical literalism as determining factor of children’s attitudes towards science Thuy-vy T. Nguyen1 and Jonathon McPhetres1 1University of Rochester This manuscript is currently under review Please note that changes will likely occur throughout the editorial process, so please make sure to cite the appropriate version. Authors’ notes Thuy-vy T. Nguyen is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, USA. Jonathon McPhetres is a PhD candidate at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, USA. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Thuy-vy T. Nguyen, Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14610. Contact: [email protected] Nguyen, T. T., & McPhetres, J. (2018). Train up a child in the way he should go: Parents’ biblical literalism as determining factor of children’s attitudes towards science. Unpublished manuscript. BIBLICAL LITERALISM AND SCIENCE ATTITUDES 3 Abstract A literal interpretation of the teachings and events of the Bible is endorsed by 40% of Christian adults in the United States. In the present research, we investigated how biblical literalism relates to the ways parents communicate with their children about religion and science in religious families, and its implications for children’s attitudes toward science. We conducted two studies using an exploratory-confirmatory paradigm. In Study 1, we explored the correlations between parents’ literal belief and their support for children’s religious autonomy and attitudes toward science (N = 119). Then, we conducted a preregistered replication to confirm Study 1 results, collecting data from adult “child” subjects (N = 652) and their parents (N = 220).
    [Show full text]
  • Creation and the Theory of Evolution
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Boardman Lectureship in Christian Ethics Department of Religious Studies 4-24-1997 Creation and the Theory of Evolution Francisco J. Ayala University of California, Irvine Wolfhart Pannenberg University of Munich Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/boardman Part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons Recommended Citation Ayala, Francisco J. and Pannenberg, Wolfhart, "Creation and the Theory of Evolution" (1997). Boardman Lectureship in Christian Ethics. 6. https://repository.upenn.edu/boardman/6 Boardman Lecture XXXV. Edited and Foreword by Susan Marks. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/boardman/6 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Creation and the Theory of Evolution Abstract The Boardman Lecture, in cooperation with the Center For Theology and The Natural Sciences and The John Templeton Foundation, funded a conference on Creation and Theory of Evolution. The conference explored religion and science by offering two different approaches to the question of human origins. Geneticist Francisco Ayala explains the present state of our understanding of evolution and argues that such human phenomena as morality and religion are by-products of the evolutionary process that cannot be explained by natural selection. His lecture appears as "The Evolutionary Transcendence of Humankind." Dr. Pannenberg stressed that the God of religious faith must be the Creator of the same nature that is studied by scientists. He explores aspects of the Genesis creation story that are compatible with the theory of evolution. His lecture is "Human Life: Creation Versus Evolution?" Disciplines Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Comments Boardman Lecture XXXV.
    [Show full text]
  • Young-Earth Creationism, Creation Science, and the Evangelical Denial of Climate Change
    religions Article Revisiting the Scopes Trial: Young-Earth Creationism, Creation Science, and the Evangelical Denial of Climate Change K. L. Marshall New College, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH1 2LX, UK; [email protected] Abstract: In the century since the Scopes Trial, one of the most influential dogmas to shape American evangelicalism has been that of young-earth creationism. This article explains why, with its arm of “creation science,” young-earth creationism is a significant factor in evangelicals’ widespread denial of anthropogenic climate change. Young-earth creationism has become closely intertwined with doctrines such as the Bible’s divine authority and the Imago Dei, as well as with social issues such as abortion and euthanasia. Addressing this aspect of the environmental crisis among evangelicals will require a re-orientation of biblical authority so as to approach social issues through a hermeneutic that is able to acknowledge the reality and imminent threat of climate change. Citation: Marshall, K. L. 2021. Revisiting the Scopes Trial: Keywords: evangelicalism; creation science; young-earth creationism; climate change; Answers in Young-Earth Creationism, Creation Genesis; biblical literalism; biblical authority; Noahic flood; dispensational theology; fundamentalism Science, and the Evangelical Denial of Climate Change. Religions 12: 133. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12020133 1. Introduction Academic Editors: Randall Balmer The 1925 Scopes “Monkey” Trial is often referenced as a metonymy for American and Edward Blum Protestantism’s fundamentalist-modernist controversy that erupted in the years following World War I. William Jennings Bryan, the lawyer and politician who argued in favor of Received: 25 January 2021 biblical creationism1—in keeping with his literal understanding of the narratives in Genesis Accepted: 12 February 2021 Published: 20 February 2021 1 and Genesis 2—was vindicated when the judge ruled that high school biology teacher John Scopes had indeed broken the law by teaching Darwinian evolution in a public school.
    [Show full text]