|
Details: In "The Problem with Paul," Christian author Brian J. Dodd attempts to "rehabilitate" the image of Paul, the apostle who authored many of the letters of the New Testament. Dodd's book is an uneasy blend of "politically correct" posturing and neo-conservative rigidity. Ultimately, Dodd seems to defend an approach to biblical interpretation which allows the believer to continue to wallow in convenient prejudices. Throughout history, the New Testament writings attributed to Paul have been abundant sources of "proof-texts"--that is, texts used to justify one's position--by racists, anti-Semites, sexists, anti-gay bigots, and other supporters of destructive ideologies. (Jim Hill and Rand Cheadle have documented some of the "Pauline problem" in their book "The Bible Tells Me So: Uses and Abuses of Holy Scripture.") Dodd addresses some of these controversies and tries to re-paint Paul as a misunderstood guy with some genuinely forward-thinking ideas. But I find Dodd's approach to be contradictory and unconvincing. He asserts, for example, that Christians need not follow Paul's restrictions regarding female headgear (1 Cor. 11:5-6) and female leadership in church (1 Tim. 2:11-15), and accuses Christians who take these verses literally of an "interpretive naivete" which Dodd deems "unhelpful." But then he turns around and asserts that Christians must adhere to an anti-gay interpretation of other Pauline passages. Although he performs ample verbal gymnastics in order to justify his positions, it seems to me that Dodd is picking and choosing which verses he wants to read "literally," and which he wants to write off as culturally bound. And woe to anyone who disagrees with Dodd's personal likes and dislikes; in his view, they are obviously wrong! Particularly ridiculous is his chapter about Paul's comments on the institution of slavery. A large part of his argument seems to boil down to the equation that ancient Greco-Roman slavery was good, and American slavery was bad. Does it follow that, as long as Christians follow the allegedly benevolent ancient model, it is perfectly all right for them to hold their fellow humans as slaves? Some of the ground covered by Dodd is dealt with in a much more thoughtful and morally consistent manner by Peter J. Gomes in "The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart." While Dodd has some interesting ideas, and is clearly a skilled writer, "The Problem with Paul" as a whole is riddled with problems. |
out of 2 Reviews
