The Gospel of Luke records that, as he was dying on the cross, Jesus showed his boundless mercy by praying for his killers this way: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
Not so fast, say contributors to the Conservative Bible Project.
The project, an online effort to create a Bible suitable for contemporary conservative sensibilities, claims Jesus' quote is a disputed addition abetted by liberal biblical scholars, even if it appears in some form in almost every translation of the Bible.
The project's authors argue that contemporary scholars have inserted liberal views and ahistorical passages into the Bible, turning Jesus into little more than a well-meaning social worker with a store of watered-down platitudes.
"Professors are the most liberal group of people in the world, and it's professors who are doing the popular modern translations of the Bible," said Andy Schlafly, founder of Conservapedia.com, the project's online home.
As a conservative, theological and political, this is ridiculous and frankly embarrassing. When I read this I start to know what liberals feel like when Dennis Kucinich is speaking. They aren't just aiming at the TNIV and other modern, gender bending translations but even the English Standard Version, a favorite among subversives like me and my fellow Reformed believers (a group known for being lib'rals)
"The phrase 'theological conservative' does not mean that someone is politically conservative," said Schlafly, who lives in Far Hills, N.J.
This liberal slanting, Schlafly argues, ranges from changing gendered language — Jesus calling his disciples to be "fishers of people" rather than "fishers of men" — to more subtle choices, like the 2001 English Standard Version of the Bible, which uses "comrade" and "laborer" more often than the conservative-friendly "volunteer."
When I read the ESV and see "laborer", I automatically think of communism. He is right about this much, a theological conservative is not always a political conservative. I assume that Schlafly doesn't get the irony of twisting the Bible to suit your own agenda in response to liberals doing the same thing. I wonder if anyone has explained the difference between "exegesis" and "eisegesis" to Mr. Schlafly?
(I just noticed that Eric Carpenter beat me to the punch. I must be getting slow.)
2 comments:
Luke 23:34's authenticity is disputed. The UBS 4th Rev. Ed. places this verse in brackets, which signifies that it is a late edition to the text.
Also, they rate the ommision of the text as an A, which means they are certain that this verse is not in the original text of Luke. Yet, the verse was left in the text of the UBS because of it's antiquity. However, it seems to me this verse is kept in the text because of tradition not liberalism.
I did not trust the original report because it came from the AP, but the website for the project convinced me this guy is a kook. I hope this is satire, but I am afraid it is genuine.
I always check into the source before I trust the Obama Cheerleader Corp, um I mean AP. I think this guy is related to Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum.
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