Some Christians today argue that empathy is wrong, even calling it a sin and unbiblical. For Angela Parker, an associate professor of New Testament and Greek at the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, this idea is absurd since she sees in the Greek where Jesus did show such deep care for others.
“I point them to where Jesus has splankna, and I say this is where Jesus has empathy and compassion,” she explained on this week’s episode of Dangerous Dogma. “Now, if Jesus has something that’s bad, I’d just rather do what Jesus does. And if you want to call it ‘bad,’ call it ‘bad.’ But I’m gonna follow what Jesus does, and y’all can take it up with Jesus — if you happen to see him!”
Parker made her remarks in the second of a three-part special podcast series produced in partnership with Moravian Theological Seminary. Last week’s episode featured Randall Balmer and next week will be with William Stell. For some of the conversations, I’m joined by guest cohost Jared Burkholder, scholar in residence at Moravian. Burkholder will be giving the annual Walter Vivian Moses Lecture on Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. ET at the Bahnson Center on the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, campus of Moravian. It will also be livestreamed for free (and you can sign up to tune in).
The author of If God Still Breathes, Why Can’t I?: Black Lives Matter and Biblical Authority and coauthor of the Unsettling Lent devotional, Parker talked in the episode about how evangelicals have struggled with issues of biblical interpretation, especially how an approach like inerrancy works to uphold White Supremacist and patriarchal ideologies.
Since we don’t have the original biblical manuscripts, translation inherently brings in errors, and people still have to interpret the texts, Parker warned that the concept of inerrancy ends up functioning in ways to hold up not the Bible but a preacher’s ideas as without error and beyond critique. She pointed to the impact of the late James Dobson as an example of how one person’s interpretation can be lifted up as infallible as it’s conflated with the Bible’s authority.
“That kind of patriarchal authority became authority over whole families and households. That authority has done so much damage because one man read a biblical text that said, ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child,’ and that became an entire teaching over so many children,” she explained. “The person becomes inerrant and infallible based on their teaching.”
Because of abusive ways of interpreting Scripture, Parker insists Christians need to read the Bible in diverse communities and learn from biblical interpreters with different backgrounds.
“You ask different questions of the biblical texts when you enter with other people who have a different life experience than you,” she added. “It’s always a pleasure to read Scripture with many different people in many different contexts, and just to unpack Scripture in new ways for folks and to help people see Scripture with new lenses.”
“You can’t read the Bible by yourself. You have to read it with people who also welcome questions. I often say that the Bible is not God, the Bible is the pointer to God,” Parker added. “So we should be able to read in a community that values questions of our biblical text. If you are in a community that does not allow you to ask questions, you must find another community. Any community that is afraid of questions is not the community for you.”
You can hear more from Angela Parker on this week’s episode of Dangerous Dogma. You can listen to the audio version here (or subscribe in your favorite podcast platform), and you can watch the video version here. Additionally, you can sign up here for the free livestream of the Moses Lecture to be given by Jared Burkholder on Oct. 29.
As a public witness,
Brian Kaylor
Most critics of “empathy” will contrast it with “sympathy,” and give reasons why sympathy is better.
You skip all that, say, “Empathy! Because Jesus!” and think you’ve settled the matter. All reflection safely averted.