Hatred and Holiness?

Can holiness and hatred coexist? Can I love a God I have not seen and hate a brother I have seen?

The vicious legacy of the perversion of American Christianity that we now call Christian nationalism is that it sanctifies hatred as though it were the cause of divine holiness. This perversion is a direct result of an erroneous reception of the conquest narratives in the Hebrew Bible. In the books of Joshua and Judges, for example, the Israelites are described as exterminating people under God's command. What most scholars will tell you, however, is that the historicity of those encounters and conquest narratives is questionable. As a result, those narratives are not examples of divine authorization to take human life. Rather, they are invitations to reflect upon how a nation rises to prominence without any of the standard military, economic, or political accoutrements that go with empire. These moments remind us of the importance of informing public theology with academic scholarship. Instead of viewing these narratives as divine warrant to cause other humans to suffer, we should understand them as human reflections designed to ask, "Where is God in the midst of our suffering?"

Students often ask me, "How do you know the difference between good uses of scripture and bad?" One answer I often give is, "How close are you to the historical realities of the people who first wrote the Bible?" It is important to remember that the Bible was not written by those who wielded the power of empire. The Bible is not written to justify a nation's dominance or people's superiority. Rather, it was written to explain that, despite being viewed as inferior and lacking political power or commonwealth, God still chose them and loved them.

The Bible is the story of people who lived on the underside of empire. These were the people who others in power rejoiced to see their suffering. Christian nationalism and its antecedents within American Christianity weaponized the Bible to support empire. While the Bible is not anti-imperial, it is anti-corruption. Today, we are living in a world where corruption is consecrated and hatred is indeed deemed holy.