The Bible Does Everything Critical Theory Does, But Better

Christianity Today, The Bible Does Everything Critical Theory Does, but Better:

Many people become suspicious at the mention of critical theory, especially as it applies to controversial matters of race, gender, law, and public policy. Some see the ideologies traveling under that banner as abstruse frameworks only minimally related to real-world affairs. Others see critical theory as a ruse meant to confer unearned scholarly legitimacy on highly debatable political and cultural opinions.

Christopher Watkin, an Australian scholar on religion and philosophy, wants to reorient discussions of critical theory around Scripture’s grand narrative of redemption. In Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture, he shows how God’s Word furnishes the tools for a better, more compelling critical theory—one that harmonizes the fragmentary truths advanced by its secular alternatives. Mark Talbot, professor of philosophy at Wheaton College, spoke with Watkin about his book. ...

You mention critical race theory, which has become a flash point for some Christians and a big reason why critical theory has a bad name among them. Where do we tend to go wrong in our attitudes toward critical theory?

Critical theory does have a particularly bad name among certain groups of Christians. It also has an unusually good name among others. Both responses are problematic because Christians should not expect worldly ideology to represent either a perfect ideal for the church or the Devil incarnate.

There are very important theological reasons for that. First, only God is good, and so we should expect everything in the world to be a mixture—a shadow of God’s good creation but also somehow twisted, misunderstood, and distorted because sin has pulled it out of shape. That’s true of critical theory and other ideologies as well. There are some things that critical theory seeks to do that I think Christians should also want to do—upholding justice and fairness, for example. Yet the ways critical theory goes about doing those things are different from biblical ways, and that’s part of how critical theory has taken biblical principles and distorted them and misunderstood them to some extent.

But the problem for the church is when Christians see critical theory as the only thing that must be opposed, as if everything else is either neutral or positive. It becomes the single thing that Christians must fight tooth and nail. There’s a naiveté in thinking, If we just get rid of this one thing, then society will be wonderful. So that’s how I think some Christians have gotten unsettled about critical theory, by either utterly embracing it or utterly rejecting it. ...

In your introduction, you describe your experience writing grant proposals. Sometimes, when you figured you had written a slam-dunk proposal, the grant committee would come back with the question, So what? In the context of your book, you explain how asking, So what? is different than asking, say, What is this doctrine? or Why should we believe it? Could you explain that difference more fully?

Take the Bible’s first verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” A doctrinal approach would seek to understand things like: Who is this God? And how does this creation account differ from other ancient creation accounts? A traditional apologetic approach would seek to justify the claim in the verse and to demonstrate why this is a reasonable thing to claim and why the alternatives may be less reasonable.

Both of those are great approaches. They’re just not the approach I’m taking in the book. The “So what?” approach to that verse would ask: What difference does the fact that God created the heavens and the earth make to the way we understand reality, our culture, and ourselves? One difference is that, given this universe was made by one God alone, there’s a coherence to it. It’s not the result of a war between different gods or a chance occurrence with no intention behind it. There’s a purposefulness to this world. That shapes the way we engage with other people and understand ourselves and our purpose as well.

Another difference is that it is very clear in the Bible that nothing compelled God to create. He was not following some iron law of necessity; he was not bowing to some greater principle. As far as we can tell from the Scriptures, he made the world because he loves us, as strange as that may seem to modern ears. And that means that right at the heart and origin of the universe is not necessity or law but gift, grace, overflow, and superabundance. And if that’s how our universe began, then it’s a very different place to live in than a place governed by iron necessity and endless chains of causality. It affects the way that we live in modern society in all sorts of ways, some of which I tease out in the book. ...

What is your greatest hope for how developing a biblical critical theory can strengthen our posture and witness as believers?

I think it will, by God’s grace, equip and empower Christians to be shaped by biblical patterns and rhythms in the way we live, think, and engage with the world, rather than unthinkingly being shaped by the patterns and rhythms of late modern society. As Christians, we want to be people of the Book. We want to be people who love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and who love our neighbor as ourselves. In the terms of Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles in Babylon, we want to be people who work for the peace and prosperity of the city where God has put us. Yet all those things are incredibly hard if we have no sense of the distinctive patterns and rhythms of the Bible and how they might stand against—or in some cases even sit alongside—the patterns and rhythms of our society.

Christopher Watkin (Monash University; Google Scholar), Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture (2022) (foreword by Tim Keller):

A bold vision for Christians who want to engage the world in a way that is biblically faithful and culturally sensitive.

In Biblical Critical Theory, Christopher Watkin shows how the Bible and its unfolding story help us make sense of modern life and culture.

Critical theories exist to critique what we think we know about reality and the social, political, and cultural structures in which we live. In doing so, they make visible the values and beliefs of a culture in order to scrutinize and change them.

Biblical Critical Theory exposes and evaluates the often-hidden assumptions and concepts that shape late-modern society, examining them through the lens of the biblical story running from Genesis to Revelation, and asking urgent questions like:

Biblical Critical Theory:

• How does the Bible's storyline help us understand our society, our culture, and ourselves?
• How do specific doctrines help us engage thoughtfully in the philosophical, political, and social questions of our day?
• How can we analyze and critique culture and its alternative critical theories through Scripture?
• Informed by the biblical-theological structure of Saint Augustine's magisterial work >The City of God (and with extensive diagrams and practical tools), Biblical Critical Theoryshows how the patterns of the Bible's storyline can provide incisive, fresh, and nuanced ways of intervening in today's debates on everything from science, the arts, and politics to dignity, multiculturalism, and equality. You'll learn the moves to make and the tools to use in analyzing and engaging with all sorts of cultural artifacts and events in a way that is both biblically faithful and culturally relevant.

It is not enough for Christians to explain the Bible to the culture or cultures in which we live. We must also explain the culture in which we live within the framework and categories of the Bible, revealing how the whole of the Bible sheds light on the whole of life.

If Christians want to speak with a fresh, engaging, and dynamic voice in the marketplace of ideas today, we need to mine the unique treasures of the distinctive biblical storyline.

Tim Keller, Tim Keller on Biblical Critical Theory:

Like many others, I’ve read various forms of critical theory for decades. However, it’s only in the last couple of years that the term (under the heading “Critical Race Theory”) has burst into popular consciousness. What should Christians’ attitudes toward it be?

On the one hand, many denounce it as evil and toxic and say it should be shunned like a virus. On the other hand, some say, “Let’s learn from it but not swallow it whole.”

In Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture, Chris Watkin “diagonalizes” these alternatives—taking an approach that doesn’t ignore the concerns of either but that’s more radical than both. ...

My prayer is that Biblical Critical Theory will bear much intellectual and spiritual fruit in many lives over the decades ahead.

Praise for Biblical Critical Theory:

“An important update of Augustine’s City of God, a proposal for making biblical sense of what is happening in contemporary culture.”
—KEVIN J. VANHOOZER, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

“A seminal text for us . . . A foundation and frame for years to come. Absolutely essential reading.”
—DAN STRANGE, Crosslands Forum

“This is a magnificent achievement. It is a must-read . . . Here is a total defence and commendation of Christianity like no other. Buy it. Read it. Ponder it. Pass it on.”
—JOHN DICKSON, author and historian

“Biblical Critical Theory doesn’t just give us answers; it helps us to come up with better questions . . . An innovative and immensely fruitful paradigm.”
—MICHAEL HORTON, Westminster Seminary California

“[Chris Watkin] maps a path out of some of the most fundamental impasses of our time . . . Urgent and weighty, Biblical Critical Theory is . . . simply, a tremendously exciting read.”
—NATASHA MOORE, Centre for Public Christianity

“Incisive, accessible, and astonishing in scope . . . ”
—DOLORES G. MORRIS, University of South Florida

“This book is a must-read for all serious thinkers.”
—SAM CHAN, City Bible Forum

“A brilliant and unique book . . . It is the most biblical, up-to-date, and comprehensive analysis of contemporary Western culture that I know of.”
—JOSHUA CHATRAW, Center for Public Christianity

“This book is a feast. Chris Watkin accomplishes what few have.”
—WILLIAM EDGAR, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia

“An effervescently brilliant book, that rare volume that excels both in biblical and cultural exegesis.”
—BRUCE RILEY ASHFORD, Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology

“This is the best yet most accessible exploration of the intersection between Christianity, culture, and philosophy I’ve read in recent years.”
—NATHANIEL GRAY SUTANTO, Reformed Theological Seminary, Washington, DC

“A fresh way of seeing the world, life, culture, and the Bible . . . I highly recommend this book.”
—ALAN NOBLE, Oklahoma Baptist University

“Christopher Watkin’s expert, timely compendium of Christian Scripture’s subversive engagement of dominating themes of our modern age brings welcome healing to our world.”
—ESTHER LIGHTCAP MEEK, Geneva College

“ . . . An ambitious, comprehensive, and thrilling work of Christian apologetics . . . The most significant work of its kind to appear in a decade.”
—RORY SHINER, Providence City Church, Perth

“Every careful reader will be rewarded from repeated immersions in this profound and potentially transformative work.”
—TERENCE HALLIDAY, American Bar Foundation

“A wonderful book bringing the Scriptures—every part of them—into a deep and illuminating conversation with the concerns of culture.”
—GLEN SCRIVENER, Speak Life

“This is truly the book I have long wanted to read, and I believe it deserves to become a standard text for all Christian leaders, teachers, evangelists, and any serious-minded believer.”
—RICHARD CUNNINGHAM, Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship

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