It is hard to imagine a time when over 300 Christian theologians have been able to stand together and agree on anything, let alone a strongly worded passionate document of nearly 2,000 words.
But that is what happened in Boston yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature, the largest annual gathering of religious scholars and leaders in the US.
Clearly, the context in which this forceful declaration has emerged is the social and political unrest currently seething in the United States of America. Specifically, behind the statement it is not hard to detect the authors’ distaste for much of what passes as “Christianity” in the evangelical world of today.
But the challenge of “The Boston Declaration” is a sobering call to Christians of all stripes, denominations, and nationalities. This is not about someone else. The challenge of these words is intended to be a mirror held up to the face of all Christians, offering us an opportunity for deep self-examination, self-awareness and honesty. “The Boston Declaration” will have missed the mark if it becomes only another opportunity for pointing the finger at those who are different than the signatories to this document.
“The Boston Declaration” seeks to move beyond a Gospel that is defined by the appearance of difference and reaches for a proclamation that takes joy in the common journey of our shared humanity. The authors hold up a powerful vision of the inclusive, embracing love of a gracious and merciful God that they see embodied in the person of Jesus and seek to manifest in their own lives by following “the Jesus Way” and challenges the reader to live this radical vision of welcome in relation to all people:
We believe in a God who holds all difference within God’s own life and in whom there is no one or no people who are distant from God’s justice, merciful love, and presence (Micah 6:8; Acts 10:34-35). We affirm the beauty and humanity of all people in their manifold difference–race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and religion–as reflecting God’s image through lives of love and hope. We believe the Jesus Way calls us to the possibility of living in a world where all can love and be loved, and live into joy.
https://thebostondeclaration.com/blog/2017/11/18/the-boston-declaration
“The Boston Declaration” raises up an alternative vision to much of what passes as Christianity in our culture. It should be read and pondered in its entirety. The declaration is clearly aimed at the politics and religious world of the United States at this time. But much of the statement applies equally to the church throughout the world.
I was particularly struck by the searching litany of attitudes and actions the declaration specifically chose to denounce. Sometimes it is important to acknowledge that being for something carries a commitment to being against something as well.
“The Boston Declaration” calls the church to repent of the times we have failed to fully embody those things the Gospel commits us to be for. But it also challenges us to acknowledge those ways in which we have failed to live boldly in opposition to those things which the Gospel commits us to being against.
Politically and theologically there may be disagreement over aspects of this declaration. But, we should not allow these disagreements to cause us to fail to hear the call to genuine self-examination and deep honesty the document embodies. In many ways we have all strayed from the strong way Jesus calls us to live. We have fallen short of the noble light of truth in Jesus’ teaching. We need to repent and seek to return to the luminous vision of love and compassion that is the call of Jesus.
Here is an edited version of what seem to me to be the most universally applicable anti-gospel attitudes that “The Boston Declaration” renounces:
We reject the false ideology of empire building and the myth of racial laziness and substance abuse …
We reject the false ideology that peace is achieved through military strength and that violence is the necessary foundation for freedom, safety, or security….
…
We reject the false ideology of white normalcy and bigotry. We reject the false identification that exclusively binds whiteness with Christianity… We reject anti-Semitism…
We reject the patriarchal and misogynistic legacies that subject women to continual violence, violation, and exclusion. We stand strongly against sexual abuse and harassment in the highest offices of power.
We reject violations against the Earth, especially the stripping of her resources and polluting that harms her and the creatures that inhabit her soil and seas.
We reject economic policies that are grounded in an illusion of extreme individualism and favor the accumulation of wealth for a few to the detriment of the many.
We reject Islamophobia and anti-Muslim bigotry.
We reject homophobia and transphobia and all violence against the LGBTQ community.
We reject all anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies that fail to recognize the contributions of immigrants who have come from every corner of the world to strengthen the fabric of this nation—culturally, economically and spiritually.
These rejections embody a fundamental Christian call to build communities in which differences are embraced and celebrated. It is a vision of community in which gentleness prevails and openness, listening, and compassion are foundational values. In the face of so much that passes as Christianity today, this bracing corrective offers a compelling alternative vision for followers of “the Jesus Way.”
In A Spacious Place 
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November 21, 2017 at 8:10 am
Gillian
It’s a very good step. . . it’s positive . . and important. But it’s also tragic that only 300 out of a conference of 10,000 delegates felt able to sign in agreement to that Declaration.
November 21, 2017 at 8:22 am
Christopher Page
…. I intentionally left out the detail of 10,000, partly because I find it almost impossible to believe… seriously, is that total membership, or actual attendance at the conference? What could a conference of 10,000 possibly look like? Are there really 10,000 scholars and theologians in the US wanting to attend this conference every year!? But I also left it out because if in fact 9,700 scholars were given the opportunity to sign this and refused, my happy little bubble of illusion has been burst for the day.
November 21, 2017 at 8:49 am
Gillian
yup. sigh . . . sorry, my friend . . =:) I think that bubble is burst:
https://www.aarweb.org/annual-meeting
“The 2017 Annual Meetings in Boston, Massachusetts, November 18–21, hosted by the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature, is the world’s largest gathering of scholars interested in the study of religion. Academic sessions, workshops, meetings, receptions, and tours … more than 1,000 events take place during the Annual Meetings. The Annual Meetings Employment Center provides job seekers and employers a convenient, private setting for interviews. The Annual Meetings Exhibit Hall, with more than 130 publishers exhibiting, is the best place to review the latest publications within the field. The Annual Meetings offers unparalleled opportunities to engage with leading scholars and scholarship within the field of religion. Register this spring to receive the best attendee rate and hotel selection, and join some 10,000 attendees who are expected to attend the 2017 Annual Meetings!”
November 21, 2017 at 9:16 am
jaqueline
Now imagine a history of Christianity of this era told 70 years from now which never mentions these 300 theologians and only talks about the 9,700 scholars, and how they just stood by and said nothing while Evangelicalism supported the Trump regime .
Can you imagine how it might be for these 300 with their outspokenness, witness and bravery was forgotten? Do they deserve to be forgotten or not heard because their numbers were small?
November 21, 2017 at 8:36 pm
Adela Torchia
I was privileged to attend AAR/SBL meetings for a few years, and as Gillian explains below there are many, many things going on all at once. This Boston Declaration was probably not seen by the vast majority in attendance. Instead it was likely presented within a particular context and venue. All this to say that it’s NOT at all the case that 9700 people rejected it. They were probably doing other things in this humongous annual global meeting. Chances are that not many more than 300 even became aware of the declaration.
November 21, 2017 at 9:09 am
jaqueline
My comment refers to the Huffpost article that informed us of this declaration.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/repent-and-believe-in-the-gospel-over-300-christian_us_5a13384fe4b08b00ba6732d2
“When we have torch bearing…..it is time to confront this kind of Nazism with the historical courage of those who confronted the Nazis in the 1930s in Germany.”
I can’t help think, really? It took “torch carrying right-wing radicals marching around … yelling “blood and soil!” and “Jews will not replace us!”” to figure out it was time to speak up?
I am wondering why these theologians and other Christian leaders did not speak up years ago. Perhaps they must not have seen this coming.
Heck, did no-one but those who watch the 700 Club notice Kenneth Copeland declare with Pat Robinson that fundamentalist Evangelicals are “just like ISIS?”
“…it is time to confront this kind of Nazism with the historical courage of those who confronted the Nazis in the 1930s in Germany.” I can’t help but think that if only those Germans had been listened to Christians might have been prepared or spoken up sooner.
( I am wondering, even with all your reading about the Nazi era, did you see this coming ten years ago, Christopher? )
But sadly, the stories of German resistance have been obscured and negated by the victor narrative and the victim narrative which have had exclusive influence on how our culture- particularly American culture- understands the Nazi era. Those narratives being told -sometimes separately sometimes together- portray Germans as nothing but bystanders or perpetrators. The fact that other Germans besides Jews were also victims of the Nazis or also gave their lives to save whom they could and resist the regime is largely unknown.
Without the knowledge of what happened to Germans who do not fit in with the bystander and perpetrator stereotypes, most people today have an inadequate history to learn from. Our culture was made blind and deaf to the people from whom we could have learned best to ensure this happen “never again.”
November 21, 2017 at 9:20 am
M+
A powerful and informative blog post. I felt compelled to forward it to Christian friends in the US. Thank you.