Roger Williams, Religious Liberty, and the Wheat and Tares Parable (I)

Roger Williams

“And your money says ‘In God we trust”

But it’s against the law to pray in school . . . .

Larry Norman, “The Great American Novel” (1972)

“The Governor shall annually proclaim the last Wednesday in September as A Day of Prayer for Kentucky's Students and shall call upon the citizens of the state, in accordance with their own faith and consciences, to pray, meditate, or otherwise reflect upon the students of this state as well as their teachers, administrators, and schools.”

Kentucky General Assembly House Bill 40

Debates about religious liberty, separation of church and state, prayers in public schools, and the government proclaiming "Days of Prayer" are recurring, including bills introduced in various state houses about "sharia law" and "Days of Prayer" for a number of different reasons.

Such debates almost always begin with citing Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, so I thought it would be good to revisit this issue and explain again that the "wall of separation" language was first used in colonial America by the minister Roger Williams, and he use the parable of the wheat and tares (wheat and weeds) to argue his case.

A common misperception is that it is against the law to pray in school or that saying “Merry Christmas” in school is another casualty in the supposed “War on Christmas.” Neither is true. As the old saying goes, “as long as there are math tests, there will be prayer in schools.” Private, nonintrusive expressions of religion are protected under the First Amendment, so students can pray or meditate in private at any time.

The 1962 Supreme Court Engel v. Vitale 8-1 decision found that school-sponsored prayer violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .) means that students can pray in school anytime they want individually or in groups (a “free exercise of religion”), as long as they do so voluntarily and without disrupting others, but prayers in public schools must not be state sanctioned, sponsored, or mandated (“an establishment of religion”). As Valerie Strauss notes in The Washington Post’s “Answer Sheet”:

Schools are forbidden from initiating or sponsoring religious activities, including prayer, but religious groups are permitted to meet on school grounds after school, and students can pray to whatever or whomever they want at any time of day, as long as they do it privately and don’t try to force others to do the same. Religion can (and should) be a class subject — but not proselytized — in public schools, sacred music can be played in schools under certain circumstances, and schools can’t bar teachers or students from saying “Merry Christmas” to each other.

In 1976, Kentucky enacted a law sanctioning a specific prayer in schools—a “voluntary” reciting of “the traditional Lord’s Prayer” that it claims (unironically) is a history lesson about “the freedom of religion symbolized by the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer.” The bill recently passed by the Kentucky House, though (see above), is less controversial since it does not sanction prayer by students in public schools; it instead would mandate a state day of prayer for schools, students, teachers, and administrators.

In debates about school-sponsored prayer and religious liberty, the most often cited historical reference is Thomas Jefferson’s famous “building a wall of separation between church and state” declaration in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists. 

Three notable things, however, are often overlooked about that letter, and I will turn to those three things in my next post (it will include the Roger Williams's reception of the wheat and tares parable).

New Book on the Parables in Production!

Dr. Howard Thurman

I have mentioned this possibility a couple of times over the past year or so, but I am delighted to announce that a new book that I co-edited with my friend Kipton Jensen, a professor at Morehouse College, is now in production by Orbis Books.

The book is another (like The Parables after Jesus) reception history project on the parables, but this one focuses specifically on Howard Thurman and the parables of Jesus: Sermons on the Parables by Howard Thurman.

Dr. Thurman is perhaps best known as a mentor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but Thurman’s importance goes well beyond his influence on King and others in the civil rights movement. Thurman played a vital role in laying the spiritual foundation for the early civil rights movement in the United States (including being one of the first ones to meet with Mahatma Gandhi and to include Gandhi's insights into his theology/philosophy).

The book contains fifteen sermons of Thurman on the parables of Jesus. Fourteen of them have never been published before. We transcribed these sermons from audios housed in Pitts Theology Library of Emory University.

Kipton and I also wrote an Introduction and Conclusion to the volume, as well as introductions to all fifteen sermons. The book also will provide links to online audios of the sermons so that readers of the book can also listen to Thurman's powerful sermons for themselves.

It was an exciting and meaningful project, truly a labor of love. As one sign of our gratitude to Howard Thurman and his family, Kipton and I are donating all royalties generated by the book to the Howard Thurman Educational Trust at Morehouse College.

It also was an honor to work with Orbis Books, a publisher that I have admired for all of my career. Kipton and I are delighted that Robert Ellsberg of Orbis saw the importance of Thurman's contributions and decided to support and publish this project.

In other news, I also have two other projects on the parables forthcoming (one book chapter and another book) that I will announce in the near future.

“Now the Work of Christmas Begins.”

My favorite Christmas poem is one by Howard Thurman, “Now the Work of Christmas Begins.” 

Thurman's  poem succinctly describes our responsibility to participate actively in the work that began after “the song of the angels” ended and continues until there is “music in the heart” of all people:

When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.[1]

---

[1] Thurman, The Mood of Christmas and Other Celebrations (Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 1985), 23.

Answers to some questions from Paul Moldovan about the parables of Jesus

I was delighted to answer a few questions from Paul Moldovan about the parables of Jesus. Paul is an Masters of Divinity student at George Fox University (and a student of Dr. Nijay Gupta).

Here is the link to the entry in which I answer all seven questions. 

My answer to the first question is below:

David Gowler on Understanding the Parables

I had the honor of asking David Gowler (the Pierce Chair of Religion and the director of the Pierce Program of Religion at Oxford College of Emory University) a few questions regarding the parables and how the modern reader can better understand them.

Enjoy!

What can we in the modern world compare a parable to, if anything?

David: What is parabolic, in many ways, exists in the eyes and/or ears of the beholder. Perhaps if I place the parable into its ancient context, that will help clarify things.

The Greek term for parable (parabolê) typically is used to translate the Hebrew term mashal (plural: meshalim). Mashal is extremely difficult to define, but a central aspect of its meaning is “to represent” or “to be like,” and it refers to a wide range of literary forms that utilize figurative language. The Hebrew Bible tends to use mashal for whatever is “proverb-like,” with hidden or allusive truth, which means that responses of readers or hearers are essential to the process of creating understanding (assuming they understand the analogy being made). Yet the meshalim of the Hebrew Bible do not offer any definitive examples of parables like the ones Jesus created. The Hebrew Bible does contain some fables, such as Jotham’s mashal of the Trees (Judges 9:7–15), Jehoash’s mashal of the Thistle (2 Kings 14:9), and Ezekiel’s mashal of the Vine and the Eagles (Ezekiel 17:3–10), but no Hebrew Bible mashal serves as a direct parallel to the New Testament’s use of parable as a short narrative. Isaiah’s mashal of the Vineyard (Isaiah 5:1–6) might qualify as an allegorizing parable, but of all the meshalim in the Hebrew Bible, the closest we come to a narrative parable is Nathan’s mashal of the Poor Man’s Only Lamb (2 Samuel 12:1–4).

Parables play a prominent role in later Jewish literature, such as in rabbinic traditions, where the rabbis used them for preaching, interpreting Scripture, and providing guidance for daily lives. I like David Stern’s definition of the rabbinic parable as “an allusive narrative told for an ulterior purpose”—usually to praise or disparage a specific situation of the speaker/author and hearer/reader. It draws a series of parallels between the story recounted in the narrative and the “actual situation” to which the parable is directed. These parallels, however, are not drawn explicitly; the audience is left to derive them for themselves, which, again, can be confusing if the analogy/parallel is not clear enough. So the parable is neither a simple tale with a transparent lesson nor an opaque story with a secret message; it is a narrative that actively elicits from its audience the interpretation and application of its message. The social context, then, clarifies the parable by giving the audience the information they need to understand it, and, if the readers do not understand the social context, the parable can also be hard to understand (see the answer to question #3 below).

In Greco-Roman traditions, the parable is similar if not the same as the ancient fable, and rhetorical treatises can help explain what they are and how they work. The mention of Greek fables usually conjures up visions of stories with talking animals that illustrate a simple moral. Yet, in antiquity, the term fable denoted several kinds of brief narratives, but the one that serves as the best example is Aelius Theon’s definition of the fable as “a fictitious story picturing a truth.” The realistic portrayals in Aesop’s fables, for example, are similar to the parables of Jesus. Mary Ann Beavis points out that both are brief narratives that shed light on aspects of human experience and behavior, that usually involve ordinary human characters and situations—like quarreling siblings who are corrected by a loving father—and that, despite their realism, often contain an element of extravagance or surprise. Most fables, like the parables of Jesus, illustrate religious and ethical themes but do not have miraculous interventions (only two of Jesus’ parables have direct supernatural interventions: Luke 12:13–21; 16:19–31). Some fables also include a surprising or ironic element of reversal that is reminiscent of Jesus’ parables.

So, I hope that historical context explains the variety and flexibility of what could be considered a parable today.

Another Review of The Parables after Jesus

Many thanks to Ben Brown, a former student and now colleague at Oxford/Emory, who found the following review of The Parables after Jesus online and sent me the link.

The review is by Phillip J. Long and was posted on his blog, "Reading Acts." The review may be found here, so I will copy/paste only the first and last paragraphs:

Book Review: David B. Gowler, The Parables after Jesus

October 3, 2017 in Book Reviews, Parables | Tags: Book Review, Gospels, Jesus, Parables

Gowler, David B. The Parables after Jesus: Their Imaginative Receptions across Two Millennia. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2017. 320 pp.; Pb.; $29.99. Link to Baker   

David Gowler’s earlier book on the parables, What Are They Saying about the Parables? (Paulist Press, 2000) was a handy guide to the various approaches to the parables in scholarship. This new volume from Baker Academic extends that project by studying how scholars, pastors, preachers, philosophers and artists have understood Jesus’s parables. This book is a reception history, although it ranges broadly in both chronology and disciplines.

. . . .

Conclusion. This book is a joy to read, a book I would recommend one reads the book slowly. In many cases the examples are obscure and it will reward the reader to look up a few names in an encyclopedia or dictionary in order to place the section in a proper historical context. Gowler demonstrates an amazing range of scholarship, equally at home in patristics as in the Reformation, in both medieval and contemporary art. By including such a wide range of voices readers will be challenged by the diversity of responses to the parables of Jesus.

NB: Thanks to Baker for kindly providing me with a review copy of this book. This did not influence my thoughts regarding the work.


Many thanks to Phillip for his review of the work and including it on his blog.

Phillip was also kind enough to refer to this blog as the "seed-bed" (in addition to his reference to two of my books on the parables) of many parts of the book, so please, if you haven't already, go check out his blog as well.

I will be speaking at "The Prodigal: A Curated Experience of Art and Scripture" in Edmonton

For those readers who are near enough to Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), I am delighted to announce that I will be giving three lectures at what looks like will be an outstanding conference on the parable of the Prodigal Son.

The conference is sponsored by the E. P. Wahl Centre of Taylor Seminary on September 29-30, 2017. You can check out the program here.

Friday night I will begin with a short lecture: “Why Reception History?”

Saturday I will give two lectures, parts one and two of: “What do Parables Want?: The Afterlives of the Two Brothers in the Prodigal Son as a Test Case.”

In addition to all the other interesting lectures and discussions on the prodigal son's text, cultural context, and reception, there will be over twenty original works of Prodigal-themed art on display created just for this conferences.

The conference will conclude with a first-century-style feast that includes a fatted calf (to welcome all the attending prodigals home?).

I am grateful to Tim Willson--the Director of Communications and Marketing for Taylor Seminary and the E P Wahl Centre, and curator of the onWORD Conference--for inviting me to speak at this year's conference. I am really looking forward to it.

Review of James Through the Centuries

Although my book, James Through the Centuries, is about the Epistle of James and not the parables, I thought I should share excerpts of a recent review of the book, since it is about reception history.

This review, by R. Alan Culpepper, appeared in the Society of Biblical Literature's Review of Biblical Literature in July 2017.

RBL is available only by subscription at here, so I am only able to post "fair use" sections of it on this blog. I will include only the introduction and the conclusion of the review:

The aim of the Wiley Blackwell Bible Commentaries, according to the series preface, is to provide convenient access to the reception history of the Bible, book by book and chapter by chapter. The commentaries gather readings of the biblical text from the history of scholarship but also from such diverse sources as, to quote John Kloppenborg’s endorsement [of Gowler’s book] on the back cover of the volume, “the history of icons, mediaeval woodcuts and other representations, … monastic rules, hymnody, literature, political polemics, and much more.” Readers are therefore given an overview of the influence of the Bible on Western culture . . . .
 

David Gowler has taken this commission and carried it out in a breathtaking fashion as he has gathered and summarized readings of James “through the centuries.” For each section of the letter, Gowler addresses first the “Ancient Literary Context” and then “The Interpretations,” which generally follow a roughly chronological order: “Ancient and Medieval” followed by “Early Modern and Modern.” Gowler also makes explicit his ambitious hermeneutic. Appealing to Mikhail Bakhtin’s dialogism, the principle that truth is not to be found in the understanding of an individual person but is the product of dialogic interaction in the collective search for truth, Gowler contends that the “meaning” of the Epistle of James “does not reside alone in the creative genius of its author; it exists in a relation between creator and contemplators” (4). In other words, it exists not in the text alone but in the readings and rereadings of the text through the centuries, in the dialogue of readers with the text and with each other. Interpreters therefore participate in the meaning of the Epistle. Accordingly, “voices that are sometimes silenced or marginalized receive a fair and equal hearing” (8). One of the collateral benefits of this approach is that “it makes explicit what in reality is inherent but usually implicit—that our own interpretations are incomplete without a dialogic response to the responses of those interpreters who have preceded us” (5) and whose readings have shaped our own. 

. . . .

[Gowler’s] James through the Centuries treats readers to a symphony of readings drawn from many generations and cultures, while pioneering an expansive understanding of the task of interpretation and showcasing important as well as marginalized and novel interpretations. The sheer effort involved in this research and the access it gives to such a wide range of resources insure that Gowler’s work will continue to be a part of the dialogue about James for years to come.