The Chicago Tribune, March 6, 1998
NU PROFESSOR'S BIBLE LESSON: THERE ARE NO GOSPEL TRUTHS  (excerpt)
by Paul Galloway, Tribune Staff Writer.   
   ..."The dark side of monotheism endorses exclusivity and intolerance and
competition for scarce resources -- there aren't, for instance, enough
blessings for both Jacob and Esau. Community is imagined as `us against them,'
" she said. "The `Other' is the infidel, who's to be degraded and hated. This
is a vision that has been used to justify discrimination and genocide.
   "In the book, I emphasize that it's the interpretations that often cause
the trouble rather than the biblical narratives themselves," she said.
"Whoever's holding the reins of power in a community has the authority to
interpret these narratives authoritatively, and sometimes those
interpretations are incredibly deadly, sometimes they say, `Behold, there's
the infidel. Go murder them.' And the community acts."
   Over the years, of course, the infidels change. "Sometimes they are Jews,
sometimes blacks, sometimes Catholics or various sects of Protestantism,
sometimes gays," she said. "But the consequence of imagining that God wills or
endorses intolerance, hatred and violence is that it is very difficult to
challenge these views. Who dares question the will of God?
   "And that's the reason why it's important, even for secularists, to take
the Bible and its influence seriously and not be too confident that it has
been displaced by reason."...
   A primary influence, Schwartz said, has been on the way we think of
ourselves as members of a specific community or group -- one formed in
contrast to other groups.
   "Most of the pages of the Hebrew Bible are not filled with lessons in
piety, but with stories detailing the processes of forming collective
identities. Nationalism was coming into existence when the Bible was a best
seller in Europe and when Bible reading was the common practice, and these
narratives became a pattern for modern nations, most of which imagined
themselves as a new Israel. This was the case for England and France, as well
as for America."
   The tragedy, she believes, is failing to move beyond a vision of
exclusivity, although categorizing is sometimes beneficial. "Much has been
gained politically by digging in and claiming a distinctive identity," she
said. "But my fear is that there's an enormous cost, which is aggression and
suspicion and the antagonism that come from claiming a distinctive identity."
   ...In the end, she said, people read the Bible selectively: "If their
commitment is to generosity and charity, then they'll highlight the passages
that affirm this, and they'll either allegorize or bracket or explain away the
dark visions of intolerance and violence."...