Critical Theory

One of the most influential areas of study in my life is critical theory. Critical theory is the study of applying critical thinking to every aspect of our lives. Mostly, I've studied critical theory in its aplication to education and politics. I have also delved into areas of cultural criticism as applied to movies and books. Beyond that, I've utilized my knowledge and experiences in critical theory and applied it to religion, particularly Christianity and the Holy Bible. It has caused some problems.

I have been kicked out of a Baptist church for expressing my beliefs about The Holy Bible. One of my beliefs that got me in trouble is that the Holy Bible is fallible and subject to criticism. For whatever reasons, many Christians believe the Holy Bible is the "word of God," and according to many Christians, infallible, that it is perfect and that God spoke to/through the authors. As many people are aware or becoming aware, the Chrisitian Bible, while containing many wise and valuable truths, was corrupted by the Roman emporer who in 325 C.E. assembled a council in Nicea to decide which books or Gospels about Jesus would be included in the New Testament. Many gospels were excluded, particularly the gospels found in Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945.

In light of these discoveries and revelations about other gospels, I have come to consider the Holy Bible as one book about the search for truth. Indeed, in many passages of the Bible, if one substitutes the word "truth" for "God" the Bible takes on a whole new meaning. It is those nuggets of truth that must be extracted from the other stories in the Bible, the stories about genocide, slavery and women being treated poorly or ignored.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, the light." In the Nag Hammadi gospels, like the Gospel of Thomas, we hear of a slightly different Jesus, a Jesus who preaches about a mysterious truth that is both hidden from us and right before our eyes. Jesus' paradoxical truth was the message of love: love one another and we will have heaven on earth. No one can deny the wisdom in that statement, especially in a time when humans have within their power nuclear weapons that could annihilate the planet.

Loving one another is no mystery. The real mystery is why we can't see how important, how paramount our loving each other is to the survival of our species and other species on this tiny lifeboat called earth. Cornell West says our politicians are nihilists, with few exceptions (maybe Al Gore is breaking away from Nihilist thinking). They want to destroy our planet, exploit it for every possible dollar, then what? Move on to the next one? And like the poor Irish immigrants on the lower decks of the Titannic, most of us too poor to get a seat on the life boat, we'll go down with the ship.

It is critical theory that taught me to sort through the Holy Bible, it's genocides and slavery, it's heirarchies of power and social controls to see Jesus' Holy light shine through, as the truths we should glean for humanity's sake.

Peace,
Saty