It strikes me that both the SBTS statement & #GC2Summit (while steps forward) are haunted by the myth of evangelical exceptionalism. Everything changed for me when I realized evangelical theology is itself a product of culture, not some pure & unimpeachable exception to it.
The myth of evangelical exceptionalism often keeps evangelicals from seriously interrogating their own theology & culture, even when its fruit turns out rotten. We could acknowledge our individual sins, but we didn’t have cultural/systemic sins like “the world” or “the lost.”
It’s easy to say, “our predecessors abused the Bible to support slavery.” It’s much harder to examine the hermeneutics of the slaveholders and confront the fact that some of the same interpretative practices are being used to marginalize people today.
Of course this thinking is not limited to the evangelical tradition. We’re all drawn to stories that reinforce our beliefs/ideas/assumptions. I know I am. But just being aware of that impulse can keep us from making idols of our ideology.
One last thought: One of the more damaging aspects of evangelical exceptionalism is the refusal to learn anything from other traditions or from secular academia/activism. So all the best work on gender, sexuality, race, history, & justice is discounted as coming from “the world.”
