The issue of racism has become a real hot potato and political football this year, and Dr. Douglas Campbell returns from the last episode to help us break through the fog of the bipartisan rhetoric that we are currently experiencing so that we can begin to better understand the belief systems that perpetuate our struggles to ensure equal justice and equal opportunity for all citizens. In the last episode of the podcast, we began to talk about something that both sides of the argument say that there is much too little of – that being freedom. We talked about what it is and what it is not, and, along the way, came across an interconnected question – what is justice, and what is not justice? Dr. Campbell continues to touch upon and explore these questions from a Biblical perspective.
As a reminder, Dr. Campbell is a professor at Duke Divinity School where he has become, since 2003, one of the most respected and innovative New Testament scholars in the world. He specializes in the history and theology of the Apostle Paul, having published five incredibly influential books that have changed the way we Christians understand Paul's writings and large portions of the New Testament itself, and he also directs Duke's Prison Studies program. His latest book is titled Pauline Dogmatics: The Triumph of God's Love, a truly interesting and helpful book that I can't recommend highly enough!
He continues to discuss freedom and what he calls in Pauline Dogmatics quasi-freedom, or phony freedom that often masks itself as actual freedom. He also touches upon freedom in relationships such as marriage, what it means to regard someone as a neighbor and how to do so even if that person is very different from us, and why Christians should be more inclusive and accepting of differences. He also offers some insight regarding what next steps we as Americans should take to move closer toward achieving our country, a topic touched upon in the last episode, and he points toward grounds for hope.
Dr. Campbell has taught us so about freedom, love, and justice and what they mean and don't mean from a Biblical perspective, and he has given us a great Biblical account of these values. In our next episode, we are going to pivot to build on this discussion of love, justice, and freedom but will be applying these values to a discussion of our criminal justice processes. Returning guest Dr. Derek Woodard-Lehman will discuss what he has learned about this topic from teaching a course about it from a Christian ethics perspective. I hope that you'll join us, and be sure to invite your friends to listen in as well!
Show Notes:
[3:53] – Dr. Campbell helps us understand how some people misunderstand what real freedom is.
[6:02] – Dr. Campbell gives an example of freedom in relationships.
[8:52] – Dr. Campbell discusses the freedom of obedience.
[10:04] – We receive an example of freedom around the world in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and being asked to wear masks.
[12:02] – Dr. Uffman and Dr. Campbell return the conversation toward marriage in connection to Biblical freedom.
[15:02] – Dr. Uffman offers some summarizing insight on Dr. Campbell's discussion of freedom thus far.
[17:18] – Dr. Uffman shifts the conversation toward Dr. Campbell's discussion of structures in his book, Pauline Dogmatics.
[19:09] – Dr. Campbell reveals how he would respond to someone saying that they should have the freedom to choose who their neighbor is.
[21:40] – We learn how to regard people who are different from us as neighbors as Dr. Campbell encourages us to stop seeing people under categories but rather networks.
[24:45] – Dr. Campbell reflects on the Civil Rights Movement and how it was driven by deep friendships.
[26:05] – Dr. Campbell comments on how the military understands forming bonds over shared struggle.
[28:13] – Differences, Dr. Campbell asserts, create possibilities for new things to be learned.
[31:22] – Dr. Uffman directs the conversation toward the hierarchies of human value and Othering and what Dr. Campbell says about these topics in Pauline Dogmatics.
[32:16] – Dr. Campbell offers more insight regarding how God is at work in all of humanity.
[35:12] – We hear Dr. Campbell make an analogy between substance abusers and sinners.
[38:12] – Far too many people think that their problem is other people rather than themselves.
[40:22] – Dr. Uffman compares our differences to playing different notes in a symphony, with God being the conductor.
[41:27] – Paul wanted to foster the diversity within the communities that he founded, who were not strictly Christians.
[43:40] – We learn what next steps Americans should take to achieve our country, explaining how to put peace into action rather than just theory.
[45:56] – Dr. Campbell points toward grounds for hope and signs that peace is possible.
Links and Resources:
Duke Divinity School - Our Faculty: Douglas Campbell
Douglas Campbell – Pauline Dogmatics: The Triumph of God's Love
Connect with Dr. Craig Uffman:
The Way of Love Facebook Twitter Craig Uffman’s Messages Along the Way