Let’s talk biblical #FamilyValues. Criticisms of BLM as anti-family are trending. They misread its website and exemplify the hysteria tactic of associating BLM with anything that can be sold as anti-Christianity. So what does the Bible say and why does that really matter? 1/

Biblical writings do not contain one unified idea about the family, and contemporary white assumptions about nuclear families are entirely foreign to them. Biblical writers tend to assume male-dominated households as norm, even when critiquing some kinds of households 2/

Like other ancient writers (e.g., see Plutarch’s Advice to Bride and Groom), biblical authors sometimes presume that slaves are part of this family, and are sexually available to the husband or master. Try reading the narratives of Genesis! 3/ https://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Early-Christianity-Jennifer-Glancy/dp/0800637895

Families and marriage could also include wives who were examples of genocidal kidnapping and sexual assault of defeated enemies (Deut 21:10-14). 4/ https://muse.jhu.edu/article/616341 

Don’t be gaslit by apologists who claim Deut 21:14 shows benevolence and women’s rights since she could leave. What do you think happens to a woman whose city, family, and support structures were literally destroyed when she leaves her rapist’s ‘protection’? 5/

What about marriage? Surely ‘the Biblical or Christian view of marriage’ is purely positive with the purpose of people having children and contributing to the longterm stability of society, just like the Focus On The Family website says?! 6/

The earliest discussion of marriage in a writing about Jesus is 1 Corinthians 7. Try an exercise my students do each semester. Read 1 Cor 7 and ask A) is marriage encouraged, B) what is the purpose of marriage, and C) what does it say about raising kids? 7/

Answers: A) No, marriage is tolerated, but celibacy is ideal, B) to master your desires through using marital sex to control or exterminate them, C) basically nothing. 8/

So according to Paul, marriage is a technology for (morally) weaker Christ followers to master their passions, not for ‘raising Christian children’ – and longterm societal considerations are irrelevant since the world is ending (7:26, 29, 31) 9/

The writer of Revelation envisioned heaven as a city (Rev 21-22) populated by 144,000 men who stayed celibate (14:1-5) and who will smell the body of a burning woman for all eternity (19:2-3). Not exactly pro-family! 10/

The dude who wrote Revelation hated Paul, by the way. So this demoting of marriage and family was shared across at least some competing Jesus teachers from early on. 11/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/3657415?seq=1

Ever study New Testament sayings attributed to Jesus about family? In Mark 3:31-35 (and parallels in Matt/Luke) Jesus rejects the idea that his nuclear family is ultimate. Whom does he say are his mothers and brothers? Sounds a lot like BLM. Oops. 12/

There is an entire field of study about Early Christianity, ‘asceticism,’ and the common promotion of celibacy over marriage (sometimes rejecting of marriage; Revelation, Acts of Paul and Thecla, Acts of Thomas, etc). These were not fringe views. 13/

Interestingly, one of the earliest Christian leaders to urge a view of marriage that put it on equal footing with celibacy was a 4th century monk, Jovinian. Oh, and he was condemned as a heretic by the pope for it! 14/

Yes plenty of biblical writings encourage patriarchal marriage and households, especially some forgeries in Paul’s name (e.g., Eph, Col, and Pastoral Epistles). But they are one collection of voices among many. 15/

These basic historical points (which are common in Intro to New Testament or Christianity undergrad courses) are just the beginning of disrupting the idea that the nuclear family is simply natural, obvious, and THE Christian or biblical ideal. 16/

My point is not that marriage and nuclear families are only EVIL always. Far from it. They are often arenas of incredible love and support. This is awesome, an aspiration for anyone living in nuclear families, and what many Christians think they mean by being pro-family 17/

But there is a history to dominant ideas about marriage and family in our society. Much of that history is also violent and exploitative to women, people of color, and children. And such history been erased by those who urge biblical Family Values to silence calls for justice /18

It should be clear by now that common ways of assuming the nuclear-family as an unqualified good for people and society mask the incredible suffering and violence it can inflict on women, children, and non-dominant men 19/ https://shiloh-project.group.shef.ac.uk/a-closer-look-at-biblical-marriage/

Criticisms of BLM that label it anti-family, anti-Christian, and thus bad for society not only distort history, but erase the voices of those who suffer in favor of white Christian patriarchal fantasies that are comfortable for them. White Christian feelings over black lives! 20/

This was never about truth or the health of people and society, but about power: White Christian nationalists promoting special rights and protections for them to dominate society and erase those who suffer. Talk about Cancel Culture! /Thread