Dr. Michael F. Bird is a bright, insightful New Testament scholar with quite the publications list, much of which is useful and helpful. I have been benefitted by his research in a number of areas, primarily in response to particular movements related to Christology, etc.
A few years ago I began to notice what seemed to be a leftward arc in Bird’s articles and public commentary. This could just be a reflection of underlying commitments that are older and did not come out in the kind of material I was reading, to be sure. But these days have provided a good bit of clarity on the views of many, haven’t they?
Yesterday Bird published an article on Patheos titled The Fundamentalist War on Wokeness is a War on Christian Love. It is not long, and I plan on reviewing it on the Dividing Line on Friday, Lord willing (and some huge events do not bump it between now and then). But for now I wish to point you to it. Why? Yesterday on the DL I mentioned that there seems to be a “bandwagon” mentality developing where condemning “woke ideology” is becoming a popular stance to take. Yet, I do not see as much development in the depth of the argumentation being presented. Many are just going along with the flow, so to speak. That can’t continue. So we should not be afraid to listen to what is being said.
With all that said, this is a really poor article. Why? Because it is based upon mere assertions without meaningful argumentation. It uses phrases that can be interpreted in multiple ways without definition. It ties together all sorts of topics and subjects without providing necessary connections. It is just poorly constructed, poorly argued, and just seems to hope that the targeted audience will just go along with the “argument from assertion.”
Of course, we need to feel for Dr. Bird. He is currently an inmate. Of Melbourne.
But give it a gander, sit back, maybe take some notes, and see if your conclusions line up with mine when we get a chance to review it on the DL later in the week.
