Q&A: Why this public theologian and author put up billboards on I-65 challenging the Bible

Middle Tennessee evangelical culture enveloped Zack Hunt during his younger years and now as an adult and author Hunt is trying to push that envelope.

Largely inspired by his experiences in Nashville area evangelical churches and schools, Hunt’s newest book, “Godbreathed,” challenges the notion of biblical inerrancy, or the belief the Bible is without error.

The book by itself is provocative, especially for an area that is home to influential Christian institutions, such as the Southern Baptist Convention, that are deeply committed to biblical inerrancy. But Hunt took it a step further when he purchased billboards along Interstate 65 to advertise the book.

Hunt’s billboards say: “It’s ok to admit when the Bible is wrong,” “You are not going to hell,” and “God didn’t write the Bible. People did.”

Hunt acknowledged his tactics are unconventional, but said his aim isn’t solely to get a rise out of conservative Christians.

“For me, it’s been encouraging, uplifting,” Hunt said. “My ultimate goal is that folks like myself who grew up in conservative evangelicalism and either implicitly or explicitly were forbidden from criticizing the Bible, and are asking questions about the Bible, can find the freedom to do that.”

Hunt grew up around the local Church of the Nazarene scene, attending Trevecca Nazarene University for his bachelor’s. He then pursued a Master of Arts in Religion degree at Yale University Divinity School before returning home to start a family and a life as a public theologian.

Often online, Hunt frequently comments on the intersection of religion and political and social issues in Tennessee. He sat down with The Tennessean to discuss his journey and how it led to his new book.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What is your criticism of biblical inerrancy?

Hunt: Inerrancy transforms the Bible into God incarnate. Whether intentionally or not, the Bible itself becomes divine. It becomes beyond questioning. When that happens, is we remove ourselves from the equation. So, the Bible is used as this weaponized proof text to control, oppress, marginalize, damn, and attack whoever we want. Even though they are interpreting, making the selection, they pretend the Bible is clear. ‘Your problem is not with me; this is just with God.’

In “Godbreathed,” you discuss your experience at Trevecca Nazarene University as being foundational to your work today. How so?

The first chapter of this book is an anecdote from my time at Trevecca. Like I’ve told my professors there: who I am and how I think, even though it diverges from things I think now, or I diverged from things that they profess, my radically inclusive theology. My biblical theology, my understanding of the Bible as an imperfect witness to the good news, all of that started at Trevecca. I feel like my theology and my practice are the natural conclusion of what started for me there.

Adding to that, you include in “Godbreathed” an anecdote from your time at Yale Divinity School when your professor posits, “What if the Bible is wrong?” Talk more about that experience.

It was like a bomb going off in my theological education. Because I had certainly considered whether the Bible is wrong about the creation account. I’m thinking about the Bible being wrong scientifically. But what he was saying was something wholly different. He was saying ‘what if the Bible is ethically, morally wrong? like teaching something that is wrong.’

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Do you see “Godbreathed” and the billboards as a type of subversive theology?

The subversiveness is intentional. When you live in the buckle of the Bible belt, you live amongst people who have grown up with the church and think they have it figured out. I feel like the message coming out of Nashville right now is dominated by our state legislature and folks like the Daily Wire who have ginned up white supremacy and bigotry and hate in the name of Jesus. If I can find some small way to offer an alternative message to our neighbors, even if it’s in the form of a billboard or a book, I wanted to do that.

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on Twitter @liamsadams.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville author Zack Hunt on new his book "Godbreathed" and billboards