Pete Wehner on Pete Hegseth, Iran, and Dangerous Biblical Interpretation

Are Violent Bible Passages Being Used to Justify War?

Pete Wehner, former White House official and writer for The Atlantic, joins Curtis Chang to examine how violent Old Testament “holy war” texts are being invoked in today’s political and cultural debates, including by Pete Hegseth and voices tied to the Trump administration. Pete and Curtis explore the war in Iran, Bible interpretation, the character of God, and why Christians must read troubling Bible passages through the lens of Jesus and the cross before making life-and-death moral judgments.

02:37 – Holy War Texts and Public Policy

03:37 – Pete Hegseth and the Invocation of Holy War

08:32 – The Real-World Consequences of Misreading Scripture

17:21 – Wrestling with Disturbing Texts

22:28 – The Necessity of Disturbance and Christocentric Reading

31:07 – What Is the Historical Role of Allegorical Interpretation?

35:17 – Jewish and Rabbinic Traditions of Wrestling with Text

37:21 – Tim Keller: Christ’s Character as Interpretive Key

42:58 – The Importance of Literary Reasoning

46:37 – Literal but Time-Specific Commands

52:15 – A Warning Against Overconfidence

54:04 – Debating for Truth, Not Victory

56:09 – The Real-World and Personal Stakes of Biblical Interpretation

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Mentioned In This Episode:

• Pete Wehner’s article Pete Hegseth’s Moral Unseriousness
• Understanding Pete Hegseth’s connection to Douglas Wilson: What is CREC and how does it shape Pete Hegseth’s religious rhetoric?
• President George W. Bush’s National Cathedral Speech
• What is the Christian Reconstructionist Movement?
• What is Just War Theory?
• Gregory A. Boyd’s The Crucifixion of the Warrior God, Vol. 1 & 2
• Gregory A Boyd’s Cross Vision: How the Crucifixion of Jesus Makes Sense of Old Testament Violence
• Tremper Longman’s The Old Testament as Literature: Foundations for Christian Interpretation
• More about C.S. Lewis & Owen Barfield

More from Pete Wehner:

• Pete Wehner’s articles at The Atlantic
• Pete Wehner’s opinion pieces at The New York Times

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