I have been privileged these past two months to be on sabbatical leave (with July making up the third month of the allotted three months). These two months have actually seemed like a long time (rather than "flown by") and a long time is a good time when seeking some "r and r" from everyday working life.
A long time is also a good time when seeking some uncluttered-mind-space for some writing, which has been the focus of the "study" part of the sabbatical. I cannot tell you how many words I have written (because some writing has been re-writing some writing accomplished during two previous sabbaticals, and some writing has been re-writing what I have written - judged myself to be rather poor and in desparate need of improvement - along with a bunch of new words). Suffice to say, there are now about 100k words washing around in a folder on my laptop. I also should say, for any wonderful but far too eager supporters looking for imminent publication, that while I have perhaps 90% of sheer quantity of words written, the quality estimate is around 60%, so I envisage a lot more work before I have a draft to share with a few trusted friends for comment, and then - hopefully - with a publisher. The book is on interpreting the Bible. Yes, I know this has been done before, and by others. Needless to say, my book will be the last book on the subject you will ever feel the need to read ... :).
Here I share a few thoughts from my work over these past months, though with a certain constraint because I don't want to give away key ideas to another scholar working in a similar way. I have already come across a 2025 book a bit too like mine for my comfort!!
1. The Bible is a very complex book. More complex, to my mind, after forays into some of its nooks and crannies, than I have ever previously realised.
2. In the long run, despite many, many hermeneutical (interpretational) disputes, the church does get things right, eventually. The stand out example is slavery. We have interpreted the Bible correctly on this issue (that is, understood that though the Bible itself tolerates slavery, its overall message re human dignity means slavery has had to end). It only took about 1800 years.
3. Related question: could we have arrived at the abolition of slavery a lot sooner? (I am charting a possible pathway to an affirmative answer to that question.)
4. It is challenging to read the Bible consistently. In my research and reflections, I am struck by how the church has shifted its thinking on some issues the Bible addresses but not done so on others, when it is reasonable to assess that justice in life requires us to read (and apply) the Bible consistently. (Yes, this is a general statement without examples ... I don't want to give much away about the final content of the book!)
6 comments:
“It is challenging to read the Bible consistently”.
Yes, and we also have to recognise that we as people, (all of us), are very often wildly inconsistent in belief, attitudes and practice! No wonder abolishing slavery took 1800 years…
Sadly in UK we are still finding forms of modern slavery in nail bars and car washes..The nuns of Clewer having nearly died out decided to sell their property ( £10million) and set up a charity to fight it. Perry Butler
Hi Perry, yes it does seem a more ‘obscured’ hidden slavery is prevalent - we have had a few cases come up in NZ (those found out) about people being offered jobs here, coming, and then being exploited. Also when prostitution was legalised a few years back now it increased the number of younger and trafficked girls. I think the church at large now reads the scripture on slavery well and God-willing Christian’s follow the word as has not always been done even to the extent of using the Bible to justify mistreatment when biblically there were very strong motivations to treat slaves well. While slavery was abolished in a lot of the developed world in it’s widest socially practiced form it does seem slavery has existed for all time, and may do indefinitely in some forms, being centred for the most part in human selfishness and greed.
+Peter in doing research for this Sunday’s sermon I found myself reading about the Jewish Oral law and connecting that in with some scriptures distinguishing between the interpretation of the scriptures (the oral law) and the commandments of God (the scripture itself) e.g. Jesus comments to the Pharisees “You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men”. Is this not something we have to be careful about today, that in all “interpreting” and “reasoning” about what scripture means we do not set our conclusions up in opposition to scripture itself?
All the best for your book!
Hello Jean
Yes, we need to take care when interpreting Scripture, but the emphasis I recommend is to interpret with lens which seek what is fair and what is kind (per how Jesus himself often interprets Scripture).
While I certainly agree with interpreting the Bible in a way that is fair and kind, that still troubles me a little. I would want to add something like , ‘and true to the whole sweep of the Scriptures’. After all, Jesus was full of grace AND truth! But I am aware that addition can be contested, (as can every process of interpretation!).
A thought - after a quick read over these thought-provoking comments! I support "fair" and "kind", I support "grace" and "truth". But for me there's something missing from the conversation: Jesus was confrontational and we seem to prefer to ignore that - perhaps because it demands something extra of us? Jesus confronted religious leaders of his day who were obsessed with status and privilege (at the expense of others who were marginalised and poor). To *find* truth I believe we must, in humility, engage with those same folk - the poor and marginalised - and there we will find Jesus - and we will find THE Truth, THE Way, The Life. But we need to go "outside the camp", so to speak.
Post a Comment