The following is an excerpt from the chapter on the Bible in my book, Reframing a Relevant Faith. You can purchase the book from the publisher at http://direct.energion.co/reframing-a-relevant-faith or through Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Reframing-Relevant-Faith-Drew-Smith/dp/1631991213/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418159944&sr=1-1&keywords=reframing+a+relevant+faith. An e-version is also available at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=reframing%20a%20relevant%20faith%20kindle.
Regardless of which Christian tradition
we call our own, the sacred texts of the Bible are always central to that
tradition. While we may affirm different
canons of scripture, all families within the Christian faith have great
reverence for the scriptures and view them as having a vital place of authority
in shaping Christian belief and practice.
Yet, we must realize that the texts of scripture never stand on their
own. The Bible does not interpret itself, but must be interpreted by those who
read the text; those situated in various times and places who seek to grasp
what these texts say about God.
There are many reasons people may read
the Bible, e.g., historical or literary, but the ultimate and constant reason
for reading the Bible is theological. Most who read the text, or hear the text
read, believe it to have something to say about God and God’s engagement with
humanity. Indeed, the Bible exists, both
in its parts and in its whole, not primarily for historical or literary
purposes, but because both the parts and the whole of the Bible offer the
historically situated authors’ views on God and how God relates to
humanity. In other words, the authors of
the different books of the Bible present primarily a theological perspective of
life from their own world.
But the very existence of the Christian
sacred texts from any and every tradition indicates that the stories of the
Bible are not just about the events, characters, and times of their own
era. These stories extend beyond their
own frame of reference to communicate a belief in God’s good future in which
each generation can find hope in the midst of the challenges of human
existence.
So, if the primary purpose for writing
the books of the Bible and for reading these books is theological, then how
should we read these ancient texts that were written by historically situated
humans who would not have envisioned the world in which we live? Do we take what they say about God at face
value, or should we be open to fresh understandings of God? Answering these questions fully would take
more space than allotted here, but I want to offer at least a rudimentary
approach to reading the scriptures theologically.
One important step to reading the Bible
theologically is to embrace a critical approach to biblical
interpretation. In other words, we can
extend our critical approach to the Bible past simply asking questions about
the history of the Bible, to asking questions about what the Bible says. A critical approach to reading scripture is
not only appropriate, it is also necessary when one is seeking to develop
relevant theological thinking.
A critical approach involves several
components that contribute to viable and meaningful interpretations. Reading the Bible critically means not only giving
close attention to the literary nature of the text, and to the genre of a
specific text, but also to the historically conditioned nature of the biblical
texts and the authors who penned them. These authors, and the texts they
produced, reflect a different worldview than ours. They viewed the cosmos differently, history
differently, and the experience of the divine differently. Thus, any faithful readings, and the theology
that develops from those readings, must take into account the assumptions these
authors had that we no longer have. While developing our theology from the
scriptures must demonstrate integrity with the historical meaning of the text,
our readings are not bound by those original meanings as we seek to bring
theological relevancy to our own context.
Yet, as we read and interpret the text
of scripture to this end, we must also recognize our own presuppositions. Each of us reads from our own ideologies that
are often culturally transmitted to us.[1] We approach the biblical text with these
ideologies, which often leads to our reading our presuppositions into the texts
of scripture without realizing it. Our
gender, our race, our sexual orientation, our socio-economic class, and even
the various events we have experienced and continue to experience all
contribute to the assumptions we have about what the Bible says and means. Moreover, we often do not recognize such
ideologies and presuppositions, and not doing so can cause us to cling consciously
or unconsciously to misunderstandings and misinterpretations of biblical
passages that are not true to the text or a critical approach to its
interpretation.
Indeed, such misinterpretations may be
so deeply embedded in our cultural locations that they may be hard to set aside
altogether. They are often like a pair
of old spectacles that have become a part of who we are and through which we
see everything. To be sure, we would be
uncomfortable and untrusting of what we read without them. But, if we are to read the texts faithfully
in order to shape a more relevant and meaningful theology and practice, we must
take them off, at least for the purpose of seeing the text differently.
Of course, we could read the Bible
critically in isolation, but that may only lead us back to our
presuppositions. A more fruitful
practice of reading would be to read the text of scripture in a community that
may offer challenges to our individual understandings. A text of scripture does not have a single
meaning limited to authorial intent, and no one person has greater authority in
interpreting a text of scripture. Certainly
we can be helped by those trained to read these ancient texts; those committed
to the study of their original languages, settings, and purpose, but we need
not all be biblical scholars to read, appreciate, and live out the meanings of
the biblical texts.
Each of us approaches the texts with
different experiences and thus each of us has different presuppositions. When shared in a community of textual readers,
however, such experiences can enrich one’s faith and lead one to be more
faithful in his or her discipleship. The
richness of the biblical texts cannot be limited to authorial intent or
authoritative interpretation. Rather,
the Bible contains a multiplicity of valid interpretations, and reading in
community can help us see other meanings and other ways of assessing the Bible.
Yet, while we can read the scriptures in
the communities we call our churches, this may only reinforce the same
presuppositions. Others from our
community wear similar glasses, for we typically associate with those who look
like us, talk like us, and are from the same social and economic
situations. There is nothing inherently
wrong with this practice, and reading in like minded community is an exercise
in biblical and theological interpretation that can shape our discipleship.
But, reading the text with people from other
races, other cultures, other social and economic conditions, and other ways of
thinking about God and humanity can help us recognize our presuppositions and
assist us in seeing the text vastly different.
And such a practice may help us to see God differently by offering the
Spirit a way of leading us to fresh interpretations that shape our theological
thinking.
[1]
See V. George Shillington, Reading the
Sacred Text: An Introduction to Biblical Studies (London: T&T Clark,
2002), 5.
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