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26 February 2004
Alpha Talk 4
“Why and How Should I Read the Bible?”
Jennifer K. Morrow
A number of years ago I was working as an intern at
a church in Indiana and found myself assisting in their Vacation Bible School program. On the
first morning everyone gathered in the sanctuary and began by pledging allegiance to the United
States flag. This was unexpected, but paled in its comparative unexpectedness with the next
event. A child walked to the front of the church, opened a large bible, held it out and up, and
the following words were recited: “I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God’s holy word. May it be
a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path that I may not sin against God.” I was horrified.
I thought I was in a cult. I expected someone to offer me cherry Kool-Aide at any minute. In
hindsight, what this experience teaches me is that the collection of writings we refer to as the
bible occupies a powerful place in the lives of those who have heard them. And let me say here
that I do not in any way equate my use of the word “powerful” with a monopoly on “positive.”
The words of the bible have been abused with regularity to empower actions and inactions that
are entirely contrary to the character of the God the Christians profess that the bible reveals.
But before we consider more fully why we read the
bible, a brief introduction of history, context, and definition. First, when I say bible what I
am referring to is the collection of writings bound by this piece of genuine leather and trimmed
with gold. There are 39 books in the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, and 27 books in the New
Testament. Among those books we find law, history, poetry, prophecy, gospels, letters, and a
hymnbook. But why these books? Where did these 66 come from? How were they collected? Who
wrote them? I remember very few assignments I was given during my college days, primarily
because I completed most of them the night before they were due and promptly forgot them as soon
as I turned them in. But one that I remember, I had to find a book about a specific historical
event and then write a paper. But the paper I was to write was not to be about the book, or the
historical event, but about the author of the book. What was his or her background? When was
this person writing? Why was this person writing? Understanding whose hand the history book
came from had everything to do with how one would then read the history book. The context is
vital to understanding a book’s contents. One simple example of this truth could be seen in a
comparison between a child’s history textbook in London and a child’s history textbook in New
York. The recording of the war that took place from 1775 until 1783 will likely read quite
differently. And so how was the collection of books we now call the bible put together?
The Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, grew out of a
series of both written and oral traditions. The Ten Commandments and the books of the law, or
Torah, were written and handed down in that form. Much of the rest of the Old Testament was
passed down orally, as is hinted at in Deuteronomy 6: “Hear I Israel: the Lord is our God, the
Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite
them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you
lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your
forehead, and write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates…when your children ask
you in times to come, “What is the meaning of the decrees and the statues and the ordinances
that the Lord our God has commanded you?” Then you shall say to your children, “We were
Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt…” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 20-21) Within this oral and written collection
there are three parts that can be designated: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. By 100
CE the collection had been approved by rabbis.
It was into this tradition that the church was
born. And so early Jewish Christians received from their tradition the belief in a written rule
of faith. Jesus quotes frequently from the Old Testament as the written word of God. But soon,
as the church grew and the apostles wrote, they considered their writings and oral traditions,
as well as those of Jesus’ earliest followers, as having like authority with the Old
Testament. It made sense to include these new teachings in their scriptures, and so the
question became what writings and who should choose. We know that by 180-200 CE some consensus
existed as to the writings that could be authoritative. A document known as the “Muratorain
Fragment” lists the authoritative books as all the ones we know, lacking these seven: Hebrews,
James, 2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Jude, and Revelation. The development from this stage to the New
Testament as we currently know it spans the next 125 years, with theologians and church leaders
making decisions and pronouncements that would lead to the 27 books we now claim. This process
may sound a bit troubling and uninspired, random or arbitrary, but there is comfort and
confidence to be found. The process is on one hand an indication of how seriously our forbears
took their relationship to God’s word. That they allowed for such a lengthy process in
determining their sacred scriptures indicates that the work they were engaged in was not just a
random, flippant decision, but a laborious one based on commitment, discernment, patience, and
trust. Secondly, this process teaches me that God’s revelation to us is not something imposed
on us from above, dropped like a holy anvil that we never had a prayer of catching, but rather
the bible takes shape in relationship, including us and our uniqueness in the process. This
contextual overview is entirely incomplete, but its ending leads us to the beginning of the
answer to the first half of our question this evening: Why should we read the bible?
We should read the bible because the church
believes and professes and has since its earliest history in Judaism, that God reveals Godself
uniquely and reliably in the Holy Scriptures. It is important to state here that the church
does not teach that God reveals Godself independently in the Scriptures—they do not stand alone
no matter what the bible pledgers seem to think--but that God reveals Godself most fully in the
incarnation and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So the bible becomes a revelation of a revelation
of sorts. The authority of these books lies not in their words, pages, process, or perfection,
but in the God who employs them that his people might know him.
Secondly, we should read the Bible because it is
true. Now in awareness of the strong feelings many possess about truth, the bible, or both it
is important to unpack that potentially volatile phrase. Let me say first what I do not mean
when I say the bible is true. I do not mean that I believe the bible is a series of facts ripe
for the proving. That such an exercise would be fulfilling or even possible is a relatively new
idea. The writers and keepers of ancient history and story were not acquainted with the
scientific method, making their job less about providing facts, and more about communicating
truth. There are books out there to be read (or not read) that take on as their task the
proving of the historicity of the contents of the bible. Such an exercise would feel as foreign
to a Christian, or anyone for that matter, throughout most of the rest of the history of Israel
and the church. It would be like trying to identify the literary devices of exposition, plot,
climax and resolution in a lasagna recipe. The chef never intended for there to be a plot, any
more than the biblical writers intended to offer proof. They were interested in communicating
the truth. And so, related to this is my belief that the bible is not a book to be interpreted
literally. Like the fact-finding mission, “literal interpretation of scripture” is a
comparatively modern invention. Early church fathers and theologians like Augustine and Origen
had no trouble reading the bible symbolically or allegorically. They understood, like many who
insist on a “literal interpretation” these days seem to miss, that the statement “George
Washington was the first president of the United States,” is no more true than the statement,
“My love is like a red, red rose.” Obviously, my love, or yours for that matter, is not
literally like a red, red rose. It does not look, smell, or feel like one. It cannot be put in
a vase on my table. But this reality does not render that statement untrue, unimportant,
unreliable, or meaningless. All it means is that the perceptive reader will approach a love
letter with different expectations than a history book.
Which brings us to the beginning of the answer to
the second half of our question, how should we read the bible? We should read it
intelligently. By intelligently I mean we should continue with the type of exploration with
which we began tonight. We should engage the text on many levels: when was it likely written?
By whom? What specific situation could the authors have been addressing? The answers to many
of those questions can often be found in a simple study bible. And this kind of reading
matters, not so you can impress your friends the next time Nehemiah comes up at a cocktail
party, but because such intelligent reading becomes necessary if we are going to critically
challenge unhealthy and unhelpful interpretations of scripture that are so prevalent. One
example that is especially near to my own personal experience, the role of women in church
leadership. I recently spoke at a conference called “Why Not Women?” This conference was set
in a tradition that virtually categorically denies women the right to serve in positions of
church leadership based primarily on two passages from 1 Corinthians and1 Timothy. These
passages are examples of ones that, with an intelligent and informed contextual reading, would
be understood in a much fuller light than the one many in my former tradition are willing to see
them.
We should also read it creatively. By creatively
what I mean is reading the bible in such a way that leaves room for it to actually create: new
life, new ideas, new possibilities. To read the bible creatively then means giving up some of
our preconceived notions and expectations of what it contains. When we offer it such freedom,
creation can take place. Frederick Buechner says this about the bible and our expectations:
“When a minister reads out of the bible, I am sure that at least nine times out of ten the
people who happen to be listening at all hear not what is really being read but only what they
expect to hear read. And I think what most people expect to hear read from the bible is an
edifying story, an uplifting thought, a moral lesson—something elevated, obvious, and boring.
So that is exactly what very often they do hear. Only that is too bad because if you really
listen—and maybe you have to forget that it is the bible being read and a minister who is
reading it—there is no telling what you might hear.” (Listening to Your Life, 125)
Finally, we should read it relationally. And by
relationally I mean in relationship with one another and with God. The bible, while it can
certainly be devotional, instructive, and helpful when read alone, it is first a book written to
a community. We need the church to help us understand and interpret the scriptures; the words
of the bible are meant, many of them, to be sung and proclaimed in the midst of the worshiping
community. Reading on your bed in the evening alone is fine, lovely, and vital, but that
individual reading should always be grounded in the faith and teaching of the larger community
of the church. But this relational reading has a second dynamic as well, which brings us back
to knowing a love letter from a history book. The bible contains history, yes, but that history
is contained within the larger context of a love letter. The bible is the story of God creating
out of love and longing throughout the centuries to deepen that love with his people. The bible
is the record of that relationship. In a sense it’s a love letter between two lovers and we are
the witnesses of all that is lovely and horrifying in that story. But more importantly, it
invites us, encourages us to develop that same love affair with the God whose love knows no
boundaries. It demands that we be more than just readers, however intelligent or creative we
may be. It calls us into a deep, holy, and wonderful relationship.
That said; let me try to tell you why I personally
read the bible. Like any relationship, mine with the bible has changed over the years. In my
life I have liked the bible for its stories, used it to feel better about myself than I
deserved, used it to feel worse about myself than I deserved, read it from cover to cover,
studied it on my bed and in the classroom. I have written papers about it and very piously
memorized excerpts from it. I have carried it around like a badge and lost mine for weeks at a
time. The bible has been used against me to tell me that I am at best disobeying God by being a
woman in ordained ministry and at my worst, headed for hell. I find the bible both infinitely
interesting and frighteningly boring. I could go on, but instead I want to share with you three
passages that typify why I keep reading it. [John 5:24; the entire book of Psalms; Romans
8:31-39]
I first heard John 5:24 as a ten year old child in
a Sunday school classroom at my friend Shaun Doyle’s church. In hearing them I set my feet down
on the ground of this Christian faith and have stood or wobbled there ever since. I won’t read
the entire book of Psalms to you, but I will tell you that that book has given me words. I find
prayer very difficult. I don’t know what to say, or don’t feel like saying anything, or feel
like anything I would say would sound trite or silly. The Psalms have become my words when I
had none. Finally, Romans 8:31-39. There are moments when I believe the truth of those words,
that there really is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. But those are just
moments, with a lot of unbelieving in between. And so I keep reading the bible because when I
read Romans 8, even when I don’t believe, there is Paul being convinced on my behalf, until I
can take believing up again.
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