I spent nearly a decade preaching the Bible and somewhere in there I was also, without fully realizing it, preaching a set of assumptions about the Bible that I had never actually examined.
Great thanks Beau. I think the one verse that, to me anyway, is fairly unambiguous and doesn’t seem to need too much sophisticated interpretation is Jesus’ command to love your neighbour as yourself. Yet it remains one of the most ignored teachings of the Bible.
Excellent piece! Regarding Job, I don't know how many Christians look at it like I do. Probably not many - most Biblical literalists are a serious bunch - but I see it as a comedic treatise lampooning the way in which religious people blame suffering on a person's secret sins. That's what Job's friends, mainly, are doing. But the reader is told right at the very beginning that Job is the most righteous man in the world. The reader is also given the entire reason why Job is suffering - it's a bet made between God and Satan. If anything, Job is suffering *because of* his extreme righteousness. It's not a document telling us that Satan is behind all suffering. It's not supposed to be a document that tells us that Satan exists at all, although much 'satanology' (is that a word) i.e. what Christians think of Satan as being, is obtained from Job's story. All that story part is simply to explain where Job's suffering comes from, so that the reader sees right from the start that it's not Job's secret sins. And the language of Job's friends is beautiful, and contains much truth. But it is not intended to be held up as definitive, nor indeed is the story of Job supposed to be a true narrative. It may well be, but that's not what it's for.
This is why “I just read what the Bible says” usually means “I inherited an interpretation and mistook it for God’s handwriting.” The Bible is a library, not a vending machine for culture-war snacks. Context matters. Genre matters. History matters. May the proof-text warriors be gently freed from laminated certainty.
“Plus, every translation you read is already an interpretation.” Honestly, wouldn’t you say that long before the translators translated we had scribes making individual decisions as well based on what seemed culturally appropriate or doctrinally right. How much had the “New Testament” already been interpreted through micro decisions like those in the first 200 years of the church?
Beth - Yes! I’ve long wondered how much the bible is like the children’s “telephone game” with the message relayed across centuries, languages, contexts…. Even a choice about whether & where to punctuate can yield very different meanings (famously: eats shoots and leaves 😉). Given we’ve always been fallible humans, sometimes perhaps humans with our own agenda in how we pass the message along, seems sorta unrealistic to claim the bible we read today is exactly what the first scribe jotted down
This is so wonderfully practical. I did one year of an MTS degree at Vanderbilt Divinity School and these echo much of the knowledge I was exposed to. Can't wait to read your book, Beau. Thanks for your important work.
#3 is my favorite! Realizing that the Bible is a collection of varied genres makes reading anything in it a genuine adventure. Thanks for a great overview.
I had found the Bible for a matter of months before I studied it with members of a cult. I was not prepared. I grew up Catholic and our giant white Bible with scary pictures was kept open on a shelf. I raised my children in fear, fear of questioning and thinking and in turn damaged them and their ability to accept faith in Jesus. This is a great start for people. I think we all need to keep reminding ourselves and each other that we are constantly learning, constantly revising. I’m going through a hard time right now, an emotional crisis if you will regarding decisions made in my life with the version of the Bible you have described. It is painful. We were given a mind. It should not be dismissed for anyone and I’ve learned that God is not scared of my questions.
Thank you, Beau. You summarize so well some questions I’ve asked (rhetorically) for decades - then you provide sensible, spiritual answers. This one here is a keeper for me 💖
Great thanks Beau. I think the one verse that, to me anyway, is fairly unambiguous and doesn’t seem to need too much sophisticated interpretation is Jesus’ command to love your neighbour as yourself. Yet it remains one of the most ignored teachings of the Bible.
Excellent piece! Regarding Job, I don't know how many Christians look at it like I do. Probably not many - most Biblical literalists are a serious bunch - but I see it as a comedic treatise lampooning the way in which religious people blame suffering on a person's secret sins. That's what Job's friends, mainly, are doing. But the reader is told right at the very beginning that Job is the most righteous man in the world. The reader is also given the entire reason why Job is suffering - it's a bet made between God and Satan. If anything, Job is suffering *because of* his extreme righteousness. It's not a document telling us that Satan is behind all suffering. It's not supposed to be a document that tells us that Satan exists at all, although much 'satanology' (is that a word) i.e. what Christians think of Satan as being, is obtained from Job's story. All that story part is simply to explain where Job's suffering comes from, so that the reader sees right from the start that it's not Job's secret sins. And the language of Job's friends is beautiful, and contains much truth. But it is not intended to be held up as definitive, nor indeed is the story of Job supposed to be a true narrative. It may well be, but that's not what it's for.
This is why “I just read what the Bible says” usually means “I inherited an interpretation and mistook it for God’s handwriting.” The Bible is a library, not a vending machine for culture-war snacks. Context matters. Genre matters. History matters. May the proof-text warriors be gently freed from laminated certainty.
“Plus, every translation you read is already an interpretation.” Honestly, wouldn’t you say that long before the translators translated we had scribes making individual decisions as well based on what seemed culturally appropriate or doctrinally right. How much had the “New Testament” already been interpreted through micro decisions like those in the first 200 years of the church?
Beth - Yes! I’ve long wondered how much the bible is like the children’s “telephone game” with the message relayed across centuries, languages, contexts…. Even a choice about whether & where to punctuate can yield very different meanings (famously: eats shoots and leaves 😉). Given we’ve always been fallible humans, sometimes perhaps humans with our own agenda in how we pass the message along, seems sorta unrealistic to claim the bible we read today is exactly what the first scribe jotted down
This is so wonderfully practical. I did one year of an MTS degree at Vanderbilt Divinity School and these echo much of the knowledge I was exposed to. Can't wait to read your book, Beau. Thanks for your important work.
#3 is my favorite! Realizing that the Bible is a collection of varied genres makes reading anything in it a genuine adventure. Thanks for a great overview.
I had found the Bible for a matter of months before I studied it with members of a cult. I was not prepared. I grew up Catholic and our giant white Bible with scary pictures was kept open on a shelf. I raised my children in fear, fear of questioning and thinking and in turn damaged them and their ability to accept faith in Jesus. This is a great start for people. I think we all need to keep reminding ourselves and each other that we are constantly learning, constantly revising. I’m going through a hard time right now, an emotional crisis if you will regarding decisions made in my life with the version of the Bible you have described. It is painful. We were given a mind. It should not be dismissed for anyone and I’ve learned that God is not scared of my questions.
Critical 5 assumptions. So much damage done by not having this framework.
Thank you, Beau. You summarize so well some questions I’ve asked (rhetorically) for decades - then you provide sensible, spiritual answers. This one here is a keeper for me 💖
You are an amazing teacher. I have learned so much from you.
Good 👍