It is recommended to click the Refresh or Reload button to ensure current information.
Section Reading the Bible Again for the First Time
A Cyberspace Discussion Group

Foundations: Reading Lenses: Seeing the Bible Again


Back to Index
Click on the 3 sections below for materials according.
SUMMARY REFERENCES
Course Introduction
Two ways of reading the Bible: literal/factual (and) historical/metaphorical
Attempt to link the academic community of biblical scholarship and the religious community of the church.
Three sections: Foundations; Hebrew Bible; New Testament
Reading Lenses - seeing the Bible again In a climate where 'holy manners' are practiced
Chapter 1
We need a new set of lenses, or ways of seeing the Bible at a time when biblical awareness in society is in decline , Fundamentalist vs. moderate to liberal (mainline) split A major 'deliteralizing' of the scriptures is underway The dispute is focused in three key areas: creation vs. evolution, homosexuality, contemporary historical Jesus scholarship

The phenomenon of Bible reading began with the revolution of the printing press (15th century) which led to the democratization
of Christianity; individualistic interpretation and the fragmentation of the church after the Protestant Reformation.

NATURAL LITERALISM is the standard traditional approach to the Bible. Many of us came out of backgrounds that practiced 'soft literalism'. The events of the Bible happened pretty much as reported.
Origin: Bible as divine product; Authority: Bible as true, authoritative. Interpretation: the Bible is historically, factually true
Characteristics: literal, doctrinal, moralistic, patriarchal, excusivistic

The Current Situation:
1. We live in a world of religious pluralism
2. Historical and cultural relativity dominates (we are shaped by culture)
3. Modernity has prevailed for many years, characterized by
- scientific ways of knowing
- skepticism about religious reality
- preoccupation with factuality
- both fundamentalism and scientism are products of Englightenment thinking.
4. Post-modernity is now the dominant spirit of the age
- recognition that modernity was culturally conditioned
- people are turning to a focus on experience
- evolving from a belief in 'fact fundamentalism' to a realization that stories can be true without being literally or factually true

We are at a time when we need to 'revision' our approach to the Bible, and
to see it again with new eyes. Refocusing from 'believing' the words of the
Bible to relating to the God to whom the Bible points.
to the God to whom the Bible points.
REFERENCES
..
Click for a realaudio interview site. A former Catholic nun, British author Karen Armstrong now teaches at Leo Baeck College for the Study of Judaism. After leaving her religious order in 1969 she took a B.Litt. at Oxford, taught modern literature at the University of London, and headed the English department of a public girls' school. In 1982 she became a free-lance writer and broadcaster. Click on her picture to a site that links a Real Audio interview.
Borg mentions her "
Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam". For a review of this important book in the New York Times (including the entire first chapter) clicking HERE.
[Photo of the Rev. L. William Countryman , B/W jpeg]

"The Bible is not a strangely organized lawbook. It is a means by which God reaches out to us to awaken us to love and to new vision. It is the celebration in words of God's presence among us as Word. That is its true power and authority. And all faithful teaching of scripture aims ultimately at awakening us to that reality."
William Countryman is cited by Borg (note 4 p. 19) and represents a similar voice affirming the Bible to be relevant and worthy but not literal. Click on his picture to visit his university. It's interesting also that the book Borg cites "Biblical Authority or Biblical Tryranny" is being studied this winter by many other churches. Here are two reviews; Review1. Review2.

Martin E. Marty was long the editor of Christian Century, and Christian Gadfly. This volume "Fundamentalisms Comprehended (The Fundamentalism Project, Vol 5)" marks the culmination of the Fundamentalism Project, a landmark series that brings together scholars from around the world to explore the nature and impact of fundamentalist movements in the twentieth century. Based on an interdisciplinary program conducted by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the series is dedicated to promoting an understanding of fundamentalism at a time when misinformation and misperceptions have exacerbated national and international conflicts. Click HERE for the Amazon review..

St. David's United Church.Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The United Church of Canada.

September 30, 2001, Feb 22, 04.