A few posts I read last week (here, here, and here) got me to thinking about biblical proof-texting and why I believe it is destructive and counter-productive. For me, the fact of the matter is many texts in the bible can be taken out of context, used, abused, and misused to justify and legitimate just about anything (slavery, murder, racism, chauvinism, and so on). Personally, I have no use for any hermeneutic that involves taking bits and pieces of scripture out of context and using them to reinforce a pre-made theology or agenda. It’s a very narrow slippery slope that I believe does more harm than good.
That is not to say a completely reject the bible. I have a great amount of respect for it. I believe it is inspired by God and I believe it conveys truth (I’ll talk about what I mean by truth a little later because a lot of people mean a lot of different things, when they use the word. For now, just notice that I said “truth” and not “Truth”) about God and about humanity. But don’t worship it. I don’t take it literally and I don’t believe it to be completely historically accurate. I don’t believe it is infallible or inerrant. I acknowledge the fact that it was written by pre-modren people (mostly men, go figure) with pre-modern cosmology and so on. I realize that the books in the bible are products of many different communities with their own biases, prejudices, etc. and I know that much of the present text as been altered, redacted, and edited by many people throughout history. And yet somehow, in the midst of all that, I still believe that upon reading and studying scripture I can learn more about God, more about ultimate reality, more about the human condition, and more about authentic Christian hope.
Anyway, my thinking about proof-texting led me to the larger discussion of scripture itself, its role in the shaping of my theology, its authority, and its role within the Christian community. I claim to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus. By making that claim I am binding myself, to a certain degree, to the narrative of scripture; that is I am placing myself within an ongoing, ever unfolding story or narrative that is larger than myself. So, how does that work I wonder? How can I, living in a postmodern world, gain truth from stories that were written over 2000 years ago by pre-modern people? I’m not going to pretend to come up with a comprehensive answer to questions like this, but I do hope I can come up with a sound framework from which I can further wrestle with these questions. That is what I plan to do here over the course of a few posts.
~bh ><>
12 responses so far ↓
1 Wes Porter // Dec 7, 2007 at 12:09 am
I have a question for you about this post. How do you keep from sinning Blake? How do you know what the will of God is? Why is the part about Christ true?
2 blake // Dec 7, 2007 at 8:13 am
wes,
thanks for the comment. i’m going to address that more in a later post, but for now i’ll just say this: first, i’m a united methodist and we have a framework called the wesleyan quadrilateral that is used to interpret scripture and arrive at theological claims. it consists of scripture, reason, tradition, and experience. i believe all four of those most be used to address what you’re talking about. it’s just not as easy as reading scripture, taking it at face value and stringing it all together in a certain way.
3 Wes Porter // Dec 7, 2007 at 11:54 am
Of course not scripture is not intended to be read in a 100% wooden literal sense. It is literature that needs to be correctly interpreted through biblical hermunuetics.
However, when you say this I don’t take it literally and I don’t believe it to be completely historically accurate
You know what I think about
Genesis 3:1 …Indeed has God said…? From the mouth of Satan. When you question the Word of God is the first step to embracing what the evil one wants from you, to deny the objective truth of the Bible. It is just something for you to think about.
You are listening to people who are challenging the basics of Christianity which holds to scripture. It is how God has spoken to us. Why I asked how you keep from sinning is because two things. First, Christ used scripture to defend himself from Satan. Second Psalm 119:11 says I treasure your word in my heart, so I might not sin against you. Anyways just hoping you think about these things.
I will be interested in your article. I hope you don’t mind my challenges to your views.
4 blake // Dec 7, 2007 at 12:12 pm
i agree, scripture must be interpreted. i think we would disagree on how that is worked out though.
as for your claim about objective truth. i disagree. the bible was written by people and it is read by people. people are incapable of being objective. we try but we can only get so close. i would argue that the people that wrote the bible are further from being objective and you or i, but that is debatable. the point is, we’re human not objective.
genesis 3:1. do i believe god actually, physically spoke? no. do i believe there was an actual serpent? no. i do believe this. someone, somewhere sometime had experience that caused him/her to write that story. a story where the writer or the storyteller could convey as best he/she could with poetic imagery the feeling of guilt and defilement that came as result of separation from god. to me, that’s the deeper meaning of the story. i couldn’t care less whether god or a snake actually, physically spoke those words. or whether they was actually a man named adam and a woman named eve. a think there is a deeper meaning, a deeper truth (not historicity) about god and the human condition. but now i’m getting into some later posts. so for now i’ll leave it at that.
i don’t think that challenges christianity at all. i think it challenges fundamentalism and conventionalism and rightly so. those are post-enlightenment constructs.
i don’t mind the challenge at all. i enjoy these types of things. thanks again for the thoughts.
5 blake // Dec 7, 2007 at 12:22 pm
another comment on your first question, “how do i keep from sinning?” like i said, scripture, reason, tradition, and experience and the help of a community are my starting places. the more i use all four the sounder the conclusions.
but, i would question your question simply by saying i don’t think that’s the best question to ask. obviously it is important, but i think it presupposes that prohibitions are the most important. if i live my life wondering what i’m not supposed to do, then i may never end up figuring out what i’m supposed to do.
so i would rephrase that question. rather asking, “how do i avoid sin?” i would ask, “how should i be living?” it seems to me that that is the question jesus was involved with throughout his life. and i think the best example of that is when he said all of the law and prophets–in essence all of scripture–can be summed up by stating, “love god and love your neighbor.”
6 Wes Porter // Dec 7, 2007 at 1:14 pm
How do you know the ideas you are promoting are true? Who’s authority? Why should I believe you then what Paul writes that ALL scripture is God breathed.
On the Genesis account. I guess Jesus was wrong when he quoted Genesis Himself? Why with the conversation when the Pharisees were asking Him about divorce that He said, “In the beginning it was not so and referenced Genesis. How do you argue against what I assume you to be God = Jesus that his quoting of scripture doesn’t solidify it.
I am really curious what authority you have to these claims besides your own ideas or other men’s ideas. My ideas come from scripture soley. I know what God says about the human heart.
7 blake // Dec 7, 2007 at 2:06 pm
again, i’ve already answered the “who’s authority” question at least twice. i’ll say it again anyway. 4 things: scripture, reason, tradition, experience with the help of the community and god’s grace. that’s how a arrive at theological claims.
i’m not saying the scripture it not inspired, indeed i believe that it is. and like i said before i can still learn something about the stories in the bible without believing they’re actually historically true. that’s what i said in my previous comments. you missing the point. truth and historicity are not synonymous for me. i suspect they are for you. and i’m not saying everything in the bible never happened. of course some of it did. maybe most of it. maybe all of it, although i highly doubt it. the point is it makes no difference whether some of the more outrageous things (like jonah actually being in the belly of a whale, adam and eve, the virgin birth ect.) actually happened in history or not. the deeper spiritual truth is there nonetheless.
i don’t know how what i said makes jesus’ quotation of scripture wrong. denying historicity doesn’t make scripture wrong. it doesn’t mean there’s not truth to it, truth about god and humanity. i quote scripture. i preach on occasion. i don’t have to through it all out just because i don’t believe everything to be historically accurate.
i hate to break it to you, but your ideas don’t come from scripture alone. they come from you’re interpretation and the interpretation of your influences. furthermore, you’re a human being it’s impossible for you to read scripture without your own schema and your own cultural “lens.” that is a psychological and sociological fact. you have your own presuppositions and biases just like i do.
i find your claim to actually definitively know what god says about the human heart quite troubling. if you know that you’re doing much better than everyone else over the last 2000 years. i’m highly suspicious of anyone claiming to be the definitive arbiter of objective truth especially a human being. i don’t know that that is what you meant by your comment. but that was my initial reaction.
i don’t mind dialoging with you wes, and i will continue to do so. but you need to understand that we both have different world-view and different view of scripture and we’re probably not going to convince each other. that does make either of us right or wrong. its just reality. if your view helps you to lead a christian life, resist evil, do good and love god and your neighbor without patronizing or demonizing anyone then great. it works for you. likewise with me.
you need to realize that i’m not alone in this. what scholarly books have you read on hermeneutics and higher criticism? what commentaries do you read? these things matter.
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