Edgework

It has been my intention for quite some time now to begin a series of essays about how we should read the Bible today. While this topic has surfaced again and again in my readings and reflections for the past few years, I have put off writing a series about modern Bible reading because the contemporary dialogue around this issue is on-going. Every time I turn around, it seems, there is a new and often serious book out on the subject.  There is, in fact, a new quest within Christian circles – including the evangelical world – to rethink how we read the Bible and how it speaks to us in the 21st century.  So I was afraid to begin writing for fear of leaving out something important or perhaps not approaching the subject in a comprehensive and orderly way as might be expected if I were writing a book on the subject.

But the pressure to begin writing something on this subject just continued to grow to the point where I decided it was time to just dive into the project and see where it will take us.

I am reminded of my childhood experience of trying to determine at what point our farm pond had warmed up enough in spring to allow for the first swim of the season. One way was to test the temperature at the edge of the pond with my hands and feet – slowly inching into the water. This method usually resulted in postponing the first swim for a few more days. Another method was to mount my home-made diving board and slice my way into the heart of the pond. Sometimes this resulted in a very quick swim back to the shore. At other times I determined to conquer the pond by swimming in circles until I got used to the temperature of the water.

With this introductory essay, I am choosing simply to dive into the water. And I hope I will be able to swim in circles long enough to begin identifying the trajectories that might lead us to some helpful conclusions. So don’t expect a “book in the making” that will proceed from a logical beginning to a solid conclusion. Rather it will be a series of essays in a somewhat random order that ask a lot of questions and probe for satisfactory answers. So I invite you along on a dialogical journey. When this series comes to a conclusion I am sure not all the issues surrounding Bible reading today will have been resolved.

In order to gain perspective on how to read the Bible faithfully in the 21st century, it is important to understand the context in which we live. In their book, Truth is Stranger Than it Used to Be, J. Richard Middleton and Brian J. Walsh (1995) compare our present context to the story in Genesis 11:1-9. In that story the people’s dream of being united and living in prosperity suddenly came crashing down around them with its attendant confusion, chaos and scattering. And so today, they say, “…the crumbling tower of modernity is leaving its people in a state of disarray.”

Middleton and Walsh describe the Modern Tower of Babel as a four-story building. The First floor – the 17th century – is the ground floor. It is the floor or science. Francis Bacon introduced his scientific method in which doubt is the foundation of discovery of truth. The Second floor – the 18th century – is the floor of technology. The industrial revolution changed the way of life for the masses and the enlightenment helped to dispel superstitions. The Third floor – the 19th century – is the floor of the market economy. During this century the utopian dream grew that capitalism with its attendant ingenuity would usher in a world of peace.

Thus the Fourth floor – the 20th century – opened on a wave of hope and optimism. However it soon became evident that the entire building was rotten from the foundation up. The engine of progress came to a grinding halt. First came the Great War to end all wars and allow the construction of the great century to continue. Then the depression with its horrific deprivation and dehumanization. Then the Second World War. Then the Cold War, then Vietnam, student protests, global refugees, overpopulation, starvation and more wars. Then pollution, global warming, and the rise of tribalism.

By the time we reached the 21st century, the great dream had died. Optimism had been replaced by rampant pessimism. The vision that science could really make the world better had largely disappeared. The pursuit of individualism had left millions standing cold and naked in the biting winds howling unabated from one century into another. It is an understatement to say that in our present context a tremendous search is on to help stabilize our life situation.

In hindsight it is not that difficult to see how the church over the past four centuries has been influenced by the prevailing dynamics of the various centuries. Perhaps the three characteristics that have affected the church the most are rationalism, individualism and triumphalism. We will have occasion to revisit this inheritance in later essays in order to determine how these dynamics affected the way we read the Bible during past centuries.

So here we are in the early stages of the new century. We have already witnessed two full-scale wars, one in Iraq and the other in Afghanistan. The challenges of terrorism has gripped the entire world. And the church appears uncertain about where it is headed.  In a desperate search for answers, it seems that everywhere you look thoughtful Christians are turning back to its founding document, the Bible. Many are re-reading the Bible with new eyes in our new context to find answers for a beleaguered church in a troubled world. What are they finding?

I invite you to come with me on a journey back into the Bible.