Edgework

When I wrote a series of essays a few years back entitled, “Rediscovering the Bible,” I indicated at the time that I would most likely be returning to this subject down the road. Well, here I am, adding a second volume, if you wish, in which I explore a few more ideas about how the Bible can be read in a way that is relevant today.

This subject is of critical importance to me in this season of my life because the more I study, the more I become aware that the lens through which I have read the Bible in my younger years, and the lens many of my friends still use, has some significant flaws. So in this new set of essays I will be expanding on my earlier series in a continuing attempt to articulate a more faithful biblical hermeneutic.

But why now? What brought this issue to the surface for me at this time? During this past year I have read widely on the topic of “Atonement” as portrayed in the Bible. Together with a local book club, I spent a lot of time in the book, “Stricken By God? Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ,” edited by Brad Jersak and Michael Hardin. In it, twenty contemporary theologians wrestle with traditional views of atonement, especially those that portray God the Father as striking his Son in anger in order to solve the sin problem for humans.

This led me to reading some of the longer works of such writers on the subject including, “The Non-Violent Atonement,” by J. Denny Weaver, and “Instead of Atonement,” by Ted Grimsrud.  At the same time I began reviewing some books on the subject I had read earlier, including, among others, “Surprised by Hope,” by N. T. Wright, “Recovering the Scandal of the Cross,” by Joel Green and Mark D. Baker, “Razing Hell: Rethinking Everything You’ve Been Taught about God’s Wrath and Judgment,” by Sharon L. Baker, and “The Jesus Driven Life: Reconnecting Humanity with Jesus,” by Michael Hardin.

All of these writers suggest in one way or another that God is not a violent deity who needs blood on the floor before he can forgive human beings – as much church dogma of the past has suggested. I have yet to read, “The Nonviolent God,” by J. Denny Weaver which lies waiting for attention on my desk.

So I had thought that my next series of essays would deal specifically with the question of Atonement in the Bible. But again and again in my readings I came across questionable notions about Atonement that have arisen throughout history because of faulty ways of reading the Bible. Hardin faces this challenge head on, devoting a whole chapter to “How Jesus Read His Bible.”

And then I came across a book recommended by Kurt Willems on The Pangea Blog – a site I highly recommend and which can be found at patheos.com/blogs/thepangeablog – entitled, “Disarming Scripture: Cherry-Picking Liberals and Violence-Loving Conservatives, and Why We All Need to Read the Bible like Jesus Did,” by Derek Flood. I found it hard to put the book down because Flood’s ideas resonated so deeply with many concepts I have held and taught for many years. But he presents them in a creative and convincing manner I had not seen before.

By the time I put the book down, I knew that before I could write a series on Atonement, I needed first to spend more time delineating how we can read the Bible faithfully in the 21st century. In other words, I am suggesting that the recent deluge of books challenging us to rethink the concept of Atonement in the Bible has its genesis in the challenge to rethink how we read the Bible. So, for now, the assignment I have given myself is to delve into that subject a little deeper. Writing about Atonement will have to wait for a while longer.

Why does such an exercise matter?

First, it will provide a template for how for how we should read the Scriptures today. Serious Bible students have known for a long time that finding a relevant message in the biblical text for our modern age is not as simple as quoting Bible verses. In some cases there appears to be conflicting advice and at other times instructions given do not fit our context or even require us to override our consciences. Jesus’ reading of his Bible will demonstrate for us how to project the relevance of an ancient biblical text into our modern context.

Second, this exercise will help us shape our view of God. Sometimes the question is asked in what way the character of God the Father is reflected in Jesus. Jesus articulates his self-identity by carefully and critically using the Old Testament text; adopting some passages, rejecting others and adding a new perspective on still others. By doing so, Jesus forces us to adopt a view of God the Father that looks like him. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (John 8:19). In other words, images of God that don’t align with Jesus must be rejected – a tall order for many a theologian.

Third, and following on the heels of the point just made, we will find a handle on how to handle the Old Testament texts that appear to make God out to be a violent, blood-thirsty deity bent on vengeance and retribution. We will find a way to deal with texts that show God taking delight in smashing enemy infants on the rocks. That is no small feat and one that has stumped many Bible readers through the centuries of Christian history.

Jesus shows us the way, but it will only become evident how he does that by observing how he reads his Bible. The question is whether or not we will trust Jesus and the Father he reveals.