Taking Jesus Seriously #2

Here is the summary of our discussion from Week 2 that took place 01/28/10.
-Linda

• How do we read the Bible as truth?
• Should the Bible be read from a historical-critical standpoint?
• Is every part of the Bible equal?
• What does the Bible reveal about God, about us?
• Has the Christian message been corrupted?

The Bible is not a single document but a collection of books. “Bible” comes from “ta biblia” – the books. Unlike other religious texts (eg the Quran, the Book of Mormon) which claim vertical transmission straight from God, the Jewish-Christian text was written over 1000 years with numerous authors and editors. It should not be read from start to finish as one long narrative because that is not how it was written. For example the first chapter of Genesis was one of the last pieces to be written. The Bible is a text created and received by community. You can’t know definitely what is the correct translation or right meaning – it has to be shared and understood in a conversation by a community.

So how is it such a collection of evolving texts are now interpreted in such a monolithic way – often with a single, narrow meaning? It is because the Bible has been interpreted legally…

Most human societies depend on laws, the sanction of law (police, punishment, the price you pay). A legal reading promotes order, control, - keeps chaos at bay.

There is law in the Bible – the first five books of the OT are the Torah which means “the teaching’ or “the law”. Some of these books contain a lot of laws – particularly those relating to ritual and purification (Leviticus for example). But in the NT Jesus figures as a man who deliberately breaks some laws – the Sabbath, purity and temple laws. And Paul is always going on about how only faith and not the Law can save you. So how did the Bible get to be understood legally?

For 300 years early Christianity was an unlicensed, unofficial movement. In the Western Christian tradition, while Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the big figures that shaped it were lawyers like Tertullian, Ambrose and Augustine. They were riding the wave of Christianity’s increasing success – now the pathway to privilege.

Augustine especially found a way to mesh the original counter-cultural message with the paradigm of Empire.

Augustine also had to explain how after 300 years the world was still as messed up as ever. He did this by saying that God has chosen some for salvation, others not – predestination. Humanity is a massa damnata a “damned lump” – and God chooses individuals out of this for salvation. There is no sure way of knowing who has been chosen – but you can be certain you aren’t going to be one of the saved if you don’t go to church and obey church law.

This doctrine was accepted in various forms also by Aquinas, Luther and Calvin. God emerges as all-powerful and judgmental, like the ultimate emperor with the power of life and death.

In the 12th Century Anselm addressed the question of why Jesus had to die. Anselm emerges from the era of chivalry, knights and the crusades. God’s honor and justice had been offended. Because God is infinite, the least sin against his honor causes infinite offence. The only way God’s honor can be appeased is if God himself, as Jesus, dies as an infinite compensation of honor. This belief is still held today by most Christians. That Jesus died because of a legal demand of the Father.

So how do you read the Bible? What does it look like if you de-legalize and de-imperialize it?

There is a rift in the Bible – not between the OT and NT but a rift that occurs on every page. God is trying to change us. Humans have structured their culture in violence. This is the easiest way to create order – through fear, division and law. We are very familiar with it – it is the way the world has always worked. God has handed over humanity to humanity. God has given us total freedom to do it this way. But God does gently intervene in history– showing us a different way. We are not a “damned lump” but God’s creation. This message of slow evolutionary challenge and change is a silver thread that is woven throughout the Bible – more evident in some parts than others.

The Flood narrative (Gen 6:1-15) is an example. There is a variant of a flood story in many cultures. What makes the Bible version different is that the flood does not arise because of an arbitrary act of the gods – but because God sees the violence and destructive desires of humanity. The focus on injustice is the silver thread.
Another example: the Joseph story from Genesis has the gospel message of conversion, non-violence and forgiveness at its heart even though it is found in the OT.

The prediction of the second coming of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel talks of a time when the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the skies and the people will mourn. They will understand the violent path they have been on is not the way to true humanity.

The Bible does two things – it holds up a mirror to ourselves – shows us who we are. In these passages we can be seen to create God in our own likeness. However, the Bible also carries the silver thread of the gospel message – that seeks concretely to change the reality of who we are. From violence and destructive desire to the new creation of love.