Bible Study: "Reading the Bible Again for the First Time."

"Reading the Bible Again for the First Time"
Session 3

"St. Joan of Arc Bible Study is an open and growing group that meets for fellowship and to discuss the Bible and other faith-centered literature. Our informal study group draws from biblical scholarship, historical perspectives, current events and personal reflections. We welcome honor and respect the personal ideas and spiritual journeys of all who join us."

Greetings

What an extraordinarily luminous evening we had at the old country church, again. It may have felt like December outside but down in the "Hall" things were heating up! For a while there I thought Betty, Lucy, Bob and I would be the only ones there. Oh me of little faith. Like moths to a flame we began filtering in for our warm and most often exhilarating weekly gathering.

We had a group of about 27 again and we began with a wonderful poem that seemed to speak directly to us or about us as we sat and centered in the circle. We had one more meditation in anticipation of the somewhat dry and technical material of the third chapter and were asked to let it sift and shake through our minds so that later in our studies when the material of chapter three becomes more immediate, it will make sense to us.

Our facilitator had the challenge of making this dry and uninspiring material palatable and we would say he passed with flying colors. One example of adding some inspiration was the communal reading and discussion of the Road to Emmaus as possibly a narrative that "metaphorizes" history. In other words the event actually happened in time but told in a way that gives metaphorical meaning.

We discussed at length the idea that it may not have been the historical Jesus in the flesh with them. (The story states in the very beginning that the stranger is Jesus but the two don't recognize him which we found to be bad writing or story telling at the very least.) But we discussed that maybe the meaning of the story is that their experience that came by living Jesus' gospel message in the present, with the invitation to the "stranger" to travel with them and the invitation to dine with them, they suddenly come to the realization that it is not about looking to another for hope or salvation but that in taking the message of Jesus and making it their own and living the life, that the risen Christ is present. We read and discussed two other stories regarding the risen Christ and that they were similar in terms of the people not recognizing Jesus at first and what that might mean. It's not like Jesus was wearing a disguise or that it was dark or something.

Anyway, on to the overview... sorry we cant duplicate the animation and the passion with which this was delivered but it was privilege to behold.

SJA SCRIPTURE STUDY

October 22, 2002

Borg Reading the Bible Again for the First Time

Chapter 3: Reading Lenses: History and Metaphor

In the last chapter we learned how to see the Bible:

As a human response to God
as sacred scripture
as foundation of the Christian world and as a sacrament

In this chapter we learn how to read the Bible, using the Historical/Metaphorical Approach.

Historical:

discerning the ancient historical meanings of the texts
source analysis, books no longer in existence, such as J and Q
form analysis of the oral traditions
redaction analysis of the intention of the redactor, or editor of the final versions
canonical analysis of the text within the whole Bible
social-scientific analysis of the society which originated the text, e.g. agrarian, shame-honor, etc.

The books of the Bible are ancient artifacts. "The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there." They were written from the 900s BCE to 165 BCE and from 50 CE to 150 CE.

Limits on the historical approach:

our own modern worldview is narrow; does not appreciate the breadth and depth of the wisdom of our ancestors. We flatten the meaning.
Wide disagreement and little certainty as to historical facts
Imprisonment of text in the past

Read "The historical study of the Bible..." on page 39

Metaphorical:

in the broad sense, it means intrinsically nonliteral
it has more than one nuance or resonance, e.g. rose as color, fragrance, beauty, blooming, thorns, etc.
it is linguistic or verbal art: to see as the Exodus as a metaphor for divine deliverance; seeing, not believing.
It is profoundly true, poetry plus. "Some things are best expressed in metaphorical language; others can be expressed only in metaphorical language."
Modern metaphorical interpretation methods:
- narrative theology, the meaning of the stories as stories
- literary analysis of the text itself without reference to context
- archetypal analysis of symbols and stories across multiple cultures, e.g. hero stories, creation stories, flood stories, etc.
Ancient metaphorical interpretation methods:
- literal
- allegorical
- anagogical
- tropological

Why use the Metaphorical approach?

some texts are manifestly metaphorical, e.g. Job, Jonah and the great fish.
as a religious classic, the Bible has a surplus of meaning, not confined to the intention of the author or original setting. We keep seeing new things in it.

Limitations on the metaphorical method:

it's capable of fanciful interpretations, e.g. Augustine and the Good Samaritan
It needs control, provided in part by the historical approach and in part by the discernment of the community.

The Bible as History and Metaphor

Narratives that Metaphorize History:

historical event but told in a way that gives it metaphorical meaning, e.g., Jesus cured 2 blind men in Mark, but the metaphor is Jesus "opening our eyes to the light", i.e., seeing the way of Jesus.

Narratives Purely Metaphorical:

e.g., creation stories, spectacular miracles of loaves and fishes, water into wine, virgin birth, walking on water. How can we tell if it's purely metaphor?
look for signs within the story, including rich symbolic motifs from the Hebrew Bible, which would have been familiar to early Christians, but of which we are abysmally ignorant
ask whether it's just too spectacular to have actually happened (are the writers laughing at us for even thinking it could have been true?).

The ancient communities mythologized their history to invest the story with meaning. We moderns have tended to literalize their mythology.

The Bible as Stories about the Divine-Human Relationship

The Hebrew Bible is ancient Israel's story of her relationship with God. The Christian Testament is the early Christian community's story of its relationship with God as disclosed in Jesus.

But, they are also the story of the divine-human relationship in the present. The stories are about, even if metaphorically, perennial human problems and God's continuing love for us.

Reading the Bible in a State of Postcritical Naiveté

Pre-critical naiveté is a childlike acceptance of a text at its face value.

Critical thinking is a natural development (?) that occurs to all of us (?) as we grow up. It means we ask as we read "Is this really true?" "How does this relate to everything else I have read and studied?"

Post-critical naiveté is a faith filled reading of the Bible that realizes the stories are true even if they are not historical fact, or if history, that they are not intended to convey historical fact. It doesn't matter whether Jesus was born in Bethlehem or Nazareth, just that he came. It doesn't matter whether the Last Supper was on Passover or the day before Passover, just that Jesus made the communal meal a special gift. We need to be led into the state of postcritical naiveté. That's what the rest of the book will do.

Read "In the rest of the Book..." page 51

Thank you cousin!

Presently, like clockwork, we made our way to the snack bar for 10 minutes of refreshment and fellowship. Alright, you may find this hard to believe but we were quickly introduced to the most scrumcious Pineapple Angel food cake (with whipped cream!) the scripture group had ever beheld. And we are not finished...there was also a plateful of the delectable, rich, soft interior slightly crispy exterior chocolate fudge brownies with nuts and as if that weren't enough they were then injected with caramel or toffee and topped with whipped cream! Who are you kidding! And we must say we can no longer poke good-natured fun at the "gourmet" Parish coffee because we have been spoiled lately with 'real' gourmet decaff coffee that brews in a fresh new machine. Superb! I notice that though we make a double batch, we always run out. A few of us (me) are still figuring out how to keep it hot though. Thank you treat bearers!

Our 5 small groups contained about five people each and the discussions were passionate and varied. Some spoke about the miracles or what Borg calls the 'spectacular.' Many spoke about the fact that Borg was unsettling and challenging some long-held beliefs. Some of us mentioned how nice it was to hear people honestly share where they are with their faith and what that means to them today. Many of us discussed the Road to Emmaus again and shared thoughts on if we think the Bible is a Divine creation or a human creation and what that may mean to us. We discussed low and high Christology and the challenge of seeing the Christ in those people deemed to be untouchable. The "Tyrants" and "monsters" and "nutcases" of the world and we shared our feelings for each other and the magic that takes place when we gather here in Jesus' name.

Amen. We finished with a closing prayer on forgiveness and about being ready to love our neighbors as ourselves.

For next week please read Chapter 4 in Borg and we have been asked to read the first two Chapters of Genesis, three times, as this will be discussed.

Privileges for next week include:

Facilitator(s) Betty and Vi!!
O. Prayer Rik
C. Prayer Nancy W.
Treats Rita
Cleanup Carlene
Book store
- After 9
- After 11 Rik

Namaste! - We salute the light within you!

Rik Murray
(612) 872-8694

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