Reading Scripture Today.

Yesterday in Community of God, we spent a good bit of time discussing textualization, the category of scripture, and the process of canonization. Near the end, Karen shared the following observations as operating principles when reading the scripture today. They were just too good not to post:

The Bible is a diverse library. It does not say just one thing, or come from one perspective or one single opinion. The scriptures contain different viewpoints and perspectives that can be seen as competing tensions and ideologies.

The Hebrew Bible is the literature of Israel. Therefore it is natural that the text is going to have a certain amount of ethno-centralism. Yet in the midst of its ethno-centralism, the text displays an amazing openness to the outsider.

The Bible has a distinct human element. Sometimes the text displays an internal discussions going on between various groups of Jews. Often they tell us more about the human author of the texts than they do about G-d.

The Bible is theological and educational. It gives us the history and the viewpoint it wants to give us, in order to shape the theological outlook it wants to give us.

The Bible is not a science book. We need to be very careful not to use it as such.