Julia M. O'Brien has a thought provoking essay up on Bible and Interpretation entitled Growing an Audience. Here's a sample:
If biblical scholars want to continue to have relevance (and stay employed) we have to start talking more about why people should care about the Bible, not relying on the fact that they historically have. We need to quit depending on religious institutions (or maybe religious radio) to cultivate a "tradition" that we can expertly correct. We need to speak more about why the Bible matters to us, what we think it has to offer beyond "background."
Well put. I think she not only speaks well to the issue of the popularization of the Bible in publishing, but also to the need to re-introduce the scriptures as something that can speak to us today in our current human condition.
Her article reminded me of a conversation we had last week in class where we talked about the scriptures as a record of God's happening to humanity. In other words, the scriptures are a collection of writings focused on God's real and tangible interaction with humanity. The scriptures are not just ancient stories, but speak to the larger human condition and God's interaction in the very midst of those human conditions. It is a collection of writings that speak about the past, but also about the now.
Comments