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{"id":1101,"date":"2024-07-08T17:33:36","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T21:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theydidntteachmethat\/?p=1101"},"modified":"2024-07-11T11:13:18","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T15:13:18","slug":"how-a-reader-approaches-the-bible-makes-all-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theydidntteachmethat\/2024\/07\/how-a-reader-approaches-the-bible-makes-all-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Kinds of Readers: How One Sees The Bible Is The Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Bible has been seen as supernaturally authored\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Pixabay image by Charlotte 20203<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While I was in the process of writing a little article about the Biblical Book of Revelation<\/a>, one morning I joined my local on-line Bible study led by either the rector or deacon of my local Episcopalian congregation.<\/p>\n

The subject was the apocalyptic Book of Ezekiel. The text was Ezekiel 38<\/a> and Ezekiel\u2019s vision of the downfall of Judah and the destruction of the Temple, followed by a final victory of the Israelites over their enemies, a prophecy that was not fulfilled.<\/p>\n

One woman about my age asked the deacon if the reference to an army \u201cfrom the North\u201d could be a reference to Russia or North Korea.\u00a0 He did not take that opportunity to explain why these apocalypses were written and glossed over the entire idea.<\/p>\n

I realized at that moment that I needed to clarify for myself the different approaches to the Bible and the different things the reader expects to get from it.\u00a0 This would help to see more clearly the different kinds of readers\u2026and non-readers.<\/p>\n

What are the different approaches?<\/h2>\n***
** After giving this a good deal of thought, I have classified different approaches by naming the type of reader associated with each approach.\u00a0 I believe one way to classify these readers and non-readers is to make an attempt to speculate the outcomes that each category expects.<\/p>\n
** ***Author\u2019s note:\u00a0 I am concerned here with the approaches I have observed among Christians, or at least, non-Jews.\u00a0 I do not pretend to be in a position to classify Jewish Bible readers.\u00a0 Of the local rabbis I have contacted, none was eager to give me much information.\u00a0 One flatly refused to talk with me.\u00a0 I do not want to put my Jewish friends on the spot, so we will confine this discussion to non-Jewish readers and non-readers.<\/em><\/p>\n

\nThe true believer: one who believes that the Bible is the inerrant and perfect Word of God.<\/li>\nThe questioning believer:\u00a0 one who the Bible is not necessarily a historic account but provides a clear set of guidelines to faith and practice.<\/li>\nThe skeptic\/scholar: one who has withheld belief<\/a> and is striving to learn as much as possible about the Bible and the people who wrote it.\u00a0 The interest is historic, philosophical and anthropological and can be theological.<\/li>\nThe agnostic:\u00a0 one who has questions about the existence of Deity but has an interest in learning about the Bible and the people who wrote it.<\/li>\nThe atheist: one who does not believe in Deity but who has an interest in the Bible as history, mythology and literature.<\/li>\nThe incurious \/apathetic: one who has no interest in reading and studying the Bible and considers it be \u201cjust stories.\u201d\u00a0 This group is the only one who apparently sees no value in the Bible or in its study.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

Reading the Bible can bring hope\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Image by Pexels from Pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe true believer<\/h3>\n***
** ***This reader believes that the Bible is the only legitimate holy book and the only legitimate guide to faith and practice.\u00a0 This reader believes hat the Bible is univocal, that its text speaks with a single voice.\u00a0 There is no room or reason to question the text.\u00a0 Among Protestants, these readers are often seen as fundamentalists<\/em>, among Catholics as the theologically ultra-conservative<\/em>.\u00a0 This reader is typically active in his local church.<\/p>\n

The questioning believer<\/h3>\n

This reader holds the Bible in high regard but realizes that any ancient group of texts, written and edited by human hands over a period of 3000 years will necessarily contain inconsistencies, contradictions and unanswerable questions.\u00a0 This reader typically has strong faith but sees that any belief in the text\u2019s inerrancy is not reasonable. \u00a0<\/a>This reader is typically active in his local church.<\/p>\n

The skeptic\/scholar<\/h3>\n*******
** *******This reader group contains a great deal of variety from active seminarians to professional scholars to lay people who want to know what the Bible really says and why it was written in exactly the way it was by the people who felt compelled to write it at all.\u00a0 The interest of this reader might be more theological or it might be more historic, philosophical or literary. This reader questions everything and everyone.\u00a0 he takes nothing at face value.\u00a0 If he is a person of faith, he understands that as he learns, his faith might evolve.\u00a0 He may or may not be active in his local church.<\/p>\n

The Bible can be thought provoking\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 image by Pexels from Pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe agnostic<\/h3>\n*******
** This reader has not made up his mind about the reality of a Deity.\u00a0 His interest in the Bible might be a personal quest to make sense of religion or it might be a handbook for questioning the same.\u00a0 His motives are likely personal and he has more questions than answers. He neither believes nor denies belief.<\/p>\n
** The atheist<\/h3>\n
** This reader acknowledges no belief in Deity whatsoever.\u00a0 He believes in no god of any description and any interest he might have in the Bible will either be purely academic or purely to gain information to offer an argument against faith.<\/p>\n
** The incurious\/apathetic<\/h3>\n
** *******This reader (or in almost every case, the non-reader) believes that the Bible is \u201cjust stories.\u201d\u00a0 He has no interest in learning about the Bible or the people who wrote it and certainly has no interest in its theologies or why it was written.\u00a0 This person may or may not acknowledge Deity.\u00a0 His approach might be described as \u201clukewarm.\u201d<\/p>\n

What kind of reader am I?<\/h2>\n*********
** *********I place myself in the skeptic\/scholar category.\u00a0 While I am not a professional scholar, my interest is to learn as much as I can in the time I have left about the Bible,\u00a0 the people who wrote it, the world they lived in and why the Bible was written at all.\u00a0 I am reading and absorbing professional Biblical scholarship from books, monographs, on-line resources like podcasts as well as attending my local Bible study and finally, in comparing notes with my son and research partner.<\/p>\n

I believe that there is value in the Bible, first as an (admittedly suspect) source of historical data, but more as a window into the world in which it was written from sometime during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in Israel\/Canaan\/Palestine from possibly the 700s BCE to the period of the Babylonian captivity of Judah into the first century CE and the Roman period up to 90-180 CE for the Hebrew Bible Book of Daniel and the New Testament Book of Revelation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For the faithful, the Bible brings comfort, and provides rules for how to live.\u00a0 While it speaks with many, many voices, the Bible does, in the end, provide two things that seem essential to its overall message: love God and love your neighbor whether he lives next door or in North Korea.\u00a0 Most religions have a similar core message.\u00a0 The problem is that all the other voices make it hard for some, and I am here challenging fundamentalists.<\/p>\n

The Bible is not perfect, but if a person is reasonable, he can indeed see both the forest and<\/em> the trees.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What kind of reader (or non-reader) are you?\u00a0 I would be grateful for a comment, question or criticism.<\/em><\/p>\n

I am a public student of Biblical scholarship.\u00a0 Please join me on my quest to learn about the Bible, who wrote it and why it was written.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not everyone approaches the Bible in the same way.\u00a0 The way that a reader plunges into the text of the Bible will strongly affect what value the reader emerges with when re-gaining the surface. While I was in the process of writing a little article about the Biblical Book of Revelation, one morning I joined […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[23,26,11],"class_list":["post-1101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bible","tag-christian","tag-hebrew-bible"],"yoast_head":"\n6 Kinds of Readers: How One Sees The Bible Is The Difference<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Not everyone approaches the Bible in the same way.\u00a0 The way that a reader plunges into the text of the Bible will strongly effect what value th\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theydidntteachmethat\/2024\/07\/how-a-reader-approaches-the-bible-makes-all-the-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"6 Kinds of Readers: How One Sees The Bible Is The Difference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Not everyone approaches the Bible in the same way.\u00a0 The way that a reader plunges into the text of the Bible will strongly effect what value th\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theydidntteachmethat\/2024\/07\/how-a-reader-approaches-the-bible-makes-all-the-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"They Didn\u2019t Teach Me That...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-08T21:33:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-11T15:13:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/2147\/2024\/06\/Holy-Bible-Pixabay-Image-by-StockSnap.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"William T. 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