Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt

Home
Progressive Christian
Sometimes I Wish The Bible Had Never Been Written

Sometimes I Wish The Bible Had Never Been Written

Last updated on: July 27, 2015 at 11:23 am by Zack Hunt

Sometimes I Wish The Bible Had Never Been Written 2015-07-27T11:23:29-06:00 Zack Hunt

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

(Credit: Freaktography, Flickr Creative Commons)

Sometimes I wish the Bible had never been written.

I don’t mean I wish God had never spoken to us or that the gospel was never proclaimed or that we didn’t have any of those amazing stories or important teachings. I just wish there was some way they could have remained what they originally were – an oral tradition, stories passed down from generation to generation that carried just as much weight and meaning as they do today – if not more – because they had to actually be learned and understood or else they would lost.

Stories are just better heard than read.

And they’re even better lived out.

When stories get written down lines are drawn, walls are erected, boundaries are laid down. Sometimes that’s a good thing, but a lot of times what happens is a vibrant, life-giving story is transformed into a stale, lifeless idol to hold over the heads of others. The words that were meant to give life instead become an instrument of death in the hands of those who are more concerned with having all the answers than they are extending grace and incarnating love.

Now, lest you think I’m just a crazy, rambling heretic, allow me to point you towards at least one somewhat reputable church figure who stands in my corner: Martin Luther. In his essay A Brief Instruction On What To Look For And Expect In The Gospels he wrote,

And the gospel should really not be something written, but a spoken word which brought forth the Scriptures, as Christ and the apostles have done. This is why Christ himself did not write anything but only spoke. He called his teaching not Scripture, but gospel, meaning good news or a proclamation that is spread not by pen but by word of mouth. So we go on and make the gospel into a law book, a teaching of commandments, changing Christ into a Moses, the One who would help us into simply an instructor.

Luther understood that when it is bound by the written word the gospel meant to liberate and give life can instead become a new law to oppress and imprison. This doesn’t always happen, of course, but when the gospel gets codified into little more than a new set of doctrines to believe and behaviors to avoid, Christ is too often transformed into a dictator eager to destroy dissidents and his followers into a self-appointed secret police force myopically focused on ensuring that everyone conforms to their particular interpretation of what it means to be a Christian.

When the Word of God is reduced to words on a page, when the revelation of God is chopped up into chapters and verses ripe for the picking, words that were meant to give life too often and too easily become nothing more than ammunition for condemning the behavior and opinions of others, particularly those in the minority, who don’t look exactly like us, who don’t talk exactly like us, who don’t think about God and the Christian faith exactly the way we do.

I know there’s no going back.

But we can and we must do better.

If the written story of our faith is going to be the source of Life and Liberation we claim it is, then we have do a better job not just of telling that story, but a better job – a much better job – of actually living that story out.

Of course, how that story is supposed to be lived out comes back to how we read the written words Bible and how we read the Bible is profoundly dependent upon our particular context and tradition. And it’s that context and tradition – the cultural bubbles we all live in – that leads to so much division and strife in the Church.

Convinced our reading of Scripture is the one and only true reading of Scripture, we refuse to listen to other readings and consider the possibility that we might be wrong, that the truth might not actually be as plainly obvious as we thought it was. And so we retrench into our theological camps and cling fast to our proof-texts, convinced that our right beliefs will save us.

Of course, this theological travesty can’t be entirely blamed on the fact that our story of faith has been bound by the written word. After all, there are centuries worth of Christian history in which the people of God were guided by scripture, not slaves to it.

But the since at least the late 19th century the Church has been plagued by fundamentalism and the biblical idolatry it espouses. We are the inheritors of generations worth of a catechism that has taught countless Christians that the Bible is the end, not the beginning of faith.

I don’t know how to completely reverse our enslavement to the written word or how to liberate the Spirit for the cultural vise we have her in, but I do think St. Augustine has some wisdom for reading scripture that if heeded, might put us on the path towards a healthier, more life giving reading of the Bible.

In his book De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Teaching), St. Augustine lays out how he thinks the Bible should be properly interpreted. For Augustine, the Greatest Commandment is the beginning and end of scriptural interpretation. In other words, “the fulfillment and the end of the Law, and of all Holy Scripture” is love of God and love of neighbor. Therefore, he says, “Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this twofold love of God and our neighbor, does not yet understand them as he ought.”

In other words, no matter what particular approach or angle or lens you read the Bible through, if the ultimate conclusion or interpretation you reach doesn’t lead you towards loving God and loving your neighbor, then no matter how you reached your conclusion, it’s wrong. On the other hand, “if a man fully understands that “the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned,” and is bent upon making all his understanding of Scripture to bear upon these three graces, he may come to the interpretation of these books with an easy mind.”

Compared to so many of us in the church today Augustine certainly had radically different approach to scripture. He didn’t need it to be the divine answer book we need it to be. He was concerned about orthodoxy to be sure, but only as a means to keep people focused on loving God and neighbor, not as a means to control and exclude anyone and everyone who disagreed.

The catch to all of this is that the love Augustine (by way of Jesus) talks about has to actually be embodied. It can’t be merely an idea in our heads that we agree with, an emotion consigned to our hearts, or simply a claim that we make with our lips.

We can’t say in one breath “I love this person” and then use our next breath to live a life that condemns and excludes them from the people of God.

The Greatest Commandment has to be an incarnated way of life, not another doctrine to agree with.

Which means in a lot of ways St. Augustine’s rule for reading and interpreting scripture is infinitely more difficult than any biblical exegesis class I’ve ever taken.

On one hand, it means going back to the drawing board on some theological issues we’re convinced are settled matters. For no matter how plain we might think the truth on the biblical page might be, if our reading leads us towards anything other than loving God and neighbor, we must reevaluate our interpretation, no matter how steeped in tradition and exegesis that interpretation might be.

But that’s a good thing because doing so forces to be more invested in the story of our faith much like our ancestors of old were when that story existed as an oral tradition that had to be intentionally passed down to the next generation. That in turn can bring new life into and out of a Book that has become for almost all intents and purposes, a dead document.

But most importantly, St. Augustine’s rule for reading and interpreting the Bible means that loving others can’t just be something we talk about or agree with.

It has to be something we actually live out.

If that happens, then the gospel (and the Bible in general) stops being just words on a page and instead becomes what it was always meant to be.

A life to be lived.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 8, 2015

Are Christians Really The Only Ones Going To Heaven?

Next Post

July 30, 2015 Two Church Robberies, Two Very Different Responses

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Review Classifieds Commentary Fundie Friday Funny Pictures Music Video News Prophecy Technology Televangelist Throwback Thursday Tract Tuesday Tracts Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 August 2018 June 2018 May 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 September 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz