Preface
So the other day I decided to read the Bible. I'm not sure exactly what inspired me to do such a thing, but it's probably because I have lately become flabergasted by the immense faith that so many people place in various religious ideas that originate in the Bible while remaining comfortably ignorant as to what the text actually says.
What really gets me is that so many people use the Bible only to support beliefs that they long ago decided were the "right ones" and ignore any messages that might not be convenient to those same beliefs. They make no attempt to listen for meaning in scripture--they only seek to "prove" a special kind of belief that is impermeable to alteration of any kind.
The result is a tendency to read into the scripture rather than just reading it. Perhaps more tragically, there is also the inevitable tendency for people to not read at all those parts of the Bible that do not support their preciously-held beliefs. In this way, whole swaths of the Bible are ignored, while other parts aren't read in order to understand the original meaning, rather they are scanned for "supporting arguments". This is a process where the only certain bits of the text are utilized which conveniently lend support to some idea that has been prematurely determined by the reader to be true.
The result? Most of the Bible's subtle beauty, literary genious, and counter-intuitive ethics are completely ignored for the sake of whatever glib interpretation happens to support the ideologies which offer people comfort in the place of true understanding. The transformative experiences that might otherwise have been possible by searching for meaning in the scripture are passed over for a cheap and easy reaffirmation of a too-easily-accepted faith.
My approach to the Bible assumes these things:
1) The Bible was written and edited and put together over hundreds of years by actual people with personal and political motives. It did not materialize at the behest of the Almighty, translated into English, on a bookshelf in Barnes & Noble.
2) It is ridiculous to try to say that some part of the Bible or other is "historically true". Whether or not something actually happened is almost always impossible to demonstrate. Arguing that something "actually happened" is usually another way of saying "My mind is too weak to understand the power and meaning contained in the text, so I'm going to make up for my lack of appreciation by doing what Hollywood does: add the line: 'Based on a true story' to sell more tickets".
3) If for no other reason, the Bible is important because of its immeasurable influence on every aspect of our lives. But it is also important for its literature, history, ethical teachings, even if these things are normally overlooked, misinterpreted, or even surpressed.
4) Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, C.S. Lewis, and everyone else can take their interpretations of the Bible and shove it. They might have been smart men and were certainly great communicators, but I'm not here to regurgitate pretty-sounding interpretations written by long dead men who achieved their timeless fame largely by telling people things they wanted to hear.
And so it begins. I think I'll start with Ecclesiastes. I don't remember exactly what Ecclesiastes deals with, but it's my dad's favorite book and I've always wondered why that was.
What really gets me is that so many people use the Bible only to support beliefs that they long ago decided were the "right ones" and ignore any messages that might not be convenient to those same beliefs. They make no attempt to listen for meaning in scripture--they only seek to "prove" a special kind of belief that is impermeable to alteration of any kind.
The result is a tendency to read into the scripture rather than just reading it. Perhaps more tragically, there is also the inevitable tendency for people to not read at all those parts of the Bible that do not support their preciously-held beliefs. In this way, whole swaths of the Bible are ignored, while other parts aren't read in order to understand the original meaning, rather they are scanned for "supporting arguments". This is a process where the only certain bits of the text are utilized which conveniently lend support to some idea that has been prematurely determined by the reader to be true.
The result? Most of the Bible's subtle beauty, literary genious, and counter-intuitive ethics are completely ignored for the sake of whatever glib interpretation happens to support the ideologies which offer people comfort in the place of true understanding. The transformative experiences that might otherwise have been possible by searching for meaning in the scripture are passed over for a cheap and easy reaffirmation of a too-easily-accepted faith.
My approach to the Bible assumes these things:
1) The Bible was written and edited and put together over hundreds of years by actual people with personal and political motives. It did not materialize at the behest of the Almighty, translated into English, on a bookshelf in Barnes & Noble.
2) It is ridiculous to try to say that some part of the Bible or other is "historically true". Whether or not something actually happened is almost always impossible to demonstrate. Arguing that something "actually happened" is usually another way of saying "My mind is too weak to understand the power and meaning contained in the text, so I'm going to make up for my lack of appreciation by doing what Hollywood does: add the line: 'Based on a true story' to sell more tickets".
3) If for no other reason, the Bible is important because of its immeasurable influence on every aspect of our lives. But it is also important for its literature, history, ethical teachings, even if these things are normally overlooked, misinterpreted, or even surpressed.
4) Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, C.S. Lewis, and everyone else can take their interpretations of the Bible and shove it. They might have been smart men and were certainly great communicators, but I'm not here to regurgitate pretty-sounding interpretations written by long dead men who achieved their timeless fame largely by telling people things they wanted to hear.
And so it begins. I think I'll start with Ecclesiastes. I don't remember exactly what Ecclesiastes deals with, but it's my dad's favorite book and I've always wondered why that was.
posted by Brian at 10:17 AM
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