Q.
102
How do I know what to consider in context?
Nadia Bolz-Weber
Who is...
?
Nadia Bolz-Weber
The rst album I bought was The Ramones’
Road to Ruin (I was twelve).A.
The books in what we now call the Bible are known as the canon,
although it is important to note that there is more than one canon.
Our Roman Catholic and Orthodox brothers and sisters have a
slightly different set of books in their Bibles. We Lutherans believe there to be
what we call a “canon within the canon.” In other words, there are some parts
of the Bible that are central and some that are peripheral.
To us, the gospel is the canon within the canon. Luther spoke of the Bible
as the cradle that holds Christ. The Bible is not Christ; the Bible bears witness
to Christ and the good news of the new thing done in Christ’s birth, life, death,
and resurrection. This is the central message of the Bible and the lens through
which it is read. Therefore, the parts of the Bible that do not hold up against
the gospel simply do not have the same authority.
There are many messages one can hear from the biblical text. A case
could be made that God hates lobsters and crabs based on Leviticus 11:9–12.
The Bible contains enough writings that one could make a case for just about
anything.
But what is the central message? Christ.José F. Morales Jr.
Who is...
?
José F. Morales Jr.
I’m a morning person and a night owl, which means
that around 3 p.m., I’m completely useless.A.
We don’t “set aside” any part of the Bible.
Martin Copenhaver and Anthony Robinson decided to write
letters to their teenage kids about God, the church, and other
things, and to give these letters to their kids as they prepared to go to college.
One of the letters, compiled in their book Words for the Journey, dealt with the
parts of the Bible that are diffi cult to understand or accept.