103
Q.
How do I know what to consider in context?
In the letter, the authors use the analogy of a fi ling system. They said that
the parts they accept are stowed away in the fi le drawer. The parts that are
diffi cult or those they can’t stand (e.g., killing babies in Psalm 137), they do
not throw away. Rather, they leave them on the desk, right in front of them—
forced to wrestle with them again and again. We fi ght with hard texts; we
don’t dismiss them even if we hate them.
In his fabulous The Good Book, Peter Gomes asserts that even though the
Bible doesn’t change, we do. Our “culture of interpretation,” which shapes the
way we read and react to scripture, changes. At some point in human his-
tory, the images of God as warrior were comforting for folks, not necessarily
because they were blood-hungry killers but because within their context, War-
rior God made sense. Today, with all the unnecessary wars and the equally
unnecessary weapons of mass destruction, God as “general” may not serve
us well.
Instead of “setting aside,” ask what the core of the biblical story is. Scrip-
ture itself helps us. If we take note of the events that are repeatedly mentioned
and refl ected upon throughout the Bible, we fi nd there are two: the Exodus
and Christ. In both, God liberates and we faithfully respond by joining God in
that liberating process. I say, begin there.
Rebecca Bowman Woods
A.
You don’t need to be a biblical scholar to read the Bible nonliterally
and interpret it wisely. You just need to ask questions. Reading the
Bible critically—acknowledging your questions about the text—
doesn’t mean you’re criticizing the Bible or God. After all, God gave us the gift
of intellect and the capacity to learn. Would God expect us to put these aside
when approaching the Bible?
Take the parable of the mustard seed in Luke 13:18–19. Jesus compares
the kingdom of God to “a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in
the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in
its branches.” Most people assume that the comparison is favorable. Jesus
wouldn’t compare God’s realm to something odd or ordinary, would he?
Read the text slowly, and consult more than one translation if you can.
Make a list of questions, such as the following:
- Where is Jesus, and to whom is he speaking?
- Would a mustard plant have been considered useful? Beautiful? Common?
- Would it normally be planted in a garden?
- What about the birds? Would their presence be welcomed or not?
- Were any objects in the story—mustard seed, tree, garden, birds,
branches—common symbols for something else? - Is this parable in any other gospels? How are those versions different?