Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Bible and authority part four (a)
I've enjoyed considering the issues and writing these posts. Thanks for your comments and emails. The third question that NT Wright raises is:
How can an ancient narrative text be authoritative? How, for instance, can the book of Judges, or the book of Acts, be authoritative? It is one thing to go to your commanding officer first thing in the morning and have a string of commands barked at you. But what would you do if, instead, he began ‘Once upon a time . . .’?
Wright puts forward a useful analogy: imagine a previously unknown Shakespeare play which is only partially recovered. We have the first four acts, but the fifth act is not recoverable. He suggest the church finds itself in the fifth act...we can read over the previous four and infer what actions we can take and how the story will resolve itself.
This reminds me of Brueggemann's use of imagination in the interpretative process:
"... I would insist that (i) imagination is in any case inevitable in the interpretive process if it is ever anything more than simple reiteration and that (2) faithful imagination is characteristically not autonomous fantasy but good-faith extrapolation.
I understand imagination to be the capacity to entertain images of meaning and reality that are out beyond the evident givens of observable experience." (Brueggemann, 28)
For many in the faith traditions I have come from, this release into imagination is scary, terrifying. It removes boundaries, destroys certainty, forces the believer to step out into something unknown. May I suggest it is a step of faith.
In beginning to unfold something of my answer, let me first say that there are few pieces of scripture that I would carry verbatim into the 21st century. And those I would investigate, wrestling to find their intent. Dave suggested, "the only 2 things I feel comfortable taking from the bible is love God, love people" (in the comments here). While I'd wholeheartedly agree with him now I hope that years of study will bring me further insight into God's character and the story I am part of.
I'd like to build on Wright, Brueggemann and many others and consider using the biblical story as 'scripts' to live in...(read more)
NOTES:
Bible and authority part one: here
Bible and authority part two: here
Bible and authority part three: here
Bible and authority part four (b): here
Read NT Wright's essay here
Brueggemann, W. (2004). The book that breathes new life: scriptural authority and biblical theology. Minneapolis, Fortress Press.
