One In Jesus

I’ve previously mentioned narrative theology. The point is pretty simple. The Bible is written as a story. Not a “story” in the sense of fiction. Rather, it’s “story” in the sense of “Dad, please tell us the story about how you and mom met one more time!” It’s a narrative. A true narrative. A narrative that changes your identity.

Like all stories, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. McKnight breaks it down —

Beginning (Genesis 1 – 11), and a (long, long)
Middle (Genesis 12 – Malachi 4; Matthew – Revelation), and an
End (Matthew 25; Romans 8; Revelation 21 – 22)

Notice that much of what the Jews call “Law” is really story. Genesis and Exodus are almost entirely story. There are some lengthy passages of what we’d call laws (or statutes), but they are given us in the context of a story. Continue reading →

McKnight continues explaining the right way to read the scriptures.

The way of returning to retrieve it all is not the biblical way. The biblical way is the ongoing adoption of the past and adaptation to new conditions and to do this in a way that is consistent with and faithful to the Bible. 

(Page 29; italics in original). Of course, this begs the question: who decides which Biblical teachings are to be adopted and which are to be adapted?

McKnight suggests that we first must learn to read the Bible “with tradition.” We don’t read the Bible bound by tradition, but neither do we ignore tradition. Continue reading →

Each denomination has its own blue parakeets.

McKnight explains that once while watching birds in his backyard he saw a blue parakeet fly in and land among the sparrows. He thought surely the parakeet had escaped from someone’s home and likely would want to return to its owner. But his efforts to catch the bird all failed. The blue parakeet had its own agenda and there was nothing he could do about it.

Just so, there are certain passages in the Bible that don’t seem to fit. Whatever your faith tradition, there are going to be some passages that you struggle to fit in. Your scholars will come up with elaborate explanations for how they fit, but each generation will re-discover them and wrestle with them. Sometimes, a part of the church will decide to rethink the denomination’s theology in order to make these verses fit better. And the story repeats itself a generation or two later.

The history of Christianity is filled with stories of the struggle to cope with the blue parakeet verses. Continue reading →

Scot McKnight, whom I’ve blogged about before (under “Should We Be Emerging?” and “Ironic Faith”), has recently published an excellent book on hermeneutics called The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible. It’s an introduction only, but it presents some very important points that we all need to know — and know well.

McKnight begins by pointing out that nearly all Bible scholars are inconsistent in their reading of the Bible. We insist on some commands as the will of the Almighty and entirely ignore others.

In the Churches of Christ, we take very seriously the commands about celebrating the Lord’s Supper while never, ever obeying the command to wash feet. We are very serious about baptizing by immersion but not about the Holy Kiss. We don’t require our women to wear head coverings in the assembly, and yet we prohibit them from speaking — except in unison with men, or to a tune, or to confess sin, or to confess Jesus. Continue reading →