Obviously the conservative bible is a silly idea, and if they want to
waste their time and money on such a thing, I figure it's there
problem. And hey, as I'm not one who really holds the Bible (as it
is) as sacred really (I know that's weird for a Catholic to say), I
think it's probably a good thing. At least they are engaging with the
text and being creative with it. Okay, more likely they are trying
very hard to force the bible into their own weird mold of what they
want it to say. I'm being generous here.
Thomas Jefferson did the same thing, of course, which is a fun thing about him.
Stephen Mitchell, who is not a Christian (as I recall) wrote a
fascinating book called The Gospel of Jesus, in which he goes on
recent scholarship AND his own instinct to pull out everything that
doesn't seem to fit in the Gospels. Interesting and at the very least
encourages active thinking and engagement with the Gospels.
Allow me to share this link to what I think is a BRILLIANT essay on
this. It really helps me in its explanation of a good way to approach
and engage with the Bible. I really encourage everyone here to read
it.
"The project, as it turns out, indulges in an error common not just to
conservatives, but to liberal believers and atheists as well. Namely,
these conservative ideologues seem to think that the Bible should tell
them what they already know, rather than challenge their beliefs."
http://www.religiondispatches.org/blog/religionandtheology/1892/because_the_bible_has_a_liberal_bias/
Seriously...follow the link. It's the best blog entry I've read in some time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Good one. My rabbi says the Torah is the family's stories, told and retold like any family's stories, and embroidered on and changed and reworked like any family's stories. She thinks Moses may well have been a literary device created to tell those stories. There is no actual historical basis for the Exodus, Sinai or any of the rest of it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments! I don't have a lot of background study on Hebrew scriptures and history, but what you wrote matches the little I have heard elsewhere as well.
ReplyDelete