Tonight, I begin co-teaching Luke-Acts for ministry majors at Rochester College. I usually begin the class the way I was taught by one close friend: we talk about Scripture.
I will inevitably talk about two important elements of reading and interpreting the Bible. By the way, simply reading is interpretation. First, we’ll discuss location. Physical location is crucial for, as is the case with real estate, it’s all about location, location, location. Where you read shapes what you read. Most people read the bible individually in a cozy space. However, what if you read, for instance, Jesus words about wealth and simplicity in the slums of Calcutta? Or the suburbs of Dallas, Texas? One’s physical location directly determines one’s “found meaning.”
Also, we will discuss social location. Who you are, shapes what you read. I’ve now taught for three years at the college level with students from all different perspectives. I can tell you that white men read the bible quite differently than black women (just one example). The point: we must read the bible in various spaces with various people to experience the rich depth and power of God’s story. I will never forget the time an African American female student twice my age stood up after I retold the Ruth/Boaz story and declared, "Josh, I'm still looking for my Boaz."
After talking about “location” we’ll discuss “nature.” I’ll deconstruct the myth that the bible is a rule-book or collection of timeless principles and (attempt to) make the case that the Bible was meant to be reading as a holy unfolding drama in which you and I are just as vital to the Message as was Lydia, Phoebe, Paul, and Peter.
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I was able to read The Color of Water last week during the early morning hours of life in the city. It’s an amazing piece of American cultural life. This biography is about the life of a white Jewish woman who marries a black man during the 1940’s in New York City and her subsequent journey of raising “mixed” children in a politically divisive world. The author, James McBride, is the product of this woman’s determination and love for he is one of her sons.
The book challenges many assumptions that under-girds politics in these United States, both left and right, political and conservative. It’s a story of family, suffering, poverty, identity, faith, Jesus, and hope. I suggest it to anyone wrestling with the question, “What does it mean to be human?”
1 comment:
Josh-I enjoy reading your blog when I can. I thought I'd join the conversation and post comments occasionally, which will be a first for me.
Luke-Acts is my favorite gospel (I consider Acts "Part II"). It is also the one that is hardest for me to swallow, as I'm sure you could figure out. I think the thing that I love most about it is that Luke subtly invites his readers in different ways to enter the bigger story of what God has been doing, to get caught up in the Good News. Right off the bat, he does this by choosing to tell some stories (Zech & Liz, Mary, etc.) that I think is intended to literarily (is that a word) jog the minds of his audience to remember how God has acted in the world in the past, and how he is about to act in some big ways. But also unexpected ways, because he enters the world backwards from what we would think or choose (cf. the Magnificat). And what a hopeful picture that is - God sticks it to the man by refusing to be born into the household of Caesar or some other influential dignitary, which we might assume would be a logical choice given that Jesus, as son of Caesar, could have had more at his disposal for gospel work. Nah, he's born in an animal trough to a mother with a questionable reputation. Amazing.
And one interesting thing to me is how Luke finishes Acts: he doesn't really have a solid ending. Just telling us what Paul is doing in Rome. It's like he ends elliptically with a ". . ." as if to say "the story's not over - you are now part of this story." Now that'll preach.
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