The Small Ground of Biblical Study
A few years ago, I heard a podcast that talked about the study of the Bible as being like a science fiction story in which an astronaut landed on Mercury.
Granted, that kind of a mission is unlikely, but when the story was written, the planets weren't that well understood and a mission to Mercury was as likely as landing a ship on Jupiter (and there are some great sci-fi movies from the early 50s that propose just such a thing). The point of this story was predicated on the belief that one side of the planet Mercury always faced the sun and, therefore, the other side did not. As such, according to this story, there was a fine band around the middle of the planet where the hot wasn't too hot and the cold wasn't deadly. In the words of Goldilocks, "It was just right."
The equation to Bible study was this: there are plenty of people who are completely cold to the idea of Bible study and cannot fathom why anyone would waste their time. There are others who are hot on quoting the Bible, but don't want to actually study it in the sense of learning the Greek or Hebrew, understanding the nuances, or actually reading the texts with contextualization. They can't fathom what they think of as the academic approach to the Bible.
In the middle of these two extremes are those who love the Bible and want to, in some ways, just devour what it has to say. They aren't looking to prove an apologetic idea or disprove a theological stance (though that may be a side effect). Instead, they are looking to truly comprehend and understand the Bible, when it was written, what it meant in its original context, what it means to contemporary readers, and what it actually says.
I find myself in that area.
What amazes me is how few others are in that same mentality.
When I was in seminary, I was truly exposed to the richness of the Bible and the complexities of the texts as well as the history of theological opinions and interpretation. I was hooked. I couldn't get enough. As such, that became the focus of the classes I took when I had electives to take. I didn't take the classes on children's ministry or contemporary worship because I wanted to know more about the book of our faith. That was critical and crucial for me. It still is.
What I find distressing is that this kind of study is not critical and crucial for many Christians. The books in our few remaining Christian book stores are focused largely on politics, church growth (and those often quote the Message rather than the Bible - you might want to read my post from January of 2015 called "Dumbing Down the Message" for more on that), or fund-raising. Very little on critical study. I find that distressing. It's like the Mr. Bean movie in 1997 in which the title character is actually a secondary character.
Perhaps because it matters so much to me, I find it distressing when the Bible doesn't matter critically to others. And, of course, I can't make it matter to anyone. All I can do is offer what I have found, and keep my own heart happy by delving in more and more.
Granted, that kind of a mission is unlikely, but when the story was written, the planets weren't that well understood and a mission to Mercury was as likely as landing a ship on Jupiter (and there are some great sci-fi movies from the early 50s that propose just such a thing). The point of this story was predicated on the belief that one side of the planet Mercury always faced the sun and, therefore, the other side did not. As such, according to this story, there was a fine band around the middle of the planet where the hot wasn't too hot and the cold wasn't deadly. In the words of Goldilocks, "It was just right."
The equation to Bible study was this: there are plenty of people who are completely cold to the idea of Bible study and cannot fathom why anyone would waste their time. There are others who are hot on quoting the Bible, but don't want to actually study it in the sense of learning the Greek or Hebrew, understanding the nuances, or actually reading the texts with contextualization. They can't fathom what they think of as the academic approach to the Bible.
In the middle of these two extremes are those who love the Bible and want to, in some ways, just devour what it has to say. They aren't looking to prove an apologetic idea or disprove a theological stance (though that may be a side effect). Instead, they are looking to truly comprehend and understand the Bible, when it was written, what it meant in its original context, what it means to contemporary readers, and what it actually says.
I find myself in that area.
What amazes me is how few others are in that same mentality.
When I was in seminary, I was truly exposed to the richness of the Bible and the complexities of the texts as well as the history of theological opinions and interpretation. I was hooked. I couldn't get enough. As such, that became the focus of the classes I took when I had electives to take. I didn't take the classes on children's ministry or contemporary worship because I wanted to know more about the book of our faith. That was critical and crucial for me. It still is.
What I find distressing is that this kind of study is not critical and crucial for many Christians. The books in our few remaining Christian book stores are focused largely on politics, church growth (and those often quote the Message rather than the Bible - you might want to read my post from January of 2015 called "Dumbing Down the Message" for more on that), or fund-raising. Very little on critical study. I find that distressing. It's like the Mr. Bean movie in 1997 in which the title character is actually a secondary character.
Perhaps because it matters so much to me, I find it distressing when the Bible doesn't matter critically to others. And, of course, I can't make it matter to anyone. All I can do is offer what I have found, and keep my own heart happy by delving in more and more.
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