October 8, 2008
Live From Catalyst: McKnight on Bad Bible Reading
Five common, but flawed, approaches to reading the Bible.
by Skye Jethani
Day 1 at Catalyst in Atlanta is dominated by the Labs. These smaller breakout sessions give conference attendees a more intimate setting to hear from authors, thinkers, and leaders in a more interactive environment. My first stop was Scot McKnight's lab "The Blue Parakeet" based on his new book by the same title. The book advocates a "third way" of reading the Bible. (Scot is a friend and a regular contributor to Out of Ur.)
Next week, Brandon O'Brien will be posting his review of The Blue Parakeet so you should stay tuned for a more in depth discussion of McKnight's ideas. For now, I'll just mention a snippet from his lab I found helpful.
McKnight outlined five flawed ways many people read the Bible:
1. The Morsels of Law Approach
These people search the Bible and extract ever commandment. They see Scripture as fundamentally a book of rules to be obeyed. The problem, says McKnight, is that no one really obeys - or even tries to obey - every commandment. And we're not just talking about some obscure stuff in Leviticus. Scot mentioned a number of New Testament commands that many Christians dismiss as well. We are all selective.
2. The Morsels of Blessing Approach
McKnight says publishers are always sending him daily calendars that have a different promise or blessing from the Bible printed on each day. It's a nice way to start the morning, he notes, but it gives people a skewed view of Scripture. The Bible is a lot more than warm thoughts from our Creator to carry us through our day. Finally fed up with these calendars, McKnight wrote to one of the publishers offering to write a daily calendar with nothing but passage about God's wrath.
3. The Rorschach Approach
Most people are familiar with the Rorschach Ink Blot test often used by psychologists. Patients are asked what they "see" when looking at symmetrical ink patterns. Because the blots don't really resemble anything, the patient's answer tells the therapist more about the patient than the image. Similarly, McKnight notes that many people see in Scripture what they want to see, not what's really there. For example, political conservatives see justification for capitalism. Liberals see justification for a welfare state.
4. The Systematic Theology Approach
Some folks, the particularly left-brained and anal retentive (my perception, not McKnight's), believe that God has scattered facts throughout the Bible. These snippets of truth need to be located, rather like an Easter egg hunt, and categorized into buckets. Finally, the pieces are assembled into a systematic theology without ambiguity or mystery to explain God, humanity, creation, and history. The fatal error in this approach, says McKnight, is that large portions of Scripture are never included because they refuse to fit into our neat systems.
5. The Maestro Approach
McKnight shared about his love of Italian food - particularly risotto. The best risotto he ever had was prepared by a chef in Italy while on vacation. Since then he's compared every other risotto dish with that one. We all have favorites; someone we consider the maestro, the master, we compare all others with. So it is with the Bible. Some people have a master book of the Bible - Exodus for Liberation Theologians, or Romans for Reformed pastors - and then they force every other part of the Bible to fit that book's framework. Some favor the Gospels and Jesus' focus on the Kingdom, but they don't read about the Kingdom in Paul's writing. So they force the Epistles to submit to the Gospels. The opposite also happens when Jesus is only read through Paul.
These five approaches, says McKnight, are all very common, and all very flawed. His solution? We must read the Bible as a story. But it's not just a story that we read, it is a story that we live. "We must let the Bible's story become our story," he said, "so that it becomes us, and we become it."
Intrigued? Me too.
More from Catalyst tomorrow.
Skye Jethani is the managing editor of Leadership and a teaching pastor at Blanchard Alliance Church in Wheaton, Illinois.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga on October 8, 2008
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Comments
Maybe a sixth approach should be added, The Story approach: Many folks particularly those in emerging/emergent circles believe that the bible should be experienced and we must read the Bible as a story. But it’s not just a story that we read, it is a story that we live. We must let the Bible’s story become our story, so that it becomes us, and we become it. I'm sure a resultant flaw is just around the corner.
Posted by: gregg at October 8, 2008
THAT was awesome.
Incredibly helpful and I'll be taking it into class with me.
Thanks, Skye.
Really.
Posted by: nathan at October 8, 2008
I agree with the 5 problems McKnight points out, but not the solution. What about Biblical theology? Instead of "read[ing] the Bible as a story. . . that we live," Biblical theology reads the Bible as a story about Jesus. This seems more appropriate to me in light of verses like John 20.31 which says "But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." It's not about you. It's about Jesus and for you.
Posted by: Todd Burus at October 8, 2008
I again agree with Scot, or Skye's interpretation of Scot. We need the "whole" counsel of God. I've been reading the Bible as a complete story for over 20 years now and the more I read, the more excited I get. I think I'm falling in love with the author.
Posted by: Melody at October 8, 2008
heaven help us all ... i'm almost in complete agreement with todd AND melody.
some things that work in the macro view break down in the micro view. it's like one of those mosaics that are made of hundreds of little pictures: when looked at from a distance you see the face of Jesus.
i enjoyed this post a lot. nice summary of views. and, again, it isn't this-one-or-that-one, but pieces of all of them.
Posted by: mike rucker at October 11, 2008
Probably the most common but flawed approach today to reading the Bible is exemplified by the half-blind man who sees "people like trees" [or Christians who see Jesus completely different from who He is] tested by Jesus in Mark 9: 22-26 as a prelude to the star question "Who do you say I am?" asked of His disciples (Mark 9: 27-30; Matt. 16: 13-20).
Posted by: Ephrem Hagos at October 15, 2008
I'm with Todd. And so was John, as he notes. John opens his Gospel with this point of view. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." NIV.
But I would add to what Todd says. John 14:16-17 says, "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you."
We cannot understand Scripture on our own. . . Spriritually, we can achieve nothing on our own. Without God's Spirit as our Helper, we cannot hope to "read" the living Word. From the beginning only God can light the darkness of our minds.
I have a Mennonite friend whose grandmother told him that the Bible was nothing more than another book full of words. . . without the help of the Holy Spirit. Thanks, Grandmother, for reminding us!
Posted by: kst8gram at October 17, 2008
Great analysis, but I feel like the story approach has its own set of shortcomings. I think we need to have a more integrative approach to reading the Bible. I agree that we must read the Bible as a story, and gain understanding of the over-arching narrative and learn as much as we can about the character of God. This is not definite, but I think that we almost necessarily have to take the "Maestro Approach," because there are certain portions of scripture that particularly resonate with out experience and encounter with the real and living God. For me, it is the Gospels - especially the sermon on the mount and Matthew 25.
Posted by: Jacob Lange at October 21, 2008
Check out the The Word of Promise Audio Bible for a bible with a cool twist--the biblical characters are voiced by some of your favorite actors. Check it out here! http://thewordofpromise.thomasnelson.com/
Posted by: the word of promise at October 19, 2009