How to Use the Bible: Part 2

After several conversations and lunches with friends, colleagues and luminary sages I thought to add a few reflections to the below post.

First - as I was recently encouraged - a Christian scholar should never use the excuse of not being a Biblical scholar or a theologian when using the Bible in scholarship. The Bible is not an exclusively academic book, and not the domain of theologians or Biblical scholars to authoritatively pronounce on. Inviting an academic discipline to serve as such an authority suggests a kind of intellectual magesterium, an idea - I mused over lunch today - which may appeal to my Protestant-academic self; but which must surely be utterly rejected.

Second, I'm not quite sure what to make of what Oliver O'Donnovan does. Conversations with real stalwart academic Christians have swung from "the best thing ever", to "naive Biblicizing" (particularly in the topic of judgment). What I do know is O'Donnovan is not doing political science as such, although I think the act of trying to read contemporary life through the Bible is commendable. At least part of the way O'Donnovan uses the Scriptural text accounts for the problems I think we find in mapping it onto contemporary liberal democratic life. I am open (looking at you Oli'O) to generous debate on this :)

Third, although reading contemporary life through the Bible might be commendable, talking about the Biblical story is more than just so much grist for the worldview mill. It is very difficult, as I discovered recently, to make good sense of the Book of Joshua, without this larger narrative. Parsing the Bible, and readings its themes individually is a real danger - and hence the narrative reading is of utmost importance; not just for worldview'ish public engagement, but for understanding how to read the Bible.

Re: Joshua - I learned also of a story of a former RUC graduate who lost their faith from reading Joshua (friends, there is crazy stuff in that book). Having spent some significant time in Joshua, and on commentaries on it, over the last couple weeks I can appreciate why that might be. I have been recommended God is a Warrior by Tremper Longman on this.

Finally, the Bible is not a political science textbook, or a business textbook or... (etc). This may be simple, but is important to affirm. Scripture is a light upon our path, through which we discern and live, but cannot - itself - answer a-historically the questions of economics, politics, and more. Thus it is incumbent upon the Christian - and upon his or her Church and community - to dive deeply into that Word and so wrestle with it until, like Jacob, we have secured meaning and ways of living which are wise. This process is necessarily subject to epistemological fragmentation, but it remains no less important.

Sometimes I find that my academic and spiritual journey is a process of rediscovering the same place over and over again...

We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. - T.S. Eliot