A Thought on Biblical Inspiration
Okay, people, got your pitchforks ready? Right then...
I'm pretty sure God appreciates the theological diversity within scripture, or He wouldn't have put it there. Over the past couple of months, I've come to see the Bible as a kind of rowdy family reunion: you have your elderly aunt types that walk in the door and the room almost visibly brightens (1st John), your strict logicians (Leviticus), your conspiracy theorist uncles (Nahum) your unapologetic aesthetes (Song of Songs) your disabused (Ecclesiastes), every type you can imagine, and they're all in the family. So, I read the Bible in the way I'd approach conversation: what does the world look like through this writer's eyes? And what can I learn about following God from him or her? One can learn from every writer in the canon, even those one disagrees with (yes, Haggai and Anonymous Bloke Responsible for the Pastoral Epistles, I'm looking at you guys). And oddly, in some ways I learn more from the writers I don't agree with than the ones I do.
Some schools of liberal theology think we should throw away the books that conflict with modern sensibilities, to which my answer is HELL NO! I want Brother Leviticus at the table precisely because he makes me so uncomfortable. "All scripture is God-breathed and useful." All. of. it. It's just that that passage from 2 Timothy doesn't mean what conservatives think it does.
*cue the cries of "Heresy!"*
I'm pretty sure God appreciates the theological diversity within scripture, or He wouldn't have put it there. Over the past couple of months, I've come to see the Bible as a kind of rowdy family reunion: you have your elderly aunt types that walk in the door and the room almost visibly brightens (1st John), your strict logicians (Leviticus), your conspiracy theorist uncles (Nahum) your unapologetic aesthetes (Song of Songs) your disabused (Ecclesiastes), every type you can imagine, and they're all in the family. So, I read the Bible in the way I'd approach conversation: what does the world look like through this writer's eyes? And what can I learn about following God from him or her? One can learn from every writer in the canon, even those one disagrees with (yes, Haggai and Anonymous Bloke Responsible for the Pastoral Epistles, I'm looking at you guys). And oddly, in some ways I learn more from the writers I don't agree with than the ones I do.
Some schools of liberal theology think we should throw away the books that conflict with modern sensibilities, to which my answer is HELL NO! I want Brother Leviticus at the table precisely because he makes me so uncomfortable. "All scripture is God-breathed and useful." All. of. it. It's just that that passage from 2 Timothy doesn't mean what conservatives think it does.
*cue the cries of "Heresy!"*
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