Socrates, Jesus, Amos and Us

"A brother was jealous of [Saint] John the Short as he was sitting, teaching the brothers in front of the church. So he said, 'John, your cup is full of poison.' John answered, 'Yes, Abba, it is. But you said that when you could only see the outside. I wonder what you would say if you saw the inside.' " ~ Sayings of the Desert Fathers

I suppose I’m something of a conservative in scriptural interpretation because I want to say (on the basis of 2 nd Timothy 3:16) that everything in scripture *without exception* has something to teach us -- and talks about at least 4 different areas: (1) about the way things are (at their most fundamental level I believe all things live, move and have their being in the glory of the Logos that is Jesus Christ) (2) about the way we ought to respond as individual humans to the way things are (3) about the we ought to respond communally to the way things are and lastly (4) about God's ultimate dream for the world on all levels, individual, communal, and cosmic. Admittedly, this may seem like a bit of a stretch. Am I gonna have to allegorize a bit to get meanings in all 4 areas out of say, the genealogies in 1st Chronicles? Probably. But I'm comfortable doing that. If God is enough of a weirdo to create platypuses and blue-footed boobies, surely He doesn’t mind having His Word a...