TRINITY INSTITUTE, 2011
1. Walter Brueggeman, Old Testament Scholar
How do we distinguish the “truth” of scripture from those elements which we know to be culturally conditioned? That includes our own culturally-conditioned viewpoint. The 19th Century saw a “three-cornered power struggle” with regard to scripture…
Reductionist & dogmatic orthodoxy /Affective pietism/ rationalist developmentalism
For us today, this struggle has lost its validity. We cannot accept dogmatic fundamentalism, and rationalism has no “missional energy.” We seek a new paradigm.
A. Paul Ricour (French scholar/philosopher) provides this in his model of “pre-critical/critical/and post-critical” approaches to faith and the scriptures. We cannot return to a “pre-critical innocence,” but we can embrace a “Second Naivite”, an intentional “post-critical innocence” that suspends disbelief in the interest of experiencing a greater reality.
B. Make use of newer modes of inquiry that approach scripture from more than a historical perspective. When we say “Christ is risen” we do not ask, “is that a historical claim or a poetic metaphor?” Instead, we seek to “get inside the text and see what it is saying from within.” This is “rhetorical criticism.” [ I say-The big question is not, “did Jesus really rise from the dead? But rather “so what?”]
C. Social Scientific criticism seeks to understand how texts are embedded in power relationships. This is “Ideology Critique.” Feminist scholarship, Liberation Theology, and Post Colonial scholarship ask “what interests did the scriptural authors, editors, and interpreters represent? What interests do WE represent?” If only white males are in the room when the Bible is being interpreted, how does that impact the result? And, even more, how does that fit with the various messages that the scriptures convey? When we look to the disputed aspects of the biblical text, the subtext or background elements, the result can be transformative. When we engage in Ideology Criticism we realize we are more enmeshed that we realized, and a new level of empowerment can ensue. {I say- God is present/active when I am most uncomfortable. The same is true in psychotherapy.}
D. Jewish modes of interpretation “do not move quickly toward closure” with regard to the meaning of scriptural texts. The rabbis return again and again to the same passages, exploring them through new stories. This method was taken up by Freud and applied to psychotherapy, wherein one “walks endlessly around a dream or memory” with the expectation of discovering multiple meanings that, hopefully, prove emancipatory.
According to Freud, “the self is thick, layered, and conflicted.” The same is true of the biblical text. A pre-critical mindset denies that there is any conflict within the text. A post-critical mindset relishes them. “THE GOD REVEALED TO US IN THE SCRIPTURES IS THICK, LAYERED, AND CONFLICTED, AND WE ARE MADE IN THAT IMAGE.”
GROWING CHURCHES ARE PRE-CRITICAL… people are afraid, ignorant, or innocent. PART OF OUR VOCATION MAY BE TO HELP PEOPLE MOVE FROM PRE-CRITICAL TO CRITICAL, but not abandon them there. ONE MUST GIVE UP CERTITUDE TO BECOME POST-CRITICAL. We can help people to embrace NOT CERTITUDE, BUT FIDELITY. WHAT WE SEEK IS NOT AN INFALLIBLE TEXT, BUT A RELIABLE GOD, A RELIABLE COMMUNITY, AND A RELIABLE NEIGHBOR.
Question of the Resurrection is not analyzable. It comes down to DO I ACCEPT THE WITNESSES? The Community of faith must discern who are the true witnesses.
How do we know a true interpretation when we see it? Suffering & struggle. If we are not motivated to love and struggle, it is not true.
[MY THOUGHT: ALL RELIGIOUS STATEMENTS ARE AT LEAST SOMEWHAT FALSE, EVEN THE TRUEST ONES]
SISTER THERESA OKure, NIGERIAN BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
TRUTH = “WHAT IS REAL?” NOT= “what is not false?”
WE ARE PRODUCTS OF OUR CULTURE, BUT THE IMAGE OF GOD EXISTS IN US SO THAT WE ARE ALWAYS CAPABLE OF TRANSCENDING CULTURE (OR CLASS/RACE/ETC).
GOSPEL=NOT A CONTENT BUT A SHAPE. IGNATIOUS OF ANTIOCH= “OUR BOOK IS A PERSON.”
[ME=”TRUTH IS WHERE IRONY BEGINS”]
MARY GORDON , PROFESSOR AT BARNARD COLLEGE & NOVELIST
HOW IDENTIFY A MISREADING OF SCRIPTURE? WE BRING OUR OWN NEEDS TO THE READING: CERTAINTY, POWER, CONTROL, ETC. The Grand Inquisitor in Brothers Karamazov accuses Jesus: “Thou didst choose all that is exceptional, vague, and enigmatic.”
To guard against misreadings, remember that
1. JESUS EXEMPLIFIED AND OPENED TO OTHERS AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP TO GOD.
2. JESUS ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN RELATIONSHIPS WITH HUMAN BEINGS OF ALL KINDS.
3. JESUS SUFFERED ON THE CROSS, AND BY THE RESURRECTIONS REVEALS ALL HUMAN SUFFERING TO BE NOT ABSURD, BUT MEANINGFUL/REDEMPTIVE.
CHRISTIANITY DOES NOT PRESENT A SUPERNATURAL ESCAPE FROM SUFFERING, BUT OFFERS A SUPERNATURAL USE OF SUFFERING.
“MIS-READING RESULTS IN ACTIONS THAT DENY ANY OF THE ABOVE CRITEREA.”
IN LATIN, “SALVATION” IS CONNECTED TO “SALUS”= “HEALTH.” SALVATION= THE ULTIMATE WHOLE-NESS, COMPLETENESS, FULLNESS.
“INTIMACY WITH GOD” DOES NOT MEAN PERPETUAL SERENITY. “INTIMACY IS LOST WHEN NOBODY IS LISTENING. INTIMACY=AGONY. GOOD FRIDAY= “A TOTAL VOID?” “a LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE VOID?”
RESURRECTION? DETAILS OF THE EVENT =NOT IMPORTANT (MY TAKE: UNKNOWABLE IN ANY CASE]. “LOVE IS STRONGER THAN DEATH.”
IN JOHN’S GOSPEL, THE CROSS=”GLORY” THE SAME WAY “LABOR”= “BIRTH.”
MARY Callaway, Fordham University
OUR “COMMUNITY” IS NOT LIMITED TO OUR OWN IMMEDIATE CIRCLE, OR EVEN THE SUM TOTAL OF ALL THE CIRCLES IN THE WORLD, BUT INCLUDES THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS.”
FROM ST. GREGORY THE GREAT: “SCRIPTURE IS LIKE A RIVER, BROAD AND DEEP, SHALLOW ENOUGH HERE FOR A LAMB TO WADE, DEEP ENOUGH THERE FOR AN ELEPHANT TO SWIM.”
