...Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori gets a bum rap
from Mark Oppenheimer in “For Episcopal
Church’s Leader, a Sermon Leads to More Dissent”, on June 22, who quotes a
Baylor University scholar as saying “she interprets the text in a direction the
author (of Acts) would not recognize.”
Well duh! Would any
of the Old Testament authors have recognized the way their words were
interpreted by the Christians? Acts says
nothing whatsoever about the fate of the fortune-telling slave girl exorcised
by Paul, except that she had been deprived of her livelihood. Oppenheimer’s
scholar generously ascribes to Paul the role of the girl’s “liberator”, which
might be justified if the apostolic author had shown any interest whatsoever in her fate.
As it is, it is up to Jesus and the Presiding Bishop to show
concern for those considered unworthy of notice by religious authorities in
their respective times.
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