Reading the Bible with Giants by Parris David Paul;

Author:Parris, David Paul; [Parris, David Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781630879341
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Published: 2015-04-21T07:00:00+00:00

Each generation of readers must perceive the text as relevant to them and their situation if it is going to maintain its status as a classic and be passed on to the next generation of readers. Simply repeating how previous interpreters have understood a text like Paul’s epistle to the Romans, for example, does not constitute an active engagement with it. To do so is to miss the disclosive potential of Paul’s letter to address the contemporary church. Each and every generation must enter anew into direct dialogue with the text. Literary or other qualities alone do not make a text a classic. How a text is received by one generation of readers determines to a large degree the value the next generation of readers will place on that text.

Both an insight and a challenge are presented to us when we apply these thoughts to biblical interpretation. The insight is that the diversity found in the history of the Bible’s interpretation is not a curse but a blessing. If there was one agreed upon meaning for a book like the Gospel of John from the day it was penned until today, then its role within the life of the church would have ceased, or at the very least been greatly diminished, a long time ago. This definitive meaning would have been widely accepted and considered obvious by successive generations of readers, extinguishing any need for further study or reflection by the church on the Fourth Gospel. The church would not have found the text a rich source for theological reflection and art over the centuries. Nor would believers have plumbed the Gospel of John for relevant answers to the new questions addressing them as culture changed. It is the living history of debate and dialogue over John’s meaning that is partly responsible for maintaining its authoritative status within the church.

The challenge that the history of the biblical interpretation presents us with is: How will we engage the Bible? Will we merely repeat what we have been taught? Will the laborious work that is needed in order to engage the text in a relevant manner and allow it to speak to us afresh today be undertaken? How we approach the Bible today to a large extend determines how we will pass it on to the next generation.

The Road Map of Tradition: The Dialogue and Debate over Meaning

As a child I had a fascination with maps. Just about any map I could lay my hands on found its way into a drawer in my desk where my collection lived. Some of my favorites were the National Geographic maps depicting the topography of the bottom of the ocean and reprints of antique maps rendered by explorers.

One of the things that I learned while poring over my treasures was that a map can tell you a great deal more than just how to get from point A to point B. For example, a map of Colorado can show you how to go from Colorado Springs to the old mining town of Cripple Creek.

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