Re-Imagining the Bible for Today

Bert Dicou

• Publisher: SCM Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780334055440
• eBook ISBN: 9780334055464
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

This textbook seeks to reclaim the bible for a Christianity that is open to society and keen on participating in conversation about today's major issues.

1. Re-imagining the Bible

SIGRID COENRADIE, BERT DICOU, ANNA-CLAAR THOMASSON-ROSINGH

Why Read the Bible

All three authors of this book are enthusiastic about the Bible; understandably, you would say, because all three are theologians and all three are ministers. However, this is not completely obvious. One of them works in Salisbury, the other two in the Netherlands. What unites them is that all three share a background with a Dutch denomination that is not particularly known for its enthusiasm about the Bible: the Remonstrants. Emerged from the debate on tolerance in the seventeenth century, this denomination is really more philosophical and socio-culturally oriented than purely biblical-theological. It is the kind of group that is known to be reluctant in accepting religious views purely because they have been passed down for generations. In 2016, the Remonstrants were advertising themselves with the slogan ‘Faith starts with you.’ If faith starts ‘with you’, what is the relevance of intensively reading a book, although the source and starting point for the Christian faith for centuries, which clearly has a strong archaic character? The youngest parts of the Bible are almost 2,000 years old, the oldest nearly 3,000.

And yet ministers still try to explain the Bible to churchgoers on a weekly basis. That too, is less obvious than you might think. In many sermons and church services the Bible is read but soon forgotten. The sermon becomes a ‘thought for the day’ which more often refers to Facebook than to the Bible. Moreover, the question whether the Bible is still an authoritative document is also asked within the churches. In liberal corners this has been going on for a while now. A century ago, there was a minister in a village in secular and quirky West Friesland, who removed the Bible from the pulpit one Sunday morning. ‘We do not need this book any longer,’ was his explanation. Insights from philosophy, the general culture and, last but not least, one’s own thoughts and feelings were more than enough to show believers the way (or to discover it for themselves). You can also compare it with the Quakers. For them, silence is a much more obvious way to God than reading Bible stories and hearing a preacher interpreting Bible stories.

A more concise version of the book Re-imagining the Bible was published in the Netherlands in 2017. The Dutch title of the book is Weg met de Bijbel, which means ‘Away with the Bible’. The title refers to the anti-religious tendencies in the Netherlands (and perhaps also in the UK), characteristic of a society that is trying to free itself from the oppressive authority of religious institutions. Values derived from Christian faith determine less and less the values of society. The book Christians derive their values from, the Bible, is perceived by some as an obstacle in the way to achieving a freer society. The consequences are unmistakable: the number of people familiar with Bible stories is declining sharply. Schools still tell the story of David and Goliath and the birth of Jesus, but that’s usually where it ends.

For a while now, there has been unrest among both ‘modern believers’ as well as cultural critical thinkers regarding the many wonderful stories in the Bible, including a creation in seven days and many miracle stories – healing by laying on of hands, raising people from the dead, inexplicable natural phenomena such as walking on water (Jesus) or the dry passage through the Red Sea (the Israelites, after their escape from Egypt). In addition, people thought, influenced by the insights of the Enlightenment, that the moral of biblical scriptures was not always as convincing and uplifting. What can we still benefit from this book and do we still have use for it?

While we were working on this book, a comprehensive Dutch edition of The Jefferson Bible was published.1 This ‘Bible’ is the work of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States and author of the Declaration of Independence. It is a version of the Bible that he compiled purely for himself. He completed it in 1820, but never informed anyone about it. After rediscovering the manuscript at the end of the nineteenth century, it became widely known. In 1904, 9,000 copies were printed, a considerable amount. Each new senator in Congress received a copy of the book. Incidentally, Jefferson titled his book The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.

The work is not written in the strict sense of the word, but rather cut and pasted. Jefferson bought two Bibles, so he could use the front and back side of the pages, then selected Bible passages he liked and cut them out with a knife. He disregarded the Old Testament and he despised Paul, therefore he limited himself to the four Gospels. Now he could put it nicely together into one chronologically continuous story. Inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment, he omitted everything that to him seemed dated, secondary or lacked credibility. Miracle stories and healings were left out, but he also omitted implicit references to the divinity of Jesus and even the resurrection. What remained was a new gospel in which Jesus emerges as someone who imparts deep wisdom to the world and, in particular, an innovative system of ethics: the ethics of charity. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was a highlight of the gospel for Jefferson. Might this be a good solution?

The authors of this book do not think so; they have a different opinion than the West Frisian minister or Thomas Jefferson. We believe that it is useful and good to take the Bible – as it is – seriously and especially to keep reading it. Or to start reading it. And to help others to read it. In our opinion, reading the Bible is an interesting and exciting endeavour, not only for experienced churchgoers but for everyone. It is not easy to just start reading the Bible and this book is meant as a tool. We hope this book offers ways of reading the Bible, taking the many complaints against it seriously. We want to help people read the Bible in a completely honest way and without hypocrisy. We want to open up the text, also, for people who are more sceptical about religion. Thus we offer different methods and approaches that can help the reader with personal study but also to introduce Scripture to others. We hope this book offers plenty of ideas on how we can bring the Bible to life for people who think critically.

Between all the different reading methods we research, present and adopt, there are two ways we use most: imagination and conversation. Not only do we discuss our own imagination, but also the imagination of writers, poets, film makers and artists of our time and throughout history. We enter into dialogue, not only with each other but also with others who we think can shed light on how and what we read in the Bible. It is re-imagining the Bible in conversation.

Anna-Claar Thomasson-Rosingh

Anna-Claar, you teach biblical studies at Sarum College, Salisbury. Some of your students will become priests or ministers in different denominations and congregations across England. Some of these churches will be liberal, others are conservative. With the students you will explore without doubt the question: Why do we read the Bible? For some it may be self-evident to read the Scriptures, for others you might have to convince them that this is worthwhile. The same will count for the readers of this book.

Reading the Bible with fresh imagination and through different eyes is not only necessary but also very satisfying and fruitful. I agree with Sherwood (2012, p. 3): ‘Our modern sense of the Bible is so limited, so closed, so pious, that it will inevitably be blasphemed against from within the Bible itself.’

This book wants to invite its readers to read anew and afresh the ancient texts of the Christian Bible. This invitation is made in the acute awareness of how strange an invitation this is; ultimately it is an invitation to step outside our own safe cultural boundaries and encounter otherness in its bewildering variety. It is an invitation to go where we do not know, to walk in the dark.2 This invitation might be seen as dangerous, irrelevant and rather difficult.

Surely there are already more than enough people who take the Bible rather too seriously. Would it be better for many problems and issues in this world if people would read this diverse collection of books less rather than more?

Certainly homophobia, misogyny, slavery and even apartheid are being defended or have been defended with the Bible. That is not to mention many of the larger-scale evils that are immediate in our time such as climate change and ever-increasing economic inequalities. Issues that many argue convincingly find their source and lifeblood from texts like the sacred Scriptures of Christianity and Judaism. And this is only the beginning of a long list of reasons for not bothering to even open the Bible.

My invitation to read the Bible is not rooted in the conviction that the biblical texts are moral, beautiful or historically interesting. Even though some of the biblical text might be all of those things, other biblical texts are clearly neither moral nor beautiful and definitely pose more historical questions than they are answering. One thing clearly and historically undisputed is that the Bible comprises religious texts from a time when both the context and the religious institutions were so different from our context and religious institutions that they are hardly comparable. How can they ever be relevant?

My invitation to read the Bible also does not presume that this is an easy task, one which just requires literacy skills. Most people who have seriously tried to read Christian Scriptures will have had a hard time interpreting the texts. Even with internet tools and intelligent commentaries to help us on the way, many passages remain baffling. Specialist religious leaders (such as priests and ministers) who preach weekly in churches sometimes circumvent saying anything at all about the ceremonially read Scriptures. When scholars who have devoted their lives to studying the Bible are not always agreed on what they mean, how can other people stand a chance? Reading a text that was written in a time and a culture long gone: is that not impossible without specialist knowledge? I would like to invite you to join all those who do read the Christian Scriptures in spite of these difficulties and take the risk of maybe not always understanding everything.

Finally my invitation to read the Scriptures is not motivated by a wish to convert. If you want to become a believing Christian you might do well to shun some of the texts of the Bible rather than read them, since they are utterly bewildering, violent and sometimes outright offensive. Large parts are definitely 18-rated and evoke embarrassment and disgust. This book argues that, in spite of all these issues, the Bible is still worth reading, whether you count yourself a Christian or not. It aims to help you do just that in ways that take all these problems into account.

After these warnings … four reasons to start reading the Bible:

1. It is delightful

The first and most important (and maybe most compelling) reason to read the Bible is that it is enjoyable. The danger, irreverence and complexity that is inherent in opening a book that many try to keep closed is in itself a thrilling experience. Looking in the forbidden cupboard and finding it filled with absolutely fascinating twists on well-worn platitudes is a delight in and of itself. Finding that this religious text is sometimes laugh-out-loud funny and meant to entertain might come as a surprise. Just as with all good comedy it also...

Table of contents

• Copyright information
• Contents
• 1. Re-imagining the Bible
• Topics
• 2. Sacrifice
• 3. Vulnerability
• Interlude: Bible, Literature and Film
• 4. The Planet
• 5. Economy
• 6. Ruth
• 7. Re-imagining the Bible: Reading the Bible in the Context of Present-Day Life
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgements