[As you may know, I’m working on a book. Putting the Bible in Its Place: Off the Pedestal. Out of the Trash Can. Back on the Table. Here’s a preview. Let me know what about it interests you.]
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The Bible has been on my mind for at least 70 years. I was weaned on it. I read it daily. I studied it in its original languages (Hebrew and Greek). I exegeted it. I argued and quibbled over it with fundamentalists, evangelicals, Jews, and atheists. I preached more than 2,000 sermons from it over 40 years.
I gripped it like a totem. I kept it on a pedestal.
I now know it’s not what I once thought it was. It is not THE WORD OF GOD—although it is extraordinary, even divine in the same sense that other human works are.
For example, I don’t hesitate to call the works of Michelangelo, Bach, Shakespeare, or Emily Dickinson divine. By that I don’t mean God composed their works. I mean that their work evokes sublime feelings in me that transcend rational explanation. It’s like saying: What a day! It’s simply divine!
The word divine defines that kind of experience. The Bible is divine in that way and that way only. (Although, to be sure, parts of it are morally despicable—far, far from divine.)
Once I took the Bible off the pedestal, I saw its human likeness—flawed, fallible, tedious, boring, yet intriguing and occasionally brilliant. It’s not one integral book. It’s an anthology of Jewish works. It depicts human nobility and treachery.
It contains bloodbaths, beheadings, assassinations, incest, rape, torture, and monsters seeking human prey. All of which, of course, you can see in Game of Thrones.
If you like Game of Thrones, you’ll love the Bible.
Okay, that may be a stretch. Millions watched Games of Thrones as sheer entertainment. Billions read the Bible as THE WORD OF GOD. Many wield it as a bludgeon.
And that’s scary.
This book is a report on what I discovered when I removed the Bible from its pedestal. I no longer revere the Bible as holy, but I do respect its venerability, as I respect my flawed and fallible parents and grandparents.
Respecting the Bible is not the same as worshiping it. Worshiping the Bible is bibliolatry.
Weaponizing it is a sin.
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See Paula’s photo (“Hydrangea Season”) on the home page. Posted August 7
I look forward to reading your book😊
I STILL HAVE IT ON A PEDESTAL, BUT TO EACH HIS OWN. ENJOY YOUR LIFE.–GEORGE
I look forward to your book! But when you say table, I hope you mean kitchen table–as in feminist theology. For me the bible is a book primarily about, for, and by men. Makes me wonder how different the world would be if it were otherwise. Probably not much–we are all human, after all, as you point out. But maybe… just maybe….
There’s a lot of wisdom in the bible as well as misery, treachary, and patriarchy. Some of the best parts were dropped by the Catholic and Protestant churches. Also, a lot has been lost in translation. And it certainly isn’t one book!
That being said, it’s pretty fundamental to our culture and underpins a lot of our history. What happens is people with ulterior motives appropriate it to serve their own goals. The current right wing “Christians” are a lot like the jihadists using the Koran to justify murder and terrorism.
what Pat said. Recently someone in our church’s men’s group has been spouting Timothy as a way to justify his beliefs that women have a particular place and it’s not at the helm. He is such a curiosity.
Thanks Jessica. As you probably know, one our recently appointed Supreme Court justices is apparently a follower of a religious group that advocates the same philosophy. Guess who. (Actually, she’s probably not the only one.)
Hope to get a copy when it’s published. Of course: The Bible was constructed by men and contains all of humanity’s strengths and challenges. Reminds me of our Constitution. You used the word bibliolatry. Exactly. I think of the way groups in the US view the Constitution in a similar way as it continues to be revered as words that have come down from on high. A great document, certainly, but a starting point and one that has to be understood for the time it was composed, and amended (Constitutional Convention anyone?) to reflect societal evolution over the last 200+ years.
Like all divine things, such as nature, spiritual books, works of art, relationships, music, and poetry, I think the Bible is a centering device that awakens or focuses our introspection, self-discovery, and intuition to help us grow and find meaning in our life. I never understood how to approach the Bible in that manner, except perhaps some of the New Testament. Most of the Bible that has lifted me has come from the fringes (Gnostic Bible) or from the writings of those who have penetrated its meaning and written about it from Merton to Lewis to St. John of the Cross. I would love to read a book on how to read the Bible for self-discovery, not genealogy, history, and how our people have been persecuted through time.
Most of the use of the Bible by “Christian Nationalists” is hypocritical and based on fear. Fear of the unknown if there was gender equality, no war, love and respect of one’s neighbor, true caring for the disadvantaged regardless of who they were. Better to form a society based on male dominance, obedience, subjugation, and racial purity. Look where that has got us, the deification of “him who shall not be named.”
I remember working with a wonderful Spanish woman, who explained to me that she didn’t read the bible because as a Catholic, she was taught that only the priests could read it and interpret its meaning; then share with the flock what it meant.
I like to read the Bible and other books myself – and be inspired by the divinity that sparks my soul here & there… Braiding Sweetgrass has been the most inspiring of late…love your new word for using the bible as the first, last and only word of God…
Absolutely look forward to your next book I hope you address how the Bible has been used to oppress others such as Native Americans and those of the Jewish faith
I’m just sitting here, waiting for more! Write, write, write!
As an aside….the Hebrew scriptures and the works of Homer were composed about the same time. Imagine if the West had adopted the Illiad and the Odyssey together as its bible! Talk about patriarchy! OTOH, if we’d waited, and adopted the works of Shakespeare, now that would have set our feet on sounder footing.
You have sparked my interest, the concept of bibliolatry is probably a book in itself. Can’t wait to read more. Thx
As a non-believer, Clarence Jordan and the Cotton Patch Gospels were the best reading. He inspires us to be better people.
Melanie, I don’t believe I know you or you us (I’m Judith Layman, my husband is David Bruining). But reading your comment here I wanted to say that we missed Clarence Jordan by a decade while working as long term volunteers at his community, Koinonia, near Plains, GA. I arrived fall 1979, David fall 1982, and we married—just two more Koinonia volunteers meeting and marrying on the farm—spring 1983. Clarence’s spirit was strong, in the people, in the land, in the work. We all read Clarence’s gospel translations; I have an almost complete collection of his writings. Many non-believers, as you describe yourself, have stopped through having connected in some way with the spirit of Clarence Jordan. Some, like David, came down after seeing the Cotton Patch Gospel off-Broadway in 1981, others after learning of this remarkable experiment in Deep South interracial community that survived the bombings and shootings and boycott of the 1950s and 60s to thrive well into the 90s… and still now. If you haven’t visited, you might be interested. The community is smaller than when we were there and engaged in a lot of adventures we would be glad to join if we were there now.
I’m glad to encounter you on this forum, Melanie. We live in rural Washington Co. and know Randy and others in Shepherdstown primarily through the Presbyterian Church, our faith community in the 1990s after we’d moved from Georgia to DC and then out here, where our hearts are at home.
“O you who believe! Ask not about things which, if made plain to you, may cause you trouble”. The Quran
The Bible was essential to my initial spiritual awakening, some fifty years ago. It has taken many decades for me to knock it off its pedestal. The simple teaching of Jesus are still near and dear to me, but the dogma that surrounds the book I’ve long since left behind. The Truth is within us, not within any book.The Bible is neither good nor bad. It may point in a direction or serve as a guidepost, but the journey is ours.