Reading Scripture SOME APPROACHES The words of scripture

Reading Scripture SOME APPROACHES: • The words of scripture are literally true and mean the same as they always did (FUNDAMENTALISM) • The words of scripture are open to interpretation (WHAT KIND OF INTERPRETATION? ) • Only some bits are relevant these days (PICK ‘N’ MIX) • The words of scripture were true in a particular time and place (HISTORICAL) • The Word of God speaking in all times and in all places and for all - public truth that can’t help but be proclaimed! Alive and Active OR Dead and Dormant

The Bible in the Marketplace “…IN THE ACT OF TELLING THE STORY, MODERN (CHRISTIANS) CANNOT MAKE PEOPLE BELIEVE IT. What they can do however, is to stand up for the story, and learn again to tell it in the way it was meant to be told. This means allowing the story to speak for itself. The gospel is not anything we choose, or the bits we enjoy, or those elements that affirm modern sensibility. It is the church’s grand narrative, which is essential not only for its own identity but for the salvation of the world. ” ( Andrew Walker - Telling the Story)

The Bible in the Marketplace “The purpose of preaching and of worship is transformation. We undertake what is potentially life changing. This is the meeting. This is where the transformative action takes place…This dramatic moment intends that folk should go away changed, perhaps made whole, perhaps savaged. ” (Walter Brueggemann – The Bible and the Postmodern Imagination)

The Bible in the Marketplace “When the church conducts its liturgy, when the church reads the bible, when the church declares the gospel, it engages in a counteract, counteracting the world so long dominant among us. ” (Walter Brueggemann – The Bible and the Postmodern Imagination) “ Reading the Bible in community means listening carefully to the text, allowing it to inform the community’s understanding of its situation and to help it see its way forward, to discern God’s presence and will for them in that situation. ”(Renewing Biblical Interpretation)

GETTING INTO SCRIPTURE What happens when we read?

What Happens When We Read? How we come to the passage As I come to this passage, what am I bringing with me? From my daily life and situation, community, global situations, questions? Individual/corporate reading READING

What Happens When We Read? Asks questions of the reader/hearer and challenges reader into new thinking ENCOUNTER Discovering challenges and questions from the passage. How do I receive the word/phrase/image? Desire for deeper meaning

What Happens When We Read? Invites the reader to explore past readings and to deepen our understanding and experience of what we read. ENGAGEMENT Desire for deeper meaning: How can I go deeper? How have others read and experienced the passage? What does it offer me/us? Where do I find out and explore?

What Happens When We Read? Passage has a new significance. Opens up the possibility of a new reading TRANSFORMATION Appropriation: taking it on board and owning it. How does this affect, change, challenge me?

What Happens When We Read? WORDS CHOICES WITNESS RELATIONSHIPS POLITICS PROCLAIM! SHOPPING WORK RECONCILIATION JUSTICE LITURGY MISSION INDWELLING