Challenges to Reading Scripture: What Would you Add?
One of my theses for my forthcoming book on missional hermeneutics is that missional leaders must read the Scripture in the borderlands where the Church and World intersect so that both Christ followers and non-Christians can hear the Gospel when the word is proclaimed or taught.
Yet each of these contexts present different challenges for the interpreter. Here is a bare bones sketch of some of my ideas about the challenges presented by each.
Challenges for hearing the Scriptures in the Church:
1) over-familiarity with the text
Hearing the message of the text can be hindered at times from an (supposed?) over-familiarity with the Bible.
2) fear of sounding heretical:
3) Reading the Bible in the Church creates a tendency to play it safe with the text.
4) the boxes that we build theologically:
5) Predestination, freewill, belief that there are no actual tensions between texts, etc.
6) ignorance of the text in the Church
While some in the Church are over-familiar with the Bible, there are countless others who are ignorant of its basic teaching.
7) emphasis on discipleship as the attainment of knowledge rather than the shaping of person for deployment in God’s mission
There has been an overemphasis on stressing knowing the details of the Bible without reflecting adequately on the function of the details or the demand of a given text on the life of its readers.
Challenges of Reading for the World
1) Religious/cultural pluralism
2) Contested truth claims – avoid straw men
3) Ignorance of the biblical message
4) Political correctness/sensitivity
5) Elephants in the room - can’t avoid problem passages
What else would you add?
[...] realmealministries.org » Challenges to Reading Scripture: What Would you Add? realmealministries.org/WordPress/?p=1536 – view page – cached One of my theses for my forthcoming book on missional hermeneutics is that missional leaders must read the Scripture in the borderlands where the Church and World intersect so that both Christ followers and non-Christians can hear the Gospel when the word is proclaimed or taught. [...]