Engaging the Word -- Review

ENGAGING THE WORD: The New Testament and the Christian Believer. By Jaime Clark-Soles. Louisville: WJK Press, 2010. Xii + 154 pages.

Back in the day – when I was working for a Christian bookstore – there were quite a few options when it came to Bibles. At the time I was a devotee of the New American Standard and resisted the seductiveness of the newer New International Version (though I eventually succumbed to its smoother and clearer text). Later on, having become sensitized to the issue of inclusive language I embraced the even newer New Revised Standard Version. But despite the variety that was available then, today we that era might seem relatively impoverished when it comes to bible choices. Despite all of the new translations, and there are many more since I worked at that store in the early 1980s, and despite all the study options available, biblical illiteracy continues to plague not only the broader culture, but the church as well. The Bible remains a bestseller, but it is also the least read, most misunderstood, and possibly most misused bestseller on the market.

The question that the church must address concerns not the why but the how do we change this reality? There are a number of good translations available, which should make the Bible more accessible to people, but maybe the problem isn’t the prevalence of choices but the nature of the choices. Perhaps we have become overwhelmed by marketers who have so niched the Bible that it loses its place in the life of the church. It has become a commodity to be manipulated for better sales.

Jaime Clark-Soles, a professor of New Testament at Perkins School of Theology, has taken on the task of providing wise guidance in matters of biblical study – for lay and clergy alike. Clark-Soles understands the scholarly issues of the day, from the historical Jesus quests to biblical authorship to translation issues. She is deeply embedded in that conversation, but this book isn’t written for scholars, it’s written primarily for the lay audience. It’s written with great care and with eloquence, but without the sensationalism that so often accompanies such books. She’s not trying to convince us that she has discovered something new and unique that the scholars and the preachers have been hiding from the laity. But, she wants to make the New Testament understandable to people who may find reading the Bible a daunting task. She is a critical scholar, left of center in her commitments, but she is also committed to the faith, which may be why there is a lack of sensationalism (ala Bart Ehrman).

She begins the book in an interesting manner. She takes up the question of packaging – something that addresses the consumer-driven nature of contemporary Christianity. She does this by taking a look at the current ways in which the publishers are marketing the Bible, starting with Revolve, a New Testament based on the New Century Version that is niche-marketed to teen-aged girls. This is a bible that’s relevant – that is, it is packaged as a fashion magazine. The biblical text is surrounded by fashion tips and articles dealing with relationships. The packaging might be attractive, but what does this package do to the way we read Scripture? The author points out that situated in a sidebar next to the story of Herod’s Slaughter of the Innocents is an article about “emergency pimple repair.” And what does this beauty advice have to do with Matthew 2? Clark-Soles writes “Well, as the text says, ‘Blemishes come and go, but God’s Word remains forever.’” In this opening chapter, the author deals with a number of critical issues, including the problem of separating out the New Testament from the entire biblical text, the problem of study notes and life application notes. She raises the question that has always troubled me – how do we separate out the commentary from the text, when the commentary is printed along with the text? Of course, she raises the question of the dangers that accompany hyperindividualizing these Bibles. It might be good for sales, but is it good for understanding the text of Scripture.

In reading this opening chapter, you begin to discern an ironic twist to the religious conversations of the day. Conservative evangelicals are keen to defend biblical authority, and yet it would seem that these products that largely come from evangelical publishers and marketed to evangelicals could in the end devalue the very Scriptures that evangelicals seek to defend. Indeed, as this occurs, as we begin to treat the Bible as some kind of manual to answer our beauty and relationship questions, it loses spiritual value.

So the question is – what should we do? In answer to this question, Clark-Soles offers words of guidance, beginning with a chapter on the various ways we read Scripture, showing both the “promises and pitfalls.” She introduces the reader to premodern (uncritical), modern (critical, reasonable), and postmodern (questioning and aware of cultural influences) approaches to scripture. From there she turns to the various parts of the New Testament, beginning with the Gospels. She begins this section with a question of harmonization. Should we try to harmonize the four gospels, or let them speak for themselves? Her answer is to let them speak for themselves. In that regard she deals with some of the key issues, such as the people mentioned in the four gospels – noting that when we harmonize we tend to conflate identities – such as the various Marys and Jameses. She deals with genre – noting that the gospels aren’t biographies. They’re not eyewitness accounts and that the authors framed the story to fit their own needs. For those committed to a Modernist reading, whether conservative or liberal, this can be problematic when it comes to authority. It is in this context that the author raises the issue of the four senses of scripture – the literal, the allegorical, the tropological, and the analogical. The church has understood that there is more than one way of reading the text – that the literal may not always be the best way to read and interpret the text.

Staying with the Gospels, the author deals with the so called “Synoptic Problem,” that is the relationship of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (along with the presupposed existence of Q). She deals with all of the major theories that range from Markan priority to Matthean priority. She deals with form criticism (transmission) and redaction criticism (editing). In this chapter she deals with the current fascination with the Gospel of Thomas, which is a sayings gospel and thus quite popular with those who want to assert the priority of Q, the sayings of Jesus. She also deals with John, and its place in the conversation. She feels, rightly so, that John too often gets excluded from the conversation when matters of Jesus’ life get discussed. She believes that John may have more to offer than the reigning paradigm would allow. Her point is that we are at a point in which we need to reexamine this who “synoptic problem.”

With a new book from Bart Ehrman on authorship issues (I’ve not read the book, but the title seems to give away the intent – Forged), Clark-Soles discusses the issue of authorship, especially with regard to the Pauline texts. It’s not all that controversial to say that the gospels were written anonymously, because there is no name attached to any of them. The same can’t be said for texts such as Ephesians and Colossians, which claim Pauline authorship, as is true with the Pastorals, or with the two letters attached to Peter. The letters of John are largely anonymous, and Revelation is self-attributed to a John, but necessarily the Apostle John. She deals with all the relevant issues, including the reasons why many scholars doubt that Paul wrote the so-called “deutero-Pauline” texts, issues that range from eschatology to church offices. With regard to the question raised by folks like Ehrman, she notes the questions of whether this is “dishonest,” and whether the fact that Paul might not have written Ephesians might undermine its authority. She seeks to answer these questions by pointing us to the canonization process, and the role that this process has played in how we read and experience the text. She raises more questions than she provides answers, but that’s not a bad thing. It pushes us to dig deeper.

Finally, she looks into the Historical Jesus debate and the politics of biblical interpretation. With regard to the latter, she notes how in recent years there has arisen a plethora of differing ways of reading scripture, from Feminist to Queer, from Ethnic to Post-Colonial, each of which raises question about approach and ideology. If you think that one of these approaches is politic and yours is not, she suggests that we might need to look more deeply inside to discern our own ideologies. In other words, there is no completely “objective” way of reading the Text. We all bring something to the discussion. Even as the authors were “socially located,” so are the readers. With regard to this question of social location, she provides an inventory so that we can examine questions of authority, ethnicity, gender, theology, the translations we use and more, asking how these issues affect the way we read Scripture. And in closing she reminds us all that we all have our own “canon within a canon.” We all start somewhere. There may be no one way of reading Scripture, but as Clark-Soles reminds us - -there are responsible ways of reading Scripture, and she invites us to take up this task. Her book focuses on the New Testament, but remember that she challenged us to not separate the New from the Old. Thus, it would be helpful to read (as I’ve yet to do), her book in tandem with one written on the Hebrew Scriptures by Carolyn Sharp (Wrestling the Word, WJK, 2010).

This is with a doubt a most helpful book. It raises questions, provides resources (including questions for discussion), and pushes us to be more responsible in our reading of the text. If we will heed the wisdom present in this book (and I’m assuming present in Sharp’s book), then perhaps we can begin to overcome the prevailing biblical illiteracy within the church! Oh, and she does all of this in a 148 pages of text.

Learning and Living Scripture -- Review

LEARNING AND LIVING SCRIPTURE: An Introduction to the Participatory Study Method. By Geoffrey D. Lentz and Henry E. Neufeld. Gonzalez, FL: Energion Publications, 2010. ix + 116 pp.

The Bible has been for some time, the best selling, but least read book in history. It is no secret that while the Bible remains influential in western society, the people, including church people, have little understanding of its content or meaning. Survey after survey confirms the observation that we are a biblically illiterate people. Despite that reality, all manner of social and cultural claims are made upon the scriptures that are holy to both Christian and Jew. The problem is that there is little hope that this tide can be turned. Our school systems are not in a good position to fill the void, in large part due to political activists with religiously motivated agendas. At the same time churches are finding it difficult to attract audiences that are willing to commit themselves to serious biblical study. Indeed, preachers find it difficult to attract audiences that wish to truly engage the text in a responsible manner.

We face a dilemma as a society and as a Christian community – how do we resolve this problem of biblical illiteracy? The good news in all of this is that there are a number of resources out today that could be of help. There are up-to-date translations, study Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, and more that can aid the serious student of the Bible. One needn’t be trained in the languages or have advanced degrees to do serious study, one simply needs a commitment and guidance, so that they can tackle what is an ancient text that has stood the test of time. Yes, it has been misused and abused, but its value remains strong. What is needed is a method that will serve the student well.

Henry Neufeld is a publisher and Bible teacher, with degrees in the biblical languages. He developed a program called the Participatory Study Method, a method that Neufeld describes as “designed to invite people who wish to study the Bible to become a part of the community of faith that produced the texts we now have as scripture by studying them empathically and with an aim to learn and grow spiritually” (p. iv). Neufeld then set up a publishing company, Energion Publications, to produce study guides and other resources, that would aid would be students of the Bible in their study. In this book, Neufeld joins with Geoffrey Lentz, a United Methodist pastor, to write a manual that would introduce interested people to this method. It is a method that can be used in both personal study and in group study. It is intended to bring together the devotional use of scripture with an intensive engagement with the text as a historical, literary, and theological document.

This introductory manual is divided into two sections. Section one, entitled “Learning,” provides an introduction to the Participatory Bible Method. The second section, entitled “Living,” provides an introduction to the genres/literary types that one would encounter in reading and studying scripture. In each of the chapters found in section two, the authors introduce readers to the way in which one would read and understand those parts of scripture that would be defined as story, history, parable and allegory, poetry, letters, prophecy, visions, and wisdom. In each chapter, one is given both description and exercises that allow one to engage the text in an appropriate manner.

Returning to the first section, the authors provide an introduction to a method that is firmly based in the principle of “Lectio Divina,” though in this method the intent is to look not simply at a small passage of scripture, but an entire book. This is not simply a devotional methodology, but it is assumed that one will read the text with God – with prayer involved at every point in the process. The authors note that it is their conviction “that Bible study should be about experiencing God.” That is, it’s not just a matter of learning about God or learning doctrines, but experiencing relationally the God revealed in scripture. Thus, study of the Bible is not the end game. An experience of the presence of God is the intent of the process. That said, deep learning is part of the process. It is not an either/or situation. They assume that in order to truly experience God through biblical study you should seek to understand the text in its context, using the best tools available.

The method as laid out in the book involves these steps: Preparation (making sure you have the necessary resources at hand before you begin), Prayer, Overview (reading the passage through at least once, but preferably three times, to get a sense of the text, along with checking out the historical context of the book under consideration). From there the study moves to what they call “The Central Loop.” This is the point at which the student dives deep into the text. It is here that one seeks to meditate on the text. As one seeks to understand the text, the student will go through a repeatable process that begins with the study of the background, moves to meditation, questioning, researching, and comparing. To get the best sense of the text and its application to life, one will go through the process several times. From this process, the student will move on to sharing what they have learned and experienced in handling the text. The authors suggest that this final step is part of the “contemptlatio” experience. With regard to the step of sharing, the authors write that this step includes not only sharing what one has learned, but also involves living out what one has learned. Chapters four through eight take the reader through each of the steps, again providing exercises that one can do as individuals and as groups, so that they might understand and make use of the method.

The book is written in such a way that it can be a useful tool for a wide variety of Christian expressions. The authors take a moderately conservative approach to the text, but one could make good use of this method even if one was much more liberal than the authors. The key element here is the attempt to integrate prayer and meditation with deep and even critical biblical study. They don’t assume that prayerful reading is contradicted by healthy questioning of the text. If one were to engage in this kind of study, then the unfortunate illiteracy that plagues the church might be overcome.