Comments on “How not to read the Bible (my take)”

How not to read the Bible (my take)

2009-03-28T11:38:29+00:00

Hey Matthew, That really resonates.

Now, let me try to guess the difference. Here’s one that springs to mind. We both are talking about a ‘theology’ that threatens to insulate us from the word. My piece was about how the word travels to me through the theology. I read to inform my ‘theology’ and then hopefully my ‘theology’ encourages me.

Your piece seems to be more how you come to the word through your theology (your theology allows what reading you’re allowed to have).

So I was highlighting the path from the word and how we pass it through a theology – you are highlighting our approach to the word and how we read it through spectacles?

Or is that being a bit too nuanced? Go on, what’s the difference?

How not to read the Bible (my take)

2009-03-28T11:43:07+00:00

Just been rummaging around your blog. You’re coming to Sussex soon? Or are you already in Sussex? I’m in Eastbourne. Whereabouts are you (planning to be)?

How not to read the Bible (my take)

2009-03-28T12:07:57+00:00

Hehe – in some ways it’s far more obvious than that, though you’ve summarised both dangers very nicely! The major difference I was referring to was the absence of God from my “conversation” – an all-too-regular occurrence when I’m supposed to be spending time with him! There’s an irony in my request for him to open my ears to his message, because I’ll too often pray that and then lapse back into dry intellectualism, or looking for the “right” answers in the text.

As to where I’ll be in Sussex, I’m moving to Brighton once I graduate to do Relay with Sussex University CU. I don’t yet have anywhere to live specifically!