Lessons in how to read the Bible

Recently controversial pastor Mark Driscoll has set off another firestorm with the release of his new book (co-authored with his wife Grace) entitled Real Marriage. I have not read the book, nor will I voice any substantial opinions on it until I have done so, but it's hard to avoid the rhetoric being spewed by both his advocates and opponents on his views of marriage, submission and the role of women.

One of his harshest critics in the blogosphere is a woman by the name of Rachel Held Evans. A popular blogger and published writer herself, she has repeatedly gone toe to toe with Driscoll over many of his claims and writings (although I'm not sure if Driscoll has ever responded to her) and recently has attacked the interpretation (by Grace to be fair) of the role of Vashti in the story of Esther. You can read her whole post on the matter here - but what struck me as worth sharing in this post (because I don't think necessarily that everything she says is worth sharing) is the way in which she advocates dealing with Scripture.

Part of learning to love the Bible for what it is, not what we want it to be is resisting the temptation to either gloss over or glorify the culture in which these women lived and to instead allow their stories to speak for themselves. Only in the midst of the true contours and colors of the text do the characters of the Bible find their depth. 

To me this resonates as truth. The stories contained within the Bible are rich and wonderful and so many of the characters - even bit players in background roles - have tremendous significance when one takes the time to learn about them and about their stories in context. We do the Scriptures, and ourselves, a disservice when we arrogantly force the characters of the Bible to bend to the cultural conventions of 20th or 21st century western Christianity. Let the Bible speak, and hear the stories of the people it speaks of and perhaps we can learn to look beyond our own cultural myopia and into the lives of people who's stories have the power to produce a real Christ-like response in our lives.

Blessings on your day,
Chris