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If you spend any time whatsoever with people who value the Scriptures, you’ll find that sometimes the Scriptures are used in sort of a "department store" way. The use of certain Scriptures, and even the hermeneutic (way of interpreting) used to apply those Scriptures is based heavily on the desired outcome, just as the department you visit at a store is based on what product you want to go home with in your possession. Want to talk about church leadership? Use Acts and the epistles. Want to do counseling? Use Job and Psalms. Want to talk about Hebrew history? Ah, hit the Pentateuch my friend! Need to scare someone senseless? Revelation is in aisle 5 sir. There’s actually a two-for-one sale going on with Daniel and Revelation that you’ll really enjoy.
A question comes up here: when people become actively involved in the process of spiritual formation, what specific books and hermeneutics are used? Is there supposed to be a separate way of viewing the Scriptures based on the desires of the interpreter? If spiritual formation, that active reshaping of our character and consequently our habits, is the goal then is there a way of approaching the Scriptures that will produce this? Is this approach fair to the Scriptures themselves? The further you go into the history and context of the Scriptures, what you find is a fairly complex and varied worldview that shapes and colors every passage of Scripture. To ignore these things for a greater, "spiritual meaning" might indeed be the quickest way to short-circuit any spiritual work that may need to be done in our lives. If the quest is to be shaped into the character of Jesus, it seems quite important to know the plot of the world in which the character of Jesus lived and acted.
I was instructed on a method of reading the Scriptures called Lectio Divina. It traces its origin back to the medieval monastic tradition and involves reading the Scriptures repetitively and out loud in a group setting while listening to each word and syllable to center oneself on what is being said and being moved spiritually by the truths "hidden" within the texts. I have found this to be an incredibly valuable tool during times of rest and recharging, but is there a problem with this from an interpretation standpoint? Is there a sense that this method of simply reading and listening to the Scriptures is not a dependable method over time? What about the historical and cultural context? What about the overall story that is present within the particular texts? Do we do justice to the Scriptures by not taking into consideration their proper context, even if our intentions are to "hear" from the Scriptures themselves? Is this strictly an issue of how someone interprets the Scriptures, or is it something more? Is it building on "what-does-it-mean-to-me" modernism that says whatever the text means to me right now is important regardless of the original context?
The well-respected scholar N.T. Wright developed a fantastic five-act way of looking at the Scriptures. The story of Scripture develops through the five acts of creation, fall, Israel, Jesus and the church. Just as the circumstances of Les Miserables are different after Valjean adopts Cossette, the circumstances of Scripture are different after Adam and Eve have a snack or after Moses descends Mount Sinai--even after Jesus rises from the dead and meets with the apostles. The context then powerfully confronts the reader and asks deeper questions than might have been otherwise thought. Where does the text being read find itself in the overall story? What does that do to the call of the text itself? In an initial reading, we may come to one conclusion but after seeing the larger story we may find ourselves challenged radically and deeply by the unrelenting narrative and the implications it has for those who would follow it out into the present day. Take for instance the fact that Jesus enters the story after the establishment and history of Israel as God’s chosen people: does this color or modify the reality of His teachings and actions?
In other words, is there a way of doing spiritual formation that honors the understanding of the context of Scripture as one story with many different lines and acts that continues its charge into the present day? Indeed, doing lectio divina is a powerful and mysterious act, but imagine doing the "divine reading" after having placed the context and setting of the Scripture being read. Could it be that renewing the hard work of study will infuse the "soft work" of listening and being moved with new hope and growth?
The logical next step in this process is to release the "department store" view of the Scriptures. All of them are vital to counseling, preaching, leading, teaching, growing, and "church-ing" because they are all fragments of the larger plane of glass--the movement of God in mankind to draw the whole of creation back to a relationship with Him. The work of spiritual formation, then, has to be based on more than just reading and loosely thrusting the text into the present day. Spiritual formation now requires a community that is willing to honor the Scriptures on their own terms and therefore to allow the challenges to be far greater than just personal piety or morality, but to extend into the fabric of every decision, word, and character-trait. Perhaps the most powerful insights for spiritual formation only come when we are willing to take the long road of interpretation and study to find them.
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Dear Tygrett,
Thank you for your insightful comment on spiritual formation and the Scriptures. I agree with you that reading and studying the Scriptures is an important process builder in spiritual formation.
Lectio divina, as you mentioned, is one way to read and study Scriptures. There are many other approaches too. What is important, whatever the methods, is that we let the Scriptures talk to us. I believe that is the target with your departmental store analogy. Spiritual formation is not counseling, or leadership development, or theological studies. Scripture reading in spiritual formation is listening to what God is saying to us at this moment of time and responding to him in this moment of time.
shalom
"Spiritual formation now requires a community that is willing to honor the Scriptures on their own terms and therefore to allow the challenges to be far greater than just personal piety or morality, but to extend into the fabric of every decision, word, and character-trait. Perhaps the most powerful insights for spiritual formation only come when we are willing to take the long road of interpretation and study to find them."
Observations and questions - (so I can understand what you mean) "Spiritual formation now requires a community . . ."
What happened to make it change from whatever it was before? Is there something about humans that has changed, or something about the scripture that has changed, or something about the way one relates to the other... or? I don't understand why'now' is used in this sentence. Help me out!
". . .allow the challenges to be far greater than just personal piety or morality, but to extend into the fabric of every decision, word, and character-trait."
Who said that personal piety or morality was not determined by the fabric of every decision, word, and character trait - in fact, I cannot fathom any understanding of personal piety or morality myself different than what you suggest here. This leads to a characterization of those in the 'department store' camp as somehow having a watered down version of piety or morality. Is this what you intended?
Lastly, you suggest the 'long road' of interpretation and study as opposed to the department store method. This implies that the department store method itself has not done the 'long road' of interpretation, which is something you failed to establish. Personally, after my own Bible study I have found that for New Testament, Holy Spirit led church leadership the only place to go really is the Acts and the Epistles. It seems that the 'long road of interpretation' has given many merits to why certain books are used for certain topics - because the 'long road of interpretation' has led them to that understanding, ie, studying the context of Acts and the Epistles in the whole of Scripture and in their individual writings shows that they have the most to do with church leadership. Have you considered this possibility?
That said, of course we must always look at the whole of scripture, context, biblical narrative, etc, in order to identify true meaning. Nothing will replace careful, detailed study of how to understand the scripture if we really want to understand the meanings that they have. The department store method that you describe could be disastrous for biblical understanding if it is done carelessly and without addressing context. It just seems that some of what you label the 'department store method' may actually be the end result of what you prescribe - taking the 'long road of interpretation and study to find [insights to spiritual formation].'
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Dear Tygrett,
Thank you for your insightful comment on spiritual formation and the Scriptures. I agree with you that reading and studying the Scriptures is an important process builder in spiritual formation.
Lectio divina, as you mentioned, is one way to read and study Scriptures. There are many other approaches too. What is important, whatever the methods, is that we let the Scriptures talk to us. I believe that is the target with your departmental store analogy. Spiritual formation is not counseling, or leadership development, or theological studies. Scripture reading in spiritual formation is listening to what God is saying to us at this moment of time and responding to him in this moment of time.
shalom
Posted by Alex Tang | Posted at 01/25/2007 9:54 PM"Spiritual formation now requires a community that is willing to honor the Scriptures on their own terms and therefore to allow the challenges to be far greater than just personal piety or morality, but to extend into the fabric of every decision, word, and character-trait. Perhaps the most powerful insights for spiritual formation only come when we are willing to take the long road of interpretation and study to find them."
Observations and questions - (so I can understand what you mean) "Spiritual formation now requires a community . . ."
What happened to make it change from whatever it was before? Is there something about humans that has changed, or something about the scripture that has changed, or something about the way one relates to the other... or? I don't understand why'now' is used in this sentence. Help me out!
". . .allow the challenges to be far greater than just personal piety or morality, but to extend into the fabric of every decision, word, and character-trait."
Who said that personal piety or morality was not determined by the fabric of every decision, word, and character trait - in fact, I cannot fathom any understanding of personal piety or morality myself different than what you suggest here. This leads to a characterization of those in the 'department store' camp as somehow having a watered down version of piety or morality. Is this what you intended?
Lastly, you suggest the 'long road' of interpretation and study as opposed to the department store method. This implies that the department store method itself has not done the 'long road' of interpretation, which is something you failed to establish. Personally, after my own Bible study I have found that for New Testament, Holy Spirit led church leadership the only place to go really is the Acts and the Epistles. It seems that the 'long road of interpretation' has given many merits to why certain books are used for certain topics - because the 'long road of interpretation' has led them to that understanding, ie, studying the context of Acts and the Epistles in the whole of Scripture and in their individual writings shows that they have the most to do with church leadership. Have you considered this possibility?
That said, of course we must always look at the whole of scripture, context, biblical narrative, etc, in order to identify true meaning. Nothing will replace careful, detailed study of how to understand the scripture if we really want to understand the meanings that they have. The department store method that you describe could be disastrous for biblical understanding if it is done carelessly and without addressing context. It just seems that some of what you label the 'department store method' may actually be the end result of what you prescribe - taking the 'long road of interpretation and study to find [insights to spiritual formation].'
Posted by Brian Bish | Posted at 01/26/2007 10:24 PM