notes on reading the bible as literature

8/22/2019 Notes on Reading the Bible as Literature

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Tuesday, August 6, 13


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LOOKING BACK



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AUTHORITY, OPINION,EVIDENCE, ARGUMENT

ABSOLUTISTS

RELATIVISTS

EVALUATIVISTS

forms opinion based on authority

against authority

forms opinion opinion based onevidence and - whatever subject



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WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THIS AGAIN?

ABSOLUTISTS RELATIVISTS

EVALUATIVISTS

CLETuesday, August 6, 13


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EVALUATIVISTS

CLE extreme definition:no faith; just reasonfaith and reason

RELIGIOUSTRUTH?

scientific or mathematicalproof

v.s



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How do we justify or evaluate religious truth?

EVALUATIVIST APPROACH?

What is religious/moral authority?

What constitutes moral/religious evidences?

RELIGIOUSTRUTH?



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RELIGIOUSTRUTH?

religious and moral authority and evidence

BIBLEAUTHORITY



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to read and understandas SCRIPTURE

Word of God

read asLITERATURE


BIBLE

We can never claim to understand the Bible as the Word ofGod if we are not able to read and understand it asliterature in the first place

looking at the bible only as literature is not sufficientTuesday, August 6, 13


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READING

THEBIBLE

ASLITERATURE

which areas of knowledge?

what kind of authority

what kind ofevidences/argument



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READING

THEBIBLE

ASLITERATURE

which areas of knowledge?

ART

literature is a form of art



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AUTHORITYREADING

THEBIBLEAS

LITERATURE

Who would comprise

authority if you are readingit as a community?

LITERARY CRITICSBIBLE SCHOLARS

ANY BOOK CLUBOTHERS?



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EVIDENCEREADING

THEBIBLEAS

LITERATURE

What constitutes literaryevidence?

How do we support

our literaryinterpretations? What

kind of evidences?



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ARGUMENTREADING

THEBIBLEAS

LITERATURE

What are the ways of

knowing?

LANGUAGEEMOTION

applicable to literature?



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READING

THEBIBLEAS

LITERATURE

LITERARY INTERPRETATIONOF THE SCRIPTURE

3 PRINCIPLES

1. GENRE

2. MEANING3. CONTEXT

- literary forms

-different layers of meaning

-what we try to interpretin the text


ti l


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LITERARYGENRE

3 TEXTS3 GENRES

documentary

news article

movie



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LITERARY INTERPRETATION

LITERARYGENRE

interpret a text accordingto the rules and

conventions of itsGENRE.

1ST PRINCIPLE



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LITERARYGENRE

documentary

news article

feature film

The news article... it is legitimate for you to ask did this

actually happen? Is this the sequence of events? Are

these the people who are involved? These are prettylegitimate questions.

similar with documentary?

feature film: Reading should be read different from the first two.

How should we consider Jack and Rose? Did they

actually exist?

We dont know, probably not, its possible or they did not

The questions you ask when you are watching a feature

film would be very different from the questions you ask

when you are reading a news article or watching a

documentary.

In a feature film, it can be completely fiction, it can be

based on some facts but fictionalized, exaggerated,selective details in this case, maybe there was no Jack

or Rose, factually they did not exist but we still expect

some truth from this particular text

Is there a the difference between facts and truths?



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FACT OR TRUTH?

Truth=Facts

There is more to realitythan facts.

usually today:

It doesnt have to happenfor something to be

true; it doesnt have tobe provable for

something to be true



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What truth can we derive from the movie titanic?

people do st*#pidthings because of

love

Is there really a Rose who rushed back in?

THERE IS MORE TO REALITYTHAN HISTORICAL OR

SCIENTIFIC FACTS

FACT OR TRUTH?



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CARTOONS/COMIC

DIFFERENT EXPECTATION

we suspend our disbelief, we dont expect facts

In lieu of facts, we can still expect truths. A lot of comicbooks offers profound TRUTHS about life



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When the book/movie came out... people became worried...

many were bothered by the possibility of the story being true

Was Jesus in love with andmarried to MaryMagdalene?

Was Mary Magdalenethe true Holy Grail?

Dan Brown says so...

You are not suppose to ask whether it is real or not!



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RELIGIOUS ART

DIFFERENT EXPECTATION

we suspend our disbelief, we dont expect facts

Does Jesus look like this?

Does this Icon of Mary

really look like the actualperson?

It is not right to ask

whether these imagesare factually and

historically accurate

It is not even right to expect religious art to be alwaysbeautiful

is to inspire us to prayer



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1ST PRINCIPLE: GENRE

Dont read the Bible like aNewspaper or a History

book

Interpret its text accordingto the conventions of its

Genre

Interpret a book according to the rules andconventions of its Genre



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1ST PRINCIPLE: GENRE

The Bible has many different literary forms.

There are 72 books in theBible

They are al l dif ferentliterary forms!

VARIETY!



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READING THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE

The Bible is difficult to read and interpret

VARIETY! -different books and literary Genres

DISTANCE -genres are too ancient andconventions are too strange

UNKNOWN/DEAD AUTHORS-no access to their

intention



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READING THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE

THE BOOK OF JOBACTIVITY:

1. Go to the website and download worksheet 4.2.

2. Discuss and come up with an answer perlearning circle.3. Upload to the PLW of one of the members.4. On the post : Indicate your learning circle # andthe PLW of your member where you uploadedyour answer



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THE BOOK OF JOB



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THE BOOK OF JOBThere was a man in the land of Uz,

whose name was Job, and that manwas blameless and upright, one whofeared God and turned away fromevil. There were born to him seven

sons and three daughters

He had seven thousand sheeps, three thousand camels, fivehundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she-asses, and very

many servants; so that this man is the greatest of all thepeople of the east.

Job1:1-3



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THE BOOK OF JOB

Job1:1-3

He was a blameless man, but he

was a very wealthy man. Thentragedy struck. Everything wastaken away from him. He lost hiskids, all his properties and his

wealth.

At the beginning of the book there was a conversation

between God and Satan - having a bet

IF YOU DONT KNOW THE LITERARY FORM, YOU WILLMISUNDERSTANDTHE TEXT



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THE BOOK OF JOB

The GENRE/LITERARY FORM of the Book ofJob is NOT HISTORY

The genre is evident in the exaggerated depiction

of Job. The symbolical used of numbers

ALLEGORY



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THE BOOK OF JOB

ALLEGORY

uses symbolic, fictional persons and actions to expressprofound truth about human existence

So... did such a person

exist? NOT THE POINT!

we are not supposed to

look for facts!

WE CAN LOOK FORTRUTHS



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THE BOOK OF JOBThere are people who tend toviolate the 1st principle onGENRE. And because theyinsist that the Bible ought to

be read literallythus,

BOOK of JOB: Job existed and suffered exactly

as depictedGENESIS: The world was created in the precisemanner and in exactly 6 days



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AnALLEGORYabout

humansufferingand thedifferentviews about it

THE BOOK OF JOB



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2ND PRINCIPLE: LAYERS OF MEANING

Before looking for

PERSONALMEANING, make

sure you understandthe more basic

LAYERS OFMEANING



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authors intention / orcommentaries from

authorities

TEXT MEANING

evidence ofmeaning in the textas accepted by the

community ofreadersLITERAL MEANING

the words of the text

AUTHOR MEANING

PERSONAL MEANINGreaders opinion based on

ones personalexpereinces



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authors intention / orcommentaries from

authorities

TEXT MEANING

evidence ofmeaning in the textas accepted by the

community ofreadersLITERAL MEANING

the words of the text

AUTHOR MEANING

PERSONAL MEANINGreaders opinion based on

ones personalexpereinces



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LITERAL

AUTHOR

TEXT

PERSONAL

BOOK World of theText Words ofthe Text

WINDOW

World

Behind theText

Authors intention orcommentaries from

AUTHORITY

MIRRORWorld

before the

Text

EVIDENCE ofmeaning in the text as

accepted by thecommunity

ROSEWINDOW

World of theReader

READERS OPINIONbased on personal

history andexperience



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THE

ANNU

N CIATI O

N

AUTHORITY, EVIDENCE AND OPINION


and Mary said to the Angel: How can this


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... and Mary said to the Angel: How can thisbe, since I have no husband? And the angelsaid to her: The Holy Spirit will come uponyou and the power of the Most will over

shadow you. Therefore, the child to be bornwill be called Holy, the Son of God.

-Luke 1:34-35

RELATIVIST INTERPRETATION?A justification for teenage

pregnancy?

PERSONAL MEANING/OPINIONONLY; WITHOUT REGARD TO

AUTHORITY AND TEXT MEANING



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LITERARY INTERPRETATION3RD PRINCIPLE: CONTEXT

The wider theCONTEXT, the

richer and fuller the

reading!



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LITERARY INTERPRETATION3RD PRINCIPLE: CONTEXT

context of the text

context of the reader

CON TEXT

with-the-text



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the more you include theauthor and text meaning,

the more you include

personal meaning, thericher would be your

reading


authors

intention /or

commentaries from

authorities

TEXTevidence ofmeaning inthe text asaccepted

by thecommunityof readers

LITERALthe wordsof the text

AUTHOR

PERSONAL

readers opinion

based on onespersonal

experiences

3RD PRINCIPLE: CONTEXT

no author and text meaning

no personal meaning

- reading will be literal

- reading will be impoverishedTuesday, August 6, 13


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Job cursed the day of his birth... Why did I not perish atbirth, come forth from the womb and perish?

Job 3:1-10

The patient Jobin chapters 1 and 2

has turned into

a complainer

in chapter 3 andvirtually the rest of 40+

chapters of the book.



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Who experienced a richerreading?

Reader A has always leda secured life.

Reader B has justexperienced a major lifecrisis

2 READERS; 2 CONTEXTS

Reader Bs personal experiences have helped

him BETTER UNDERSTAND the text



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When we read the Bible, it is

helpful to draw from ourpersonal context, but

ALWAYS only afterunderstanding the author

and text meaning

Objectivity(divorcing our reading

from our personalcontext) is ARTIFICIALand may impoverished

our reading



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Someone readingthe Anunciation toMary drawing fromhis context of

having a sister whohas experienced thehumiliation of beinga single mother at

such a young agewill understand thetextMORE DEEPLY




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MEANING FOCUS TEXT HISTORYPERSONAL

WORLDLITERAL

World of Text

AUTHOR WorldBEHIND the

Text

TEXT WorldBEFORE the

text

PERSONAL World of theREADER

FULL ALL of the

ABOVE

EXCLUSIVE

SECONDARY PRIMARY

PRIMARY SECONDARY

EXCLUSIVE

PRIMARY SECONDARY SECONDARY

X X

X

X

X Xrelativist

relativist

absolutist

evaluativist

evaluativistTuesday, August 6, 13


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There is no way you can read the Bible as Scripture ifyou havent learned to read it as Literature



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There are many things in theBible to make a claim; and usethe same Bible to make a

contrary claim.

There has to be a full appreciation of the genre, of themeaning of the text, and author in order to arrive at amore valid and rich reading/interpretation of the Scripture

So it depends. You cant just saythat the Bible is the evidence of

something because everythingis interpreted

notes on reading the bible as literature

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