How we read the Bible

Jay Guin has been reading this book and offers his review. I was impressed enough to get an Etext copy (see below).

The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible
Author: Scot McKnight
Synopsis: The Blue Parakeet is author Scot McKnight’s deeply reasoned, compelling statement of how to read the Bible in a new evangelical generation. In re-examining the Bible, McKnight provides an exciting “Third Way” that appeals to the millions in today’s church who long to be authentic Christians, but don’t consider themselves theologically conservative or liberal.
Available: January 2009

Zondervan has it in hardcover for $19 (+P&H) or Etext for $15

Using McKnight’s categories, Jay expands on each. Click on “Naïve Approaches” for the entire Guin offering.

The Blue Parakeet: Naive Approaches
McKnight suggests that different people take different approaches to taming parakeets.

Retrieval
Some churches read the Bible to retrieve everything that was practiced in the First Century. If the early Christians met in homes, we should do the same. If they enjoyed table fellowship each week, so should we. If they washed feet, so should we. Indeed, some see all commands as perpetual.

Tradition
McKnight suggests that we first must learn to read the Bible “with tradition.” We don’t read the Bible bound by tradition, but neither do we ignore tradition.

Morsels of law
Some of us see the Bible as morsels of law. We sniff around the book looking for commands to obey (and to impose on others), ignoring the boring poems, history, and prophecy. After all, it’s the obedience that matters.

Morsels of blessings and promises
Some of us think the Bible was written to give us a daily emotional lift. We feed ourselves encouraging, positive verses each day, hoping for promises and blessings because of our positive thinking.

Mirrors and inkblots
McKnight writes, “Some people read the Bible as if its passages were Rorschach inkblots.” (page 48). Republicans find trickledown economics. Democrats find gay rights. Legalists find laws. The emotionally needy find emotional comfort.

Puzzling Together the Pieces to Map God’s Mind
Many of us, especially the scholars among us, want to find the system hidden underneath the story and develop a systematic exposition of what God really meant. Hence, we find the Bible reduced to a “pattern” or a systematic theology.

Maestros
Another mistake we often make is to pick one Biblical character and declare him a maestro — the ultimate expert on God’s will — and read all the rest of the Bible through his eyes.

The Churches of Christ
Well, McKnight has pegged us pretty well — and lots of others, too. We are guilty of all of the above, aren’t we?