I know the title of this post might sound offensive, but don\u2019t give in to that feeling. I\u2019m probably not even talking to you.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0title\u00a0channels something I read by C. S. Lewis somewhere in the past (that I really don\u2019t feel like looking up right now) and that I also heard from Jon D. Levenson<\/a> Levenson remarked that he knows a lot of very intelligent and educated adults who were brought up in religious homes and who have very nuanced, adult views of all sorts of things like economics, history, politics, math\u2014even other religions.<\/p>\n But when it comes to the Bible, their thinking hasn\u2019t changed much from their childhood views. For some reason, growth to adulthood has bypassed their understanding of the Bible.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t about being \u201cstupid.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s\u00a0about the nature of religious training, where too often staying still in one\u2019s view\u00a0of the Bible\u00a0is lauded\u00a0as a virtue, a sign of \u201cstrong\u201d faith that does not \u201cgive in\u201d to change\u2014for change is simply a polite way of saying \u201ccompromise,\u201d a weak or dying faith.<\/p>\n And that is quite unfortunate.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Bible is a rich and complex book<\/a>. It deserves\u2014in fact, demands\u2014more than being kept safe in our younger ways of thinking. Studying the Bible with adult faculties alerts us that the nature of the Bible requires of us a more nuanced appreciation.<\/p>\n Not \u201ccompromise\u201d but nuance, where na\u00efvet\u00e9 gives way to an appreciation of the Bible\u2019s more \u201cadult\u201d nature\u2014like children who grow up to adulthood and their view of their parents grows right along with them.<\/p>\n So here are three ways of seeing the Bible that reflect such an appreciation of the complexities of the Bible\u2019s production and history. These three overlap somewhat, and for what it\u2019s worth, they are not in any way controversial among biblical scholars.<\/p>\n It\u2019s understandable to assume that the order of the books in the Bible reflect when they were written.<\/p>\n This may be especially true for Christians, since the Bible\u2019s macro-structure\u2014New Testament follows the Old Testament\u2014indicates a chronological order.<\/p>\n But that doesn\u2019t hold when we get down to details.<\/p>\n Just because Genesis is first does not mean that Genesis was written before Exodus, or Deuteronomy was written before 1 Samuel, or Leviticus before Ezekiel and Jeremiah.<\/p>\n When the books of the Bible were written is a complex issue, but we should not assume that David or Hosea had a copy of the Pentateuch they\u00a0could consult just because we can flip back<\/em> to those books in our Bible.<\/p>\n They may have been aware of traditions of say Adam or the exodus or the 10 Commandments, but that is not to say they were aware of books that we know today.<\/p>\n Which leads to my second point. . .<\/p>\n Ancient\u00a0Israel\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong>notions of Holy Scripture developed over time, and it wasn\u2019t until the exile to Babylon (586-539 BCE) and it\u2019s aftermath that a \u201ccanonical consciousness\u201d arose.<\/p>\n This is not to say that nothing was written down before the 6th c. BCE. Far from it. It only means that a collection of authoritative canonical writings is a later development.<\/p>\n That consciousness seems to have been\u00a0nurtured first during the exile, when previously known means of communion with God were off the table\u2014namely Temple worship. Prophets\u00a0became less frequent, too, until they faded from the scene.<\/p>\n In other words, the need<\/em> for a \u201cBible\u201d arose later, as a means of hearing God\u2019s word from the past then and there. The custodians of God\u2019s word passed from the prophets to scribes\u2014from the spoken word to the production and transmission of the written word.<\/p>\n This leads to my third point. . .<\/p>\n Even if David is responsible\u00a0for some psalms, Solomon for some proverbs, and Moses for some laws, the books<\/em> of Psalms, Proverbs, and the\u00a0Pentateuch are anonymous.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know who specifically is responsible for giving us the books we know so well by name and location in our Bibles. We can make good stabs at roughly\u00a0when<\/em> books\u2014and parts of books\u2014were either written or edited, but often it\u2019s hard to say more than \u201cbefore or after the exile,\u201d \u201csometimes during the early monarchy,\u201d \u201clikely pre-monarchic\u201d\u2014or something like that.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n These 3 ways of thinking have all sorts of ramifications, of course, which\u00a0can and should be talked about and worked through by people of faith. Which is really my point here.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=inspirandinca-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0691029504\")
Complexity in Understanding the Bible<\/h2>\n
(1) The books of the Bible were not written in the order in which they appear.<\/h2>\n
(2) Canonical\/scriptural consciousness grew over time.<\/h2>\n
(3) The biblical books are the products of anonymous writers and editors.<\/h2>\n