Dear Bart,
After you spoke on our campus the other night, a lot of my friends were really confused. As much as they liked your message and admired your commitment to following Jesus by serving the poor, they were really uncomfortable with the way you talked about the Bible. Some of them even called you a heretic. So then, whats the deal with you and scripture?

Charlie
Chicago, IL
Dear Charlie,

It seems like the more open I am about the way my faith works, the more controversy I seem to stir up. Of course, sometimes the problem is that Im not clear enough in my communication. In this case, however, I think the problem your friends picked up on is my open admission of what seems to me a universal practice among those of us who call ourselves Christians. For the record, let me say it plainly:
I come to the Bible with an a priori understanding of who God is and how God works that has been distilled from my cultural and personal influences, my church and family background, my spiritual and moral intuitions, my experiences and observations of the world around me, and my deepest emotional and psychological needs. Sometimes intentionally but more often as a reflex, I underline, interpret, and occasionally overlook particular passages in accordance with that understanding, believing that God is willing and able to guide me in that process as a form of divine communication.
We Christians have always operated that way, of course, whether or not we have chosen to admit it. For example, those of us who owned or traded slaves eagerly quoted one set of Bible verses, while those of us who fought to abolish slavery just as eagerly quoted a completely different set, and each side interpreted away or ignored every passage which undermined or contradicted their a priori understanding of Gods will on the subject. For both better and worse, our consciously and unconsciously adopted spiritual paradigms have always effectively determined how we read the Bible on social issues like capital punishment, war, the role of women, economic justice, divorce, and gay marriage, not to mention theological issues like the purpose of prayer or the meaning of Jesus crucifiction. That is why perspectives on these issues tends to change over time, both for the Church as a whole and for each of us as individuals. Indeed, often the only constant in such matters is our fierce contention that our present perspective is finally correct.

The difference between me and many others, I think, is that I am both conscious and unashamed of the fact that my elemental faith in a good and loving God is not based on my confidence in the Bible. In fact, just the opposite is true. I trust the Bible because and precisely to the degree to which it corresponds with my prior, extra-biblical belief in a good and loving God. I study and preach from the Bible not because it is clear, coherent, consistent, inerrant, or divinely dictated word for word, but rather because history and my own experience have convinced me that God consistently speaks through it, in spite of (or perhaps because of) the fact that it is none of those things.
Before you dismiss my reasons, answer this simple question: Why do you trust the Bible? More precisely, how do you authenticate that particular interpretation of the Bible which defines your understanding of God?
While you are at it, consider this second question as well: If you agree with me that, because we are so demonstrably fallible, we Christians must rely on the Holy Spirit to help us decipher the Bible, then does it really matter whether or not the text itself makes perfect sense?

Dear Bart,
After you spoke on our campus the other night, a lot of my friends were really confused. As much as they liked your message and admired your commitment to following Jesus by serving the poor, they were really uncomfortable with the way you talked about the Bible. Some of them even called you a heretic. So then, whats the deal with you and scripture?

Charlie
Chicago, IL
Dear Charlie,

It seems like the more open I am about the way my faith works, the more controversy I seem to stir up. Of course, sometimes the problem is that Im not clear enough in my communication. In this case, however, I think the problem your friends picked up on is my open admission of what seems to me a universal practice among those of us who call ourselves Christians. For the record, let me say it plainly:
I come to the Bible with an a priori understanding of who God is and how God works that has been distilled from my cultural and personal influences, my church and family background, my spiritual and moral intuitions, my experiences and observations of the world around me, and my deepest emotional and psychological needs. Sometimes intentionally but more often as a reflex, I underline, interpret, and occasionally overlook particular passages in accordance with that understanding, believing that God is willing and able to guide me in that process as a form of divine communication.
We Christians have always operated that way, of course, whether or not we have chosen to admit it. For example, those of us who owned or traded slaves eagerly quoted one set of Bible verses, while those of us who fought to abolish slavery just as eagerly quoted a completely different set, and each side interpreted away or ignored every passage which undermined or contradicted their a priori understanding of Gods will on the subject. For both better and worse, our consciously and unconsciously adopted spiritual paradigms have always effectively determined how we read the Bible on social issues like capital punishment, war, the role of women, economic justice, divorce, and gay marriage, not to mention theological issues like the purpose of prayer or the meaning of Jesus crucifiction. That is why perspectives on these issues tends to change over time, both for the Church as a whole and for each of us as individuals. Indeed, often the only constant in such matters is our fierce contention that our present perspective is finally correct.

The difference between me and many others, I think, is that I am both conscious and unashamed of the fact that my elemental faith in a good and loving God is not based on my confidence in the Bible. In fact, just the opposite is true. I trust the Bible because and precisely to the degree to which it corresponds with my prior, extra-biblical belief in a good and loving God. I study and preach from the Bible not because it is clear, coherent, consistent, inerrant, or divinely dictated word for word, but rather because history and my own experience have convinced me that God consistently speaks through it, in spite of (or perhaps because of) the fact that it is none of those things.
Before you dismiss my reasons, answer this simple question: Why do you trust the Bible? More precisely, how do you authenticate that particular interpretation of the Bible which defines your understanding of God?
While you are at it, consider this second question as well: If you agree with me that, because we are so demonstrably fallible, we Christians must rely on the Holy Spirit to help us decipher the Bible, then does it really matter whether or not the text itself makes perfect sense?