New Testament and the People of God 1

Even though we haven’t We have now officially kicked off the group read. I have completed the first chapter of Wright’s The New Testament and the People of God and, as expected, was blown away. Just a hint of the gold that I have been busy mining:

The New Testament has not been around as long as the land of Israel, but in other ways there are remarkable parallels. It is a small book, smaller than anybody else’s holy book, small enough to be read through in a day or two. But it has had an importance belied by its slim appearance. It has again and again been a battleground for warring armies. Sometimes they have come to plunder its treasures for their own use, or to annex bits of its territory as part of a larger empire in need of a few extra strategic mountains, especially holy ones. Sometimes they have come to fight their private battles of neutral territory, finding in the debates about a book or a passage a convenient place to stage a war which is really between two world views or philosophies, themselves comparatively unrelated to the New Testament and its concerns. There are many places whose fragile beauty has been trampled by heavy-footed exegetes in search of a Greek root, a quick sermon, or a political slogan. And yet it has remained a powerful and evocative book, full of delicacy and majesty, tears and laughter. This book is a book of wisdom for all peoples, but we have made it a den of scholarship, or of a narrow, hard and exclusive piety. (3-4)
What ought to be done with this strange and powerful little book? A volume of Shakespeare may be used to prop up a table leg, or it may be used as the basis for a philosophical theory. It is not difficult, though, to see that using it as the foundation for dramatic productions of the plays themselves carries more authenticity than either of these. There is a general appropriateness about using Shakespeare as a basis of plays, which justifies itself without much more argument. (5-6)

The New Testament, I suggest, must be read so as to be understood, read within appropriate contexts, within an acoustic which will allow its full overtones to be heard. It must be read with as little distortion as possible, and with as much sensitivity as possible to its different levels of meaning. It must be read so that the stories, and the Story, which it tells can be heard as stories, not as rambling ways of declaring unstoried ‘ideas.’ It must not be read with the assumption that we already know what it is going to say, and without the arrogance that assumes ‘we’- whichever group that might be- already have ancestral rights over this or that passage, book, or writer. And for full appropriateness, it must be read in such a way as to set in motion the drama which it suggests. (6)

I felt that the first quote was escpecially pionant due to the recent turmoil that has erupted in and around the country of Israel over the recent weeks. Too often our arguing and debates over scripture turns to war almost as quickly as the real thing. Casualties take their toll on both sides of such conflict and leave those still left in the battle with a bitter taste in our mouths. We were not born to kill, it is something that we learn.

Again, I have been amazed at Wright’s ability to write ith both lofty, eloquant, doctarial prose and then everyday, run of the mill conversation. Brilliant.

I can’t wait to acctually begin sharing with the group. hear what others have to say. We have to have the first five chapters read by the end of the month so keep looking for my thoughts and reactions. Great stuff!!!