Scripture as teacher

I read an interesting book earlier this week: More Ready Than You Realize- The Power of Everyday Conversations, by Brian McLaren. I'll say more about it in a couple of weeks when we get a little farther on in our exploration of six marks of discipleship, and talk about reconciling relationships or "spiritual friendships."

The book is based on an exchange of emails that McLaren had with a young woman he met at the church he pastored. She was, at the time, what many would call a "seeker."

In one series of emails, she asked questions about the Bible, and why it's so hard to make sense of so much of it.

I think McLaren's response is great:

"In spite of the fact that the Bible was written a long time ago and far away by many different writers in many different cultures, arising among people whose lives were radically different from our own, it still yields wisdom and insight and challenge and perspective to people today, so that we can find it abundantly 'worthwhile to dig through the Bible.'

"I suppose here, as in many places in life, our problem is one of expectations. We are used to people writing for us. Newspapers and popular magazines pitch at an eighth grade reading leve, easy for all of us. Textbooks are generally written not only by knowledgeable people, but by skilled educators who pay attention to our learning styles, attention spans, and format preferences. Popular novels (the ones most of us read, if we read them at all) are written to be popular, and that means easy for us, accessible to us. We assume, if the Bible is in any way inspired, that the Holy Spirit would be so kind and considerate as to similarly gear it exclusively to us. Reasonable enough... at first glance. But think again. If the Bible were written for twenty-first century readers, how would it have come accross to its original hearers, or hearers in the sixth century BC, or eighth century AD, or fourteenth century AD? And, assuming the world is still spinning, how would a style and form targeted on a primitive twenty-first century demographic cohort feel for advanced readers in the twenty-ninth century?

"It is hard for us, spoiled as we are by being marketing targets, but the Bible asks us to rise above our narrow parochial tastes. It asks us to learn, to understand, to imaginatively enter an alien geography (Jerusalem, Nineveh, Bethany, Bethlehem), alien economies (denarii, talents, shekels), alien cultures, and social structures (polygamy, patriarchy, monarchy, tribal confederation, slavery, arranged marriages). It asks us to stop absolutizing our perspective and, instead, to see our modern or postmodern viewpoints simply as views from a point - limited, contigent, changing, not privileged. In so doing, the very form of the Bible begins yeaching us something about humility and about opening our minds to new perspectives.

"This humility and open-mindedness are exactly what we need in order to become the kinds of friends people like [this seeker] need."

What do you think?