All Saints Parish, Brookline MA

Spirituality for a digital world

Photo by Jamaica Cabahug on Unsplash

EPIPHANY BIBLE STUDY: READING THE BIBLE THROUGH DIFFERENT LENSES

Mondays, 7:00 pm, via Zoom Register Here

“All theology comes with an adjective.” So say the scholars behind the podcast, “The Bible for Normal People.” They mean that everyone who reads scripture does so through their own culture and context, including every one of us. This Epiphany, Richard will lead a series of conversations introducing six different contexts (or lenses) for reading scripture. Seeing the bible through multiple lenses increases awareness of our own hidden biases and deepens our understanding of the true breadth of God’s grace. Each session will be stand alone, so you can come to one or come to all. The resources for each session are located below so that you can work at your own pace. You must register in order to get the Zoom link, but you will use the same link for every session you attend.

Contact: Richard

SESSION AND RESOURCES

The material for each session is linked below. Watch, read, listen to, and absorb as much (or as little) of it as you would like. Each session will offer a brief overview of each lens, one or more scripture sections to look at from this angle, and opportunities for sharing, reflecting, and learning.

How Jews and Christians Read Scripture Differently

“We [Jews and Christians] are not reading the same Bible at all and that actually is pretty good, because then we don’t have to wrestle over I got it right and you got it wrong.” — Amy-Jill Levine

Womanist Biblical Interpretation

“I think we must wrestle with scripture and we often don’t. We want to come up with something that more rubber stamps our opinion as opposed to looking at the complicated world of the Bible.” — Emilie Townes

Native American Biblical Interpretation

“The Bible wasn’t written from a Western worldview, it was written as story. In fact, 90% of Scripture is story. If you don’t understand how to interpret story, you really don’t understand the Scriptures.” – Randy Woodley

The Bible and Eco-Theology

“Science, indigenous ecological knowledge, new movements in eco-theology…this convergence of wisdoms is very humbling for Christians. We have to recognize that other people have been smarter about this than Christians have been, at least Western Christians in the last few centuries.” — Debra Rienstra

The Bible and Disability Theology

“Moses has a speech disorder, Elijah deals with depression and suicidal ideation, Timothy is chronically ill, the list goes on. Those disabilities aren’t cured in Scripture, yet we erase them when we tell stories. In turn, we erased the way that God is already at work in disability now.” — Dr. Amy Kenny

The Bible and Queer Theology

“Christianity was meant to be an inherently scandalous movement. Jesus entered into scandal every opportunity that he could…” — The Rev. Elizabeth Edman 

The Bible and Intersex Believers

“We’ve done our theological reflection. We’ve done our biblical study, only thinking about these idealized versions of male and female. That’s not good enough. We have to do our biblical study and our thinking theologically about what it means to be human and what it means to be a faithful Christian in a way that includes everyone in the community.” — Dr. Megan DeFranza