August 8, 2016 I’m working on a chapter that deals with the role of the reader in interpreting the Bible. In contemporary theory, the meaning of a text is not simply in the words, but in the ways in which readers construe those words. The words bear a potential meaning, but the meaning is not … More The Reader’s Culture
July 29, 2016 Phoenix’s Art Museum has a set of photographs (I forgot to note the artist’s name), showing tree roots and their effects on sidewalks. They provide a great illustration for all sorts of themes–the power of nature vs. human artifice, the ultimate destruction of all things human, even plate techtonics. This one … More Textual Surface and the Bible’s Underground (Modern Art and the Bible 4)
July 29, 2016 I’m reading a great book, David Halberstam’s The Fifties. It’s a journalistic look at major cultural (e.g., Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe) and political (e.g., Joseph McCarthy, Eisenhower) moments in America in the 1950s. Here are three excerpts from chapters on political trends. Although describing political dynamics in the 1950s, they are also … More American Politics: Nothing New Under the Sun
July 22, 2016 In the great contemporary struggle to find alternatives to wooden, sclerotic literalism some Christians have landed on the view that the Bible’s authority lies in its message of salvation. The implication, sometimes expressed, is that the Bible is not an authority on other matters, especially on scientific matters. As John Wesley wrote, … More Galileo and the Bible (conclusion)
July 22, 2016 Here is a panel from Liliana Porter’s painting, The Traveler (currently housed in the Phoenix Art Museum). It depicts a small ship on the edge of a mostly gray surface. It moves from the center to the periphery–a movement of ec-centricity. Are we to think of this movement as one of danger, … More Modern Art and the Bible (3)
July 19, 2016 Another report on modern art and its lessons for biblical interpretation. This painting is named, “Shaking Out the Bed.” It shows household items being flung up toward the viewer as a bed-sheet is shaken; there are also items lying on tables and the floor around the edges. The painting is thus a … More Modern Art and the Bible (II)
July 19, 2016 The Bible has a lot to say about the natural world, but what does it say? I’m not asking, “Which words does it use and which sentences does it contain?” but instead “When the Bible talks about the natural world, what is the nature of its discourse?” As I discussed in a … More Galileo and the Two Books: The Bible and Scientific Knowledge
July 15, 2016 I’m in Phoenix and visited the Phoenix Art Museum. I was struck by the points of contact between modern/contemporary art and biblical interpretation. So, here is the first in a series of very short comments on some pieces of art and some thoughts about interpretation. Here’s a piece, Tumbling Forms. What struck me … More Modern Art and the Bible (I)
July 12, 2016 More on Galileo’s theory of the two books (nature and the Bible). To recap from last week’s journal: Galileo proposed that the Bible’s purpose is strictly to instruct us about salvation. Put differently, the Bible has nothing to say about the natural world–or at least nothing that might conflict with scientific theories. … More More on Galileo
July 7, 2016 So, I’m writing a book on how to read and understand the Bible. The book is for undergraduates, not for theological professionals, so rhetoric becomes an important consideration–how to find the right way of saying things so that communication actually occurs. Communication in theological subjects is a challenge for several reasons. The … More Theology, Politics, and Rhetoric
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