The Sins of the Bible - Noel Bracefield

Noel Bracefield, a member of our Parish, gives us a useful summary of the contents of a recent book by John Shelby Spong, and a booklist of his own innovative reading of modern biblical scholarship. Thanks Noel.

If you categorise yourself as a Christian committed to the view of God as a supernatural being outside this world upon whom we can call when the going gets rough, or we or someone we love is in trouble, then you may be outraged or dismayed, and even completely dismissive of the latest(I think) book by John Shelby Spong. If, on the other hand you have an open mind, and you are willing to consider the points of view of a man who is well known as a theologian, and in huge demand as a lecturer. and columnist - a committed Christian all his life, and who is now the retired Episcopal Bishop of Newark, NJ, then you will I am sure find much in the book of absorbing interest.

The title of this latest book is likely to raise hackles, let alone the contents as it is called "The Sins of Scripture". This brings one up short immediately because the word "scripture" is usually associated with something one considers holy. How could :The Word of God be conceived as having anything to do with "sins"?

So wide is the canvas on which Spong paints his conclusions, that it would require a detailed examination of each to describe them. These each reader must study for himself or herself. To give you a brief overview of the book I shall list the eight sections which deal with each of the broad topics e.g. “The Bible and the Environment.” Each of the broad Sections is then broken up into more specific topics as Chapters.

SECTION 1 - THE WORD OF GOD

Chapter 1 - why the book, the theme, the author
Chapter 2 - a claim that cannot endure

SECTION 2 - THE BIBLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Chapter 3 - the ethics of over-breeding
Chapter 4 - the virtue of birth control
Chapter 5 - the earth fights back
Chapter 6 - bad theology creates bad ecology

SECTION 3 - THE BIBLE AND WOMEN

Chapter 7 - Creation - woman is not made in the image of God
Chapter 8 - Sexism in Christian History
Chapter 9 - The woman as the source of evil
Chapter 10 - Menstruation and the male fear of blood
Chapter 11-Recasting the negativity

SECTION 4 - THE BIBLE AND HOMOSEXUALITY

Chapter 12 - The Ecclesiastical battle over Homosexuality
Chapter 13 - The Holiness Code from the Book of Leviticus
Chapter 14 - The Story of Sodom
Chapter 15 - The Homophobia of Paul

SECTION 5 - THE BIBLE AND CHILDREN

Chapter 16 - The Appeal in the Text "Spare the Rod..."
Chapter 17 - The violence is always violent whether child or adult
Chapter 18 - God as Judge
Chapter 19 - Searching for the source of the human need to suffer
Chapter 20 - God as divine Child abuser
Chapter 21 - Moving beyond the demeaning God into the God of life.

SECTION 6 - THE BIBLE AND ANTI-SEMITISM

SECTION 7 - THE BIBLE AND CERTAINTY

SECTION 8 - READING SCRIPTURE AS EPIC HISTORY

There are 32 Chapters in all, and the last Chapter is Jesus Beyond Religion. I shall quote from one of the last paragraphs in that Chapter which summarises for me the conclusions he draws from the book as a whole.

from P297:

Jesus according to the Fourth Gospel did not come to make us religious, to make us righteous, or moral, or even to make us orthodox. All of those are demonstrably killing formulas throughout our world. John said Jesus had only one purpose and that was to call us into life more abundantly (10:10). That is the meaning of God in our post-tribal and even post-religious world.

The use of the Bible to justify our prejudices must be abandoned. We do not abandon that sacred story in which the sins of scripture are embedded in the "terrible texts" however. We rather claim it for our own. We recognize its humble tribal birthplace. We celebrate its growth, its breaking of barriers and boundaries. We watch it move from tribal deity to universal deity, and even beyond. Then we observe that in the person of Jesus this God presence drew near and entered our humanity, calling us beyond the limits and into a new humanity. We have entered into the consciousness of God. That is what it means to discover that we are now God's dwelling place. There is no supernatural deity beyond the sky working miracles. There is only a God-infused humanity through whom the Source of Life, Source of Love and the Ground of Being lives. We are the God-bearers of the world. We must rise to our new vocation and be God for one another .For in each of us s the promise of Emmanuel which means "God with us". The only way that God can be with us now, and through the ages, is for each of us to allow God to live and love through us through our humanity."