As I have frequently mentioned, I like to listen to podcasts as I take my dog, Emma, out for a walk. (Yes, I will be logging those miles for Calumet’s “Walk the Walk”!) This morning, I got up early to beat the heat and was out the door by 6am. After listening to NPR’s “Up First,” I put on the latest episode from “The Bible for Normal People.” Today’s topic was about understanding and reading the book of Genesis.
Remember the three key rules when reading scripture? “Context. Context. Context.” This podcast was all about the context of Genesis, specifically, what were the authors (yes, plural) of Genesis trying to understand and convey to the listeners (most people could not read) of these stories.
Pete Enns, one of the hosts, who is a Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University, helped me better understand the context of Genesis in the way that I learned in seminary. He talks about the authors using stories of the past to help explain and understand and make commentary on their present-day situation. Another way of putting it is the following. The stories in Genesis are not written down because they actually happened, they are written down because they are helping people to better understand what is actually happening, in their lives, at that time.
A modern-day example Pete uses is the play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. The play is providing a commentary on “McCarthy-ism,” a time when people in the United States were being persecuted and accused of being Communists. Miller wasn’t trying to educate people about events that happened almost 300 years prior, he was using stories from 300 hundred years ago to comment on what was happening in the 1950’s, the time period he was living in. (On a side note, another helpful topic in understanding all of this is by being familiar with two terms “mythicized history” and “historicized myths.” You can watch a 15-minute YouTube video of him talking about it HERE. And now maybe I am starting to lose you in the weeds!)
The time the book of Genesis is helping people understand is from a period known as “The Monarchy” of ancient Israel. This is from approximately from the year 1000 BCE to 586 BCE and a little beyond. It was a defining time in ancient Israel’s life, when the people claimed and settled in the land that God was supposed to have given them only to be exiled from that same land after they failed to remain faithful to God and God’s ways. The authors use the stories of the ones like Adam and Eve in the garden to help understand what was happening to them.
If you are interested, I suggest you listen to the podcast. I will say, it starts off really strong, but as it goes on, I think Pete gets a little lost in the weeds. (Although, it is still worth your time.) You can find it wherever you get your podcasts, or at this link https://peteenns.com/podcast/.
I also realize, most people will not listen to the podcast, because they don’t have time, or they are not interested. I get it. So why am I sharing this with you? I want to continually encourage us to stretch in our faith and see things in new ways. I will be the first to admit, it would be and is easiest, if I could just read something in the bible and say, “See, look at what it says. That ends the conversation.” The people that I found with the deepest faiths are not the ones who know the most information, but are the ones who aren’t afraid to ask questions or who don’t settle for the easy answers. Therefore, my goal in all of this isn’t to educate you to the point that you are all Bible experts, but rather to help us all keep expanding our understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus and a child of God. I don’t want us to settle for what we have always thought or been told, but to ask ourselves, “Why have we been told or taught this?”
Perhaps, to help you in this new way of reading and thinking is to ask yourself the question, “Why was this story written down and shared? Why would these ideas have been passed down to me?”
Sometimes our ways of thinking will be reinforced? Sometimes they will be changed. Therefore, this will be hard at times and it will be challenging at times. I also hope it will be good.
Anyways, as always, thanks for reading my thoughts and giving it some space in your brain and in your life. I appreciate that you do and don’t take it lightly.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Tim
