Scripture and the Authority of God, by N.T. Wright

For those of you who have never read N.T. Wright before, you need to. Although I haven't read it yet I might recommend "after you believe," you might also try "surprised by hope." This little excerpt is from "Scripture and the Authority of God." It provides a voice of reason in the debate over the role of Scripture and how it is to be read. One of the helpful insights he makes is to divide the bible into a play with five acts: Creation, the Fall, Israel, Jesus' life, and the Church. It is important to know which act of the play we are in when we read.  He also points out that a "literal" reading in the church fathers didn't mean literal in the sense we mean it, but rather is the original meaning of the author. This point alone can help us to move above the fray of the literalist reading of the Bible.



Finally, Wright makes a good point about the role of Scripture in the church. I'm sure we all have critiques of our church services, my point is not to be overly critical.  However, we read the Bible so little in the church I attend it is astounding.  Not only is the Bible not read during the singing, it isn't read before the sermon and is only mentioned or briefly quoted in the sermon. This is a sad state of affairs and I don't think I'm alone in thinking things need to change. This quote explains a little bit of why the lectionary is important if nothing else to assure the Bible is actually read.


"Indeed, what is done in the classic offices of Morning and Evening Prayer, by means of listening to one reading from each Testament, is to tell the entire story of the Old and New Testament, glimpsing the broad landscape of the scriptural narrative through the two tine windows of short readings. To truncate this to one lesson, or to a short reading simply as a prelude to the sermon (and perhaps accompanied  with half and hour or more of "worship songs"), is already to damage or even deconstruct this event, and potentially to reduce the power and meaning of scripture, within this context, simply to give information, or exhortation. Equally, to have a reading that lasts about ninety seconds, flanked by canticles that last five or ten minutes (the practice in some "cathedral-style" worship), conveys the same impression as a magnificent sparkling crystal glass with a tiny drop of wine in it...The system whereby readings are chosen (called "lectionaries" in some traditions) must be so arranged that ordinary Christian worshipers are confronted, as far as possible, with the whole of scripture, especially the whole of the New Testament, on a regular basis."        
           Scripture and the Authority of God, pg. 132