Reading the Bible Responsibly in a Polarized Church & World – Part 11

Opening Prayer

In the silence before time began, in the quiet of the womb, in the stillness of early morning is your beauty. At the heart of all creation, at the birth of every creature, at the center of every moment is your splendor. Rekindle in us the sparks of your beauty that we may be part of the splendor of this moment. Rekindle in us the sparks of your beauty that we may be part of the blazing splendor that burns from the heart of this moment.

• John Philip Newell, Sounds of the Eternal – A Celtic Psalter, p. 38.

Reading the Bible Responsibly in a Polarized Church & World:

The Bible’s content in many ways engages its readers – puzzling, angering, challenging, and inspiring them. How has the Bible historically been used, including with the issue of slavery? Can readers navigate the use of biblical texts that are quoted across the political spectrum? What principles exist for interpreting these texts that support conflicting viewpoints? Together, we will explore a way forward: reading the Bible with each other guided by the rule of love.

The Bible and Racism in the United States (cont’d)

“Elsewhere, in his famous Fourth of July address, Douglass rails against his White Christian audience with the fervor of a biblical prophet: ‘A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy is a curse, not a blessing to mankind.’ For Douglass, the Bible’s importance to Christian faith was its witness to the values that God endorsed, foremost among them liberty, which was also for Douglass the quintessential American ideal. Instead of relying on the citation of a verse or verses that directly illustrated this, Douglass looked to the larger sweep of stories in the Bible to demonstrate that God and his son, Jesus, were firmly on the side of human dignity that is expressed most fundamentally in freedom for all persons. In particular, he took the criticisms of ancient Israelite religious practice made by the biblical prophets – specifically Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Amos – and applied them to the White American Christianity of his day. Regarding the Bible’s acceptance of slavery, Douglass brilliantly saw that the Bible was old and written by a group of men in different circumstances than the readers. In this regard, it was much like the Constitution, another authoritative document in American life which was also fought over by proslavery and abolitionist readers. Douglass would draw comparisons between the need for nonliteral, nuanced interpretation of both the Bible and the Constitution when discussing the legitimacy of slavery.”

“Besides well-known voices like that of Douglass, we also are fortunate to possess the testimony of the enslaved in firsthand accounts published before the Civil War by escapees from slavery as well as interviews with formerly enslaved individuals after the war. In their analysis of these narratives, Emerson B. Powery and Rodney S. Sadler Jr., show that for the enslaved, the Exodus narrative revealed God to be on the side of suffering and that the person of Jesus, (‘sold to the highest bidder’) was God’s own participation and vindication in their unjust suffering: ‘To put it more precisely, the formerly enslaved never hesitated to take Jesus as a metatext, something beyond – though loosely connected to- the written letters on the page. In Jesus, they discovered a reconciler, a redeemer, a fellow sufferer, a companion, and a confidante who understood their deepest sorrows as they faced extraordinary trials on Southern plantations.’ Or, in the words of Allen Dwight Callahan, enslaved Africans and their descendants found in the Bible a book that

‘privileges those without privilege and honors those without honor,’ and that offered them ‘a warrant for justice in this world.’”

“I want to pause here and discuss the underlying principles at work in the use of the Bible by both sides in the debate over slavery because, as will soon be made clear, they are the same principles still at work today. Douglass’ analogy between biblical and constitutional interpretation is insightful, and we will see it again. The judicial interpretation of the Constitution (and all laws) is bounded by two poles, strict and loose constructionism. For strict constructionists, the plain meaning of the Constitution’s text is the ultimate arbiter in judging between interpretations. No readings beyond the ordinary meaning of the words are allowed. Closely related to strict constructionism are the interpretive principles of textualism (which rules out any external evidence in interpreting the text) and originalism (which gives priority to the intentions of the text’s authors), both of which also limit interpretation to as few potential meanings as possible. Loose constructionism, as its name implies, acknowledges that there are contextual, linguistic, and historical ranges of meaning that may be validly applied in interpreting the Constitution or other legal texts.”

“There is also a similar phenomenon at work in how pro- and anti-slavery Christians read the Bible.”

(Thomas M. Bolin, An Inspired Word in Season – Reading the Bible Responsibly in a Polarized World, 2025.)

For this week: For reflection: Have you read any of the writings of Frederick Douglass especially his Fourth of July address?

An invitation to our virtual participants: Discussion and comments are very much encouraged and welcomed. Online discussions can be held in the comments section in the upcoming post on Social Media for this week’s Deacon’s Reflection which is part of adult formation at St. Francis Episcopal Church.

Some Suggested Study Resources:

• The New Oxford Annotated Bible, NRSV, with the Apocrypha; 5th edition.
• The Harper Collins Study Bible, NRSV, Fully Revised and Updated (Including Apocryphal Deuterocanonical Books); Society of Biblical Literature; (e-book).
• The Jewish Annotated New Testament, NRSV, 2nd edition, Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, editors; Oxford University Press.

Closing Prayer – Prayer of Blessing

That in the elements of earth, sea, and sky we may see your beauty, that in the wild winds, birdsong and silence, we may hear your beauty, that in the body of another and the interminglings of relationship we may touch your beauty, that in the moisture of the earth and its flowering and fruiting, we may smell your beauty, that in the flowing waters of springs and streams we may taste your beauty, these things we look for this day, O God, these things we look for.

May the light of God illumine the heart of my soul.

May the flame of Christ kindle me to love.

May the fire of the Spirit free me to live this day, tonight, and forever. Amen.

• John Philip Newell, Sounds of the Eternal – A Celtic Psalter, p. 41.