Here is a direct quote from another blogger, an administrator of another denomination:
"When I was in seminary, I got the impression that my job as a pastor was to help lessen the gap between the Bible and the 'modern world.' [T]here was the Bible, mired in the First Century. Here was the skeptical, critical modern world. The pastor, through preaching and various acts of pastoral ministry, labored to lessen the gap, to bring the gospel close to where modern Americans lived. Since then I have come to the conclusion that today's faithful pastor ought to clarify, accentuate the gap between the Bible and the modern world rather than lessen the gap. Evangelism calls people, not to agreement, but to conversion, detoxification, the adoption of practices meant to save them from the deceits of the 'modern world.'"
In seeing the gap between myself and the Bible, I am able to hear its voice calling to me all the clearer. I am not able to say, "I am not much different from the person God is seeking to make through this story," but have to come to grips with how odd and different I often appear next to Jesus. Notice that the emphasis is on "clarifying" and "accentuating" the gap; not making the book as difficult to understand!
What do we think? How does this tie in with the discussion below? What do we like/dislike about this position?
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4 comments:
Ditto.
hey opticalwaveguy. thanks for commenting. i need some help tying what you've written to the post. i am not sure that i am following your argument.
hey opticalwaveguy,
yes, this is more helpful. the miscommunication, i think, was in that we were having different conversations! the original post was not about an historical gap, but a theological one. (there is an historical gap, as you point out with reference to canonization and textual variants, not to mention cultural differences, etc.) my issue is not the historical gap, but the theological gap: we don't always "get it," not because of historical questions and an inability to understand, but because the gospel is radical and calls people to something as big as "conversion"!
Hey Opticalwaveguy,
Hahahaa...a little unresponsive, eh?
I'll get back at it shortly!
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