Monday 5 July 2010
Interview: Brian McLaren ☀
- Christian: Concerning the authority of Scripture, what one piece of advice would you offer younger generations of Christians?
- Brian: Four things come to mind.
- First, one of the biggest challenges in my life has been to distinguish between what Scripture says and what people say Scripture says. I’ve learned to have more confidence in Scripture itself, rather than in conventional interpretations of Scripture.
- Second, I’ve become suspicious – not disdainful, and not against, but suspicious – about non-biblical words that are imposed on Scripture – words like “the Fall,” for example, that may carry unacknowledged conceptual freight and may cause us to see things that aren’t there in the text and miss things that are there.
- Third, I’ve learned to ask what very familiar terms meant to their original hearers, which may differ significantly from what we assume they mean – words like salvation, Christ, baptize, Savior, etc.
- Fourth, I’d encourage people to read the Bible not as a constitution, but rather as a library containing the diverse and vibrant literature of the people of God.
