I long ago left behind a literal reading of the Bible. But now, at least to a certain extent, I find myself leaving behind an analytical historical-critical reading of the Bible as well. 1/6
So today if I’m reading the Bible in the morning as part of my daily spiritual exercises and I read about the walls of Jericho falling down I don’t muse upon the fact that archeological evidence does not support this. 2/6
I know this fact, but now that I know it, I can set it aside and allow the inspired storyteller to tell the story. Because, although I know what biblical archaeology says about this story, I also know that there are walls that need to fall... 3/6
...and that the people of God need to march around these walls believing they will fall. I also know there are armies that need to be drowned in a sea and giants that need to be slain with a slingshot. 4/6
The Bible wants to carry me beyond the constricting totalism of empire and toward the faith-imagined possibilities of the kingdom of God. Can walls of hatred come tumbling down? Can injustice be hurled into the sea? Can the Goliath of racism really be overcome? 5/6
Yes! And one of the reasons I know of these possibilities is that every morning when I sit with my Bible I enter a world where these things happen all the time. 6/6
