Seminary will shatter your faith! well, it will at least challenge it at it's very core. questions about the true nature of God, how the bible was formed, and even the history of christianity... many ppls views on all of these issues have drastically altered in the past few weeks.. for me it was more of a confirmation of things i've suspected over the years.
did you know that the first five books of the bible has at least 4 authors? this explains the two creation stories i mentioned a few weeks back. this also explains how when you're reading the bible, stories will start over or be interrupted in the middle. the bible is actually many traditions spliced together.
the bible didn't fall out of the sky and was complete cover to cover. it was a long process of passing around scrolls and these were never in a particular order. plus it wasn't until much much later that anyone decided to put a cover on these stories anyway! so the order of the stories even to which stories got in is up for debate. there were never a room full or rabbis or priests who decided which books go where, it was mainly through popular concensus that the bible was ever formed. so despite what most consiracy theorist tell you, or what the DaVinci Code would have you believe, a vote was never taken on the bible.
when things were translated from hebrew and greek into latin, The Vulgate, this set the stage for what books were in and which were out. so one man, named Jerome, pretty much decided what made it and what didn't.
so who cares? well just think of the theological implications of this. where is God in all of this? this is something i challenge you to answer for yourselves.
what i am proposing here is that we start to develop a religion of questions. i was asked recently about how i deal with all of these "faith shattering revelations" and i said that it fit my religion of questions. even when i get an answer i question that. the person then said that it seemed like i'd never get any answers... i said that this type of religion always keeps one engaged and active. religion is not just something one should do on sunday, it should be a week long, hourly process.
that's all for now! coming up later this month is a spotlight on the jewish christian relationship (including a post concerning what we should call the old testament), a halloween special, and hopefully a video post if kate and i ever get around to doing it.
1 comment:
Good post! I am readingthat same thing in the Misquoting Jesus audio book. I too always wondered about the Bible. Who picked what got in? What happened to the stuff that did not make the cut? and Who says???? And we won't even get into scribes and their agendas!!!
love, ma
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