Time was they all talked about it. Sharing proverbs; making embroideries; disguising their gossip and judgements of others as quotations from holy writ. The Bible used to be everywhere… but not these days. From the boomers onwards, there has been a slow abandonment of the good book amongst all but the remnant faithful. It was irrelevant in the prosperous 90’s, and for those born since it may well be toxic. Strange, then, that at the same time a number of credible historians - some believers, others not - have been noting the positive impact the Bible, and especially the life and ministry of Jesus, has had on the development of Western Culture. If Tom Holland is to be believed, almost everything good about our morality comes more or less from the Messiah. And Tom is not alone. Justin Brierley’s effervescent new podcast series, The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God, presents a veritable parade of intellectuals - again, some believers, some not - suggesting that God’s story might not be quite as outdated and unpalatable as we once thought. Or as Richard Dawkins once thought, at least.
So what do we do? Go back to the embroidery and gossip? Recover the Bible our great-grandparents so loved? Well, no, that’s probably not the best idea. Those who more recently judged the Bible irrelevant to their lives were not entirely wrong, and those who find it toxic might have cause. The truth is, though, that they were and are more triggered by the way the Bible has been used than by its contents on its own terms. It’s the hypocrisy they hate, the judgmentalism, and that’s before we even start on sexism, racism, xenophobia and homophobia, all of which are observable mental weaknesses we can all be prone to, and all of which have been bolstered at various times by (mis?)quotations from Scripture. And here’s the most interesting aspect of this whole circus: none of those accusations can be laid at the feet of Jesus. None. Jesus simply didn’t talk or behave the way the worst of us have done and sometimes do. Quite the reverse - he is history’s most graphic and shining examples of someone truly… Christlike.
So if there’s poison, it doesn’t come from the source. Which means that there might just be a way of reading the Bible that doesn’t take us down any of those dark alleys and dead ends. If Jesus is the standard for perfect theology, and the lens we look through as we turn the pages of scripture, then perhaps there is a story we have lost but can recover.
This is the basis of our book and course, The Seven Stories That Shape your Life, and of this Substack. By focussing on Jesus in the foreground before we explore the texts that lie behind him, we have a chance of discovering an underlying narrative that lifts the Bible from a rules-and-judgements-source-of-cheesy-quotes scrapbook to something much deeper. Something beautiful and lyrical that can raise our eyes to the horizon of hope and inject some sanity and wisdom into our all too frenetic lives. This, at least, is what we believe to be possible, and hope to be involved in. If you feel the same, do join us on the journey.
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Thanks very much, Gerard. As usual, I agree with your analysis. I had the joy of listening to Justin on Sunday evening, referencing Tom Holland as part of what he said. I've ordered his book on the basis of what I heard and I'm looking forward to reading more.
Bless you, Gareth