Programs of Interest
Ken mentioned a program of possible interest: Dr. Issam Nemeh dealing with Science and Religion which can be seen on the History Channel – http://www.history.com/schedule/12/13/2011. NOVA is also presenting a series on the Fabric of the Cosmos, hosted by Brian Greene which can give food for thought.
Session Nine Revisited
I mentioned how helpful it was for Mark to distinguish in the scripture: event and story. The group continued to struggle with the truth of a story the events of which historically either we know did not happen, or don’t know whether they happened or not. Sometime we know they didn’t happen because of the nature of the literature. Mike near the end of our discussion on this point made an observation that was extremely helpful to me. He reminded us that Jesus told parables which certainly convey a truth but are not depended on the event as narrated. For example, the Gospel reading for Sunday, November 13, 2011 is the Parable of the Talents, Mt. 25: 14 – 30 http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/25. Is this story truth, if and only if, there was someone who was planning on going on a journey and called his three servants … etc? Was Jesus referring in this parable to a specific person and his three specific servants who did what is reported that they did? Or are these characters in the parable representative of human beings who carry out representative actions? What is your answer to these two questions? No matter what your answer, your answer is an effort to make sense out of the world in which you live. It is possible, however, for one of the answers to be mistaken. What happens if the same questions are asked now, not about a parable of Jesus, but the story of the first man and woman, Cain and Abel, etc? How do you answer? And why?
God’s Word: Story or Event, Story and Event. What is revelation?
With Mark’s distinction between event and story, another fundamental question arises, what is revelation? Our questions can be quite simple, this question is three words long; I just wish the answer could be given in three words but such is not the case. Revelation first of all is inclusive of both story and event by being in the category of meaning. Revelation is God’s entry into the meaning of our world. And that meaning is a meaning of salvation and thus it is that Christians believe that Christ is the Savior of the World, Christ is revelation incarnate and the church as the Body of Christ is in the order of meaning. We are to be a meaning of salvation in our world and that is why it is so important to Rise to the Level of our Times. More on this as story and/or event invite.
Genealogy as Literary Form
I wanted to offer some context in which to read Gen: 4:17 – 26 http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/4 and 5:1 – 32 http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/5. The notes for 5:1 – 32 are particularly helpful.
The Israelites, like many others of the same period, were groups of different tribes. By the time of the authorship of these biblical accounts the Israelites were already a kingdom, at one time untied and later divided; http://rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com/?p=94. The closest I have experienced to belonging to a tribe was my growing up in an Italian family in the 40s. When ever anyone first visited us, we seemed always to ask, “Where you from?” It seemed to matter whether the visitor was Calabrese, Sicilian, Napolitano, etc. My uncle was Sicilian and my dad, Romano and they had the hardest time even understanding one another. As I related my story, it was amazing to me to see how many of the persons around our table nodded in agreement. They too experienced similar family culture. Yet as Roseann mentioned, their [the Italian visitors] thinking was entirely different than our [American] thinking.
What the scripture presents is a series of stories interspersed with genealogies [Read the notes]. And the genealogies have a structure, that is, they’re literary in form. And they tell the Israelites that these stories are their stories, they are about them, they are their heritage. It mattered first to the authors to create a larger sense of belonging among the Israelites than to their individual tribes and eventually it mattered to the tribes that they were part of something bigger, a kingdom, David’s kingdom, the Kingdom of God.
Now these stories are our stories in what they mean. To require these genealogies to be historically accurate is to ask of them something their authors never intended; it wasn’t their meaning. It isn’t that “Adam” and “Eve” were historical persons, or that their children were two boys named “Cain” and “Abel;” it’s that they tell us about ourselves, our world, and, most importantly, our God. As you read this, what do you think? Does this fit into your world? If it doesn’t, what do you think of it? If it does, how do you talk to those to whom it doesn’t?
And what has placed these genealogies in a different context has been the work of modern scholarship. As one member of the group exclaimed when I was attempting to explain this scholarship, are you trying to say that there are other books out there that are God’s word beside the bible? The answer to that question comes back to the question of revelation. We believe in the unique and formative role that the Jewish and Christian scripture plays in our life. But we began this study by coming slowing to the recognition that the Spirit of God is given to all peoples. There is something to be learned from all of the writings of other civilizations, cultures. We are in a unique position in our times to carry out our mission in a way that is at the Level of our Times.
Your questions, comments, concerns, issues are welcomed.