Reading the Bible Responsibly in a Polarized Church & World – Part 2

Opening Prayer

For the morning light and its irresistible dawning, for your untameable utterances of life, in boundless stretches of space, and the strength of the waves of the sea, I give you thanks, O God. Release in me the power of your Spirit that my soul may be free and my spirit strong. Release in me the freedom of your Spirit that I may be bridled by nothing but love, that I may be bridled only by love.

• John Philip Newell, Celtic Benediction, p. 14.

Reading the Bible Responsibly in a Polarized Church & World:

The Bible’s content in many ways engages its readers – puzzling, angering, challenging, and inspiring them. How has the Bible historically been used, including with the issue of slavery? Can readers navigate the use of biblical texts that are quoted across the political spectrum? What principles exist for interpreting these texts that support conflicting viewpoints? Together, we will explore a way forward: reading the Bible with each other guided by the rule of love.

Using the Bible: Language, Content, and Context

“I was once having a friendly but spirited debate about an ethical issue with a friend of mine. During the course of the conversation, my friend countered one of my statements by saying, ‘Well, it’s just like it says in the Bible: ‘To thine own self be true.’ ‘Um,’ I replied, ‘That’s not the Bible; that’s Shakespeare.’ [Hamlet] My friend’s response came without hesitation: ‘It’s the same thing!’”

“This isn’t a case of somebody being ‘ignorant’ of the Bible or Shakespeare. My friend is college educated and attends church weekly. Their mistake isn’t due to the fact that they haven’t memorized the entire Bible or the complete works of Shakespeare. Such a feat is both unreasonable to expect of people and doesn’t really get to the root of my friend’s misquotation. What’s really going on behind their mistake are some important issues that I want to spend a little time on.”

“There are three important, overlapping concepts at work in my friend’s confusion of Shakespeare with the Bible: style, content, and context. In terms of style, the quotation from Shakespeare sounds biblical because of its archaic language. And ‘biblical’ language is seen to be archaic not only because the Bible is an old book, but more importantly because Americans, regardless of their religious tradition, most readily equate the language of the Bible with the King James Version (KJV) made in 1611 (which, in my friend’s defense, was also during Shakespeare’s lifetime). By the time of American independence, the KJV was the dominant English Bible in America.”

“Phrases from the KJV long ago entered English usage, and we still use them, often without knowing their origins: ‘Let there be light,’ ‘brother’s keeper,’ ‘fly in the ointment,’ ‘how the mighty are fallen,’ ‘fire and brimstone,’ ‘out of the mouths of babes,’ ‘pride goeth before a fall.’ There are today still a number of American Christians for whom the KJV is understood as the only legitimate translation of the Bible, and the English translators of the 1600s are believed by some to have been as inspired as the biblical authors themselves.”

“Special situations call for special language. So too with special writings, like the Bible: an important book ought to use important language; a unique book – the Word of God no less – should use unique language. For English-speaking American Christians, that unique language is the KJV. So pervasive in its influence that people who have never read it still talk about the need to ‘Love thy neighbor,’ or describe something forbidden with the phrase, ‘Thou shalt not.’"

“In terms of content, the Shakespearean quote, ‘To thine own self be true,’ is a direct piece of moral advice. It speaks right to the reader or listener, telling them to do something. Because most Christians understand the Bible as a moral rulebook that helps them to live ‘good lives,’ they are inclined to assume that it contains mainly ethical teachings addressed directly to the reader. This is true of parts of the Bible. For example, there’s an entire book of such teachings (Proverbs). Much more of the Bible, however, contains stories and poetry than teachings or rules. Our understanding of the Bible as mainly a book of rules is due in part both to how it’s taught to us as children and also to the parts of the Bible that are most often quoted or visible in our culture, such as the Ten Commandments (‘Thou shalt not,’ once again) or the Sermon on the Mount.”

“Indeed, we are so accustomed to thinking of the Bible as mainly a moral rulebook that in the late 1990s almost 80 percent of Americans surveyed mistakenly identified the saying, ‘The Lord helps those who help themselves,’ as a biblical text. [Barna Group/Benjamin Franklin] And, of course, many people - and not just my friend – also misidentify ‘To thine own self be true’ as biblical. These sayings along with scores of other such pieces of advice, are part of our culture’s collective wisdom.”

“Collective wisdom is that body of wise sayings or moral maxims that we learn because we have heard them used and then go on to use them ourselves.”

(Thomas M. Bolin, An Inspired Word in Season – Reading the Bible Responsibly in a Polarized World, 2025.)

For this week: For reflection: What is your concept of the authority of Scripture? What do you mean when you say “the Word of God”?

An invitation to our virtual participants: Discussion and comments are very much encouraged and welcomed. Online discussions can be held in the comments section in the upcoming post on Social Media for this week’s Deacon’s Reflection which is part of adult formation at St. Francis Episcopal Church.

Some Suggested Study Resources:

• The New Oxford Annotated Bible, NRSV, with the Apocrypha; 5 th edition.
• The Harper Collins Study Bible, NRSV, Fully Revised and Updated (Including Apocryphal Deuterocanonical Books); Society of Biblical Literature; (e-book).
• The Jewish Annotated New Testament, NRSV, 2 nd edition, Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, editors; Oxford University Press.

Closing Prayer – Prayer of Blessing

In the beginning, O God, your Spirit swept over the chaotic deep like a wild wind, and creation was born.
In the turbulence of my own life, and the unsettled waters of the world today, let there be new birthings of your Spirit. In the currents of my own heart, and the upheavals of the world today, let there be new birthings of your mighty Spirit.
May the light of God illumine the heart of my soul.
May the flame of Christ kindle me to love.
May the fire of the Spirit free me to live this day, tonight, and forever. Amen.

• John Philip Newell, Celtic Benediction, p. 17.

“Reading the Bible Responsibly in a Polarized Church & World,” Deacon Joe Dzugan, St. Francis Episcopal Church,
2026.