Thoughts on Chapters 4-9....

I'm really enjoying this book. This is my first book club blog, although i'm wondering if anyone else in the club is going to comment on the book?? In hindsight I should have posted more often as there are a lot of parts I'm going to have trouble remembering all my thoughts. This could be really quick, in almost every instance, I agree with McLaren's perspective on how the bible should and was intended to be read as well as how the mainstream conservative interpretation got to it's current state. I'll highlight thoughts from each chapter

Chapter 4 - The narrative question. My favorite quote refers to the popular 6 line narrative concept "Can we dare to wonder, given an ending that has more evil and suffering than the beginning, if it would have been better for this story never to have begun?" I don't know if I've ever question the legitimacy of the narrative from a scriptural standpoint, however I have certainly struggled for a long time to fully embracing the narrative I've been taught. I was fascinated with the Greco-Roman history / philosophy explanation of how the current popular understanding of the narrative actually developed. It was a great explanation of where the us vs them / and knowledge superiority entered the equation. I agree with the comment after the illustration on page 40 showing the narrative overlapped with other cultural narratives. "By focusing only on one narrative, at that moment, we have effectively marginalized all other cultures to the level of an annoying sideshow standing in the way of the only past, present, and future that really matter, namely, our own."

Chapter 5 - In the beginning......Perfect vs. Good. Amazing how the Plutonic lens influences this story. There is a lot open for discussion here but i'll limit my comment s for the sake of brevity.

Chapter 6 - The narrative in three dimensions - there is a lot of meat in this chapter, probably need to read again.

Chapter 7 - How should the bible be read......for what it is.....I agree. The bible is a collection of writings which tell the story of the Jewish community and culture evolving in it's understanding and relationship with God. The bible is not, nor was it ever intended to be a constitution or a text book with all God's answers to all societies issues. The part on how the Bible has been used over the years to support various immoral and unethical social endures (crusades, slavery...) should be eye opening to anyone who pulls random passages from the Bible to claim they know God's will with regard to their specific agenda. It's amazing how unaware people are of the impact of our culture lens in how we interpret and use the bible.

Chapter 8 - From constitution to community library. The Bible as a whole is much more engaging, thought provoking if it's taken for what it is. If taken as a community library much can be learned from the evolution of the communities faith and how they handled different issues and questions.......including Jesus. The bible read from this prospective should evoke & stimulate conversation and discussion on the issues relevant to a culture and it's relationship with its creator. Thus.....prompting the growth of our relationship with our creator. I don't think the bible was intended to answer all the worlds questions and arm us with every necessary truth to impose on inferior cultures.

So in closing, I think McLaren does an excellent job of elegantly articulating a lot of my pre-existing perspectives as well as give me some new insight on how modern conservative interpretations evolved. I hope somebody has some comments...even if it's just calling me a lib!!! :)