When we lived in Canada, before we made our move to Australia in 2007, we enjoyed watching the many birds which visited our bird feeders: a host of common Sparrows, several Gold Finches, and a few Blue Jays. Now here in Queensland our bird feeders daily attract many Cockatoos, flocks of Lorrikeets, and the occasional King Parrot. Now what do birds have to do with rethinking how you read the Bible? Well, pick up a copy of Scot McKnight's book, The Blue Parakeet (Zondervan: 2008).
I did. My pastor, John Hoogenhout (Bray Park Community Church, QLD), recommended it, and when I picked up my own copy, I could hardly put it down. Not only was the book very readable -- but it helped me rethink how I read the Bible.
Scot's main thesis is we need to read the Bible in the context of the Story of the Bible -- a story that has a beginning (Genesis 1-11), a middle (Genesis 12-Malachi 4; Matthew - Revelation), and an end (Matthew 25; Romans 8; Revelation 21-22). Each time we read the Bible we need to figure out how this particular passage we are looking at fits into the overall story of the Bible. Now as Reformed Christians, this is not a novel idea, but, in fact, a maxim that we regularly apply to our reading of the Bible. Take for example, in my library I have S.G. De Graaf's monumental 3-Volume set of books, Promise and Deliverance, published in the early part of the last century. De Graaf and many other Reformed teachers like him have long encouraged readers of the Bible to read it in the context of the overall story of the Bible. But yet, as Scot points out, there are many readers of the Bible who take shortcuts, and in so doing, do not read the Bible or interpret it correctly in light of this central Biblical story. For Scot the central Bible story is (simply put, in summary):
Beginning: Oneness Created
Middle: Oneness Cracked and Restored
End: Oneness Forever
In the opening chapters of The Blue Parakeet Scot mentions three different ways people read the Bible: (1) Reading to Retrieve (we return to the times of the Bible in order to retrieve biblical ideas and practices for today); (2) Reading through Tradition (we make decisions about certain issues in the Bible and it becomes tradition, and then we bind ourselves to our tradition forever); and (3) Reading with Tradition (we have deep respect for our past, but we do not give it final authority). Throughout the remainder of the book Scot makes the argument for reading the Bible with tradition. As he writes: "...we need to go back to the Bible so we can move forward through the church and speak God's Word in our days in our ways."
In chapter 10 Scot gives a number of specific examples of how we might read the Bible in light of the central story of the Bible. He looks at examples of issues -- some of them quite messy -- which Christians, past and/or present, have struggled with for a long time, such as: divorce and remarriage, circumcision, the style of Christian women, sun-centered or earth-centered cosmology, the death penalty, tongues, all things to all people, and the role of women in church ministries today. The latter (hot) issue he devotes all of five chapters to.
Now if you do, as I suggest, pick up and read The Blue Parakeet you might dismiss this book because you do not agree with Scot's analysis of or conclusions about one or more of the (messy) issues. You might feel particularly polarised when it comes to the issue of the role of women in church ministries today. But do not allow your preconceived conclusions about certain issues dismiss the overall argument Scot is making about how we read the Bible. He himself admits (honestly) the painful journey he has gone through over many years wrestling with some of these issues, particularly the issue of the role of women in church ministries today. And some within the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia (CRCA) might identify with Scot's journey. The point I am making is this: perhaps we need to let the blue parakeets sing, as Scot suggests in this book. In other words, perhaps we need to rethink how we read the Bible. And perhaps, yes, perhaps we might hear what God is saying to us today -- in our day! So pick up a copy of The Blue Parakeet. Share it with your key leaders. Discuss the implications. And when we hear what God is saying, may we be bold enough to obey. In the words of our Lord Jesus: "He who has an ear to hear, let him hear (and take to heart) what the Spirit says to the churches."