The Myth of “Listening” to the Scriptures

The Myth of “Listening” to the Scriptures January 23, 2014

So, I am still thinking about the interpretive claim made by another blog that “God is a child sacrificing, misogynist, racial bigot.”  I started writing a post about the nature of interpretation and the naivety behind the myth that the scriptures contain a meaning prior to human interpretation. What I have found objectionable about this particular reading is not simply its conclusions, but the way it presents these conclusions as the outcome of an unbiased reading of scripture.  While I was thinking about writing this post, I remembered that Blake Ostler and I had an great exchange about the nature of interpretation a few years back.  Rereading it, I realized that pretty much everything I wanted to say now I had already said a few years ago.

Here is a link to my earlier blog post about interpretation and the comments section with Blake (and others) weighing in.


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