\u201cI know that the Bible is a special kind of book, but I find it as seductive as any other. If I am not careful, I can begin to mistake the words on the page for the realities they describe. I can begin to love the dried ink marks on the page more than I love the encounters that gave rise to them. If I am not careful, I can decide that I am really much happier reading my Bible than I am entering into what God is doing in my own time and place, since shutting the book to go outside will involve the very great risk of taking part in stories that are still taking shape. Neither I nor anyone else knows how these stories will turn out, since at this point they involve more blood than ink. The whole purpose of the Bible, it seems to me, is to convince people to set the written word down in order to become living words in the world for God\u2019s sake. For me, this willing conversion of ink back to blood is the full substance of faith.\u201d -Barbara Brown Taylor<\/p>\n
Truth be told, we all have books that set the categories through which we think\u2026 which books are yours?<\/strong><\/p>\n Several weeks ago, I conducted an unofficial survey regarding people\u2019s\u00a0go to<\/em>\u00a0books of the Bible. I asked people via Twitter \u201cIf you could only read\/study\/wrestle \u00a0three books of the Bible for the rest of your life, which books would you select?\u201d I think it\u2019s a fun\u2013and perhaps even important\u2013exercise because it forces us to think about the places in scripture that speak to us on a soul-level.<\/p>\n To be fair, some do not like these kind of question games. It\u2019s like asking a devout loyalist of U2 to choose their three favorite albums (The answer, in case you are curious is obvious:\u00a0The Unforgettable Fire<\/em>,\u00a0Joshua Tree<\/em>, and\u00a0Rattle and Hum<\/em>. That settles it. You\u2019re welcome.). Or, it\u2019s like asking a pro-basketball fan to select the 3 greatest players in NBA history (Jordan,\u00a0Jabbar, Russell). Some people simply don\u2019t like competition lists. I\u2019m not one of those people. I think it\u2019s helpful to acknowledge that we all privilege some texts over others (or albums, or movies, or music albums, or whatever). It\u2019s what we do. It\u2019s part of being human. If you\u2019re Protestant, remember Martin Luther had his favorites (Romans) and his least favorites (James).<\/p>\n I\u2019m suggesting it \u00a0is a helpful exercise to reflect upon the role Scripture plays in one\u2019s imagination, and ethical world-view. None of us use the whole Bible all the time, it simply isn\u2019t possible. This is not an excuse from learning the deeper meaning of Leviticus (for instance), but it\u2019s a healthy admission that some places in scripture move us at a deeper level. If the Bible is that which \u201can elephant can swim and a child can wade\u201d . . . we must think about which places we end up, more or less.<\/p>\n So . . . here\u2019s my\u00a0go to list<\/em>\u00a0of three books of the Bible. Some rationale included. If I could only read\/study\/wrestle with three books of the Bible for the rest of my life . . .<\/p>\n Genesis<\/em><\/strong>. Because it is one of the primary texts Jesus grew up with, I have found Genesis to be one of the most liberating, enticing, and challenging books in all of scripture, not just Torah. It\u2019s part of the Bible Jesus read and whether or not it was written before or after Exodus (something scholars argue about) it lays the foundation for almost everything that is central to Jesus\u2019 kingdom message: the goodness of creation, the power of God over chaos and destruction, the image and Spirit of God that is found within humanity, the sacredness of calling and vocation, sin, faith an politics, empire, forgiveness, reconciliation, suffering,\u00a0theodicy, and the list goes on. \u00a0I don\u2019t know if Jesus develops his kingdom strategy if not for the power of Genesis. Great resources on Genesis:\u00a0JPS\u00a0commentary, Robert Alter (Translation and Commentary), and Bill\u00a0Moyers\u00a0(Genesis).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Luke<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(do I get Acts too if I give you a draft pick\u00a0TBD?). Of all four gospel narratives, Luke has impacted me the most. The combination of historical recollection, unique parables of Jesus (only Luke contains the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son), and mystic Christ encounters (Luke 24), leave me constantly returning back to the pages of this sacred story to remember how and why I fell in love with Jesus and his vision for the world (Luke 19) when I was a student in college. Luke, in my estimation, is Christianity\u2019s good news that, in Jesus, God is bringing the the entire world\u2013including the rich and the poor\u2013together in a way that one other religion attempts to do. Luke is the ultimate example that the spiritual life is about seeing (imagination), believing (theology), and doing (practice). Great resources on Luke include: Luke Timothy Johnson\u2019s Luke commentary (Sacra\u00a0Pagina<\/em>), Tom Wright (Luke for Everyone<\/em>), and Joel B. Green\u2019s commentary (NICNT).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Revelation<\/em><\/strong>. Perhaps the most mystifying, power-packed, complex, mysterious, frustrating, hopeful, and imaginative book in the entire Biblical canon, Revelation has been crucial to my understanding of the non-violent, upside-down, future-invading-the-present nature of global Christianity. Chapters 20-22 alone have shaped my theology as much as any three chapters in all of Jewish\/Christian scripture.I truly believe that eschatology shapes everything else. Where we think things are headed tends to shape the way we understand the present and the way we interpret the past. Islam and Christianity (and to a lesser degree, the new movements of Atheism in the West) are essentially\u00a0eschatological\u00a0 It should not surprise you that I\u2019m all-in on narrative theology and narrative preaching. I essentially chose three books that are mainly narrative (back off hard-core Bible nerd-I know Revelation is technically\u00a0apocalyptic<\/em>\u00a0but it still reads like a Stephen King novel meets subversive Anabaptist Jews. And, Revelation depends heavily upon the real story that under girds the apocalyptic vision contained within its pages.)<\/p>\n The truth is that most Christians operate based on a canon within the canon. The books\/sections of sacred scripture that shaped us in college or early adulthood usually remain the portions of scripture we return to over and over again. As with music, so with scripture. And, in my estimation, that\u2019s not a bad thing. Because, after 12 years of working in ministry, I can assure that having a canon within the canon is far better than having no canon at all. So, what\u2019s on your list? What\u2019s your canon within the canon?<\/p>\n Josh Graves is the teaching minister for the\u00a0Otter Creek Church in Nashville, TN.<\/a>\u00a0He is author of\u00a0The Feast<\/em>\u00a0(2009),\u00a0Heaven on Earth<\/em>\u00a0(2012 with Chris\u00a0Seidman), and\u00a0How Not to Kill a Muslim<\/em>\u00a0(Cascade, 2015). He holds a doctorate from Columbia Theological Seminary. You can follow him on twitter (@joshgraves<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cI know that the Bible is a special kind of book, but I find it as seductive as any other. If I am not careful, I can begin to mistake the words on the page for the realities they describe. I can begin to love the dried ink marks on the page more than I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n