Can we trust Scripture when there are so many interpretations? (Guest interview with Ian Paul)
I’ve been fascinated for a long time by the question of what it means to read the Bible as Scripture. There’s lots of ways people can read the Bible – maybe for historical curiosity, or to appreciate the literary dimension, or even an oppressive text to be resisted. But it seems to me that to read the Bible as Scripture means you’re holding two things in tension. Here I have an authoritative text, but at the same time it is a text whose meaning is continually relevant to me in new ways. What’s more, we seem to have a great deal of difficulty agreeing on what the Bible actually says. My subject matter, hermeneutics, is about taking a step back and asking ‘What is going on here?’
Anglicans and Moses: the law from another time but for all time
Perhaps it is time for Christians to admit that the Law of Moses is an embarrassing irrelevance, and stop reading it altogether in church. That’s what some popular preachers are saying – echoing no doubt the unspoken position of many around the world (many congregations would baulk at the thought of a sermon series on Numbers). Thankfully, this is an error which our Anglican heritage provides a bulwark against.
Why we keep disagreeing on the Bible
“So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” This is what Abraham Lincoln reportedly said on meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Published in 1852, Stowe’s novel might not be solely responsible for the American Civil War, but it certainly roused many Christians in the north to the intolerable suffering of slaves in the south.
Save thousands on your next trip to a foreign land
Australians love to travel. More than half of us own a passport, and by world standards we are amongst the most intrepid of travellers – rivalled only by Saudi Arabia and China in dollars spent per capita and time spent abroad. Millennials are our leading transoceanic excursionists, generally outspending their parents and grandparents. These young antipodeans save fastidiously for months to finance their trips, and often go without meals while abroad.
But if it’s a life changing trip to a far country you’re after, you can save thousands – simply by opening the pages of your Old Testament.