Self-Fulfilling Biblical Interpretation

You can find almost anything in the Bible if you look hard enough for it. And you can create almost anything you want out of the stories of the Bible. Two instances stand out in my mind. First, somebody had posed a question to a seminary professor of philosophy on whether or not Jesus could be considered a philosopher. Thus, the professor went to the gospel stories in order to give this person a good answer. Lo and behold, as the professor read the gospels, he found himself enamored by the philosophy of Jesus and how he articulated it in the face of opposition. The professor went back to the student and told him that Jesus was not only a philosopher, but the greatest philosopher in human history. The second story comes from a “Christian” counseling textbook. Apparently, this book has turned to the gospels for case studies in counseling, which of course are applied today because if we want to counsel, we might as well counsel like the greatest counselor who ever lived on the face of the earth. One specific example from the book was in regards to Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well, saying that this was an excellent example of counseling somebody with a messed-up life.

Has the Bible developed into a handbook for every profession? It sounds like Jesus is becoming painted in whatever light we wish. Oh, I wonder if Jesus is a philosopher? Well, of course when we begin scouring the Bible like a Where’s Waldo book, we are going to find what we set out to find. That is unless you want to see Jesus as a car salesman or an engineer. The process goes like this . . . we come up with a hypothesis, then go back to Scripture to see if we can verify it. Because the Bible is large and expansive, we usually only look to one or two sections. And because we have to have a set of criteria to test our hypothesis against, we get to set up our own boundaries when making a decision on interpretation. So on verses or passages where it may or may not be referring to Jesus as a philosopher, we may stretch our boundaries a bit in order to fit it into our criteria. This may not even be a conscious decision. We just do it. The whole problem with this type of interpretation is that we decide not only the hypothesis but also the criteria, and thus, only the parts of the Bible that verify our hypothesis and fit within our criteria are what we cling to. Thus, we naturally pass over what the Bible says in order to find what we want the Bible to say. We can draw up a number of hypotheses and try to garner support for them from the Bible, but it the process, we may miss what the Bible is actually trying to communicate.

Hiding Behind the Bible

Jon Birch posts short cartoons on his blog. The one shown above was posted recently and I very much resonated with it. I have come across a number of people in my seminary experience who cling to one or two specific verses of Scripture (at one point, I was tallying up the number of times I heard John 14:6 quoted in all of my classes combined . . . after week 2, my count was at 36 . . . I have since stopped because it was getting far too depressing). Also, there are those who quote Scripture as an alternative to actually thinking about a topic. We use the Bible as an excuse for not thinking critically or faithfully because we are able to quote a verse here and a verse there without even understanding the context in which it was said.

The Gnostic Pastor

At just about every seminary, emphasis is placed upon the holistic development of the student, not only intellectually, but also spiritually. Some would refer to this as the maturity of both head and heart. The concept of holistic development is a very good thing. However, if often excludes one area that is very important – the physicality of human beings. We do a terrific job of furthering growth in the academic realm and also in our spiritual journeys. Nevertheless, our flesh is ignored.

Gnostics believe in the Platonic dualism that spirit is good and matter or flesh is bad. Thus, they sought to unite with the spiritual realm and leave the human realm behind. We may be going down a similar path with pastors. In all the seminary catalogs that I scoured while contemplating seminary, I did not find one that offered a course on health or nutrition. You may be objecting thinking that seminary is not the place for such classes to take place. But, if we truly are seeking to develop holistic pastors, we must acknowledge the physical side of pastors. Sadly, very few people follow the food pyramid, myself included. Pastors also have a tendency to eat out often with parishioners. Eating out is not necessarily bad, but healthy choices must be made. Essentially, we need to re-educate pastors how to eat healthy and to take care of their bodies physically. Stress and some other emotions are tied to the foods that we eat (desserts being an example). Also, sadly, many pastors suffer heart attacks. I say we need to be preemptive in combating future health problems by teaching pastors how to care for their bodies. If anything is neglected in seminary, it is not the head or heart, but rather the body. And to be blunt, if the body stops working, it really doesn’t matter how developed the head or heart have become.

I would like to see classes in seminary on health and nutrition. We must learn how to take care of our bodies through healthy eating and exercise. I think it’s vital to long-term sustainability for pastors. If we seek to be holistic, not only in word, the physical aspect of people must be addressed.