Will Anyone Be Reading the Bible 30 Years From Now?
"If current trends of biblical illiteracy continue," the Center for Bible Engagement warns, "by 2040 the Bible will be a 'thing of the past' for most people who claim to be Christ-followers."
But why are Christians abandoning the Bible this way? The transition our culture is currently undergoing from modernity into postmodernity may have much to do with it.
In his book Searching For God Knows What, Donald Miller relates a conversation he had with a friend of his who had read most of the Bible. This friend was skeptical that its teachings could be summed up in the neat propositions of a "gospel presentation" he'd been given. He continued to insist on this even when Miller showed him that these propositions were actual statements from Scripture, with chapter and verse references attached. Miller concluded that in a postmodern world, the message of the Bible can no longer be communicated propositionally. Insead, this must be done relationally. He decided that the stories, poems and songs in the Scriptures already do that very effectively, if we simply let them speak for themselves and don't try to reduce them to "bullet points."
This story illustrates that the postmodern generation has already rejected the idea that any revelation God might make to us would come in the form of thousands of rules and propositions. But this is precisely the form in which modernity has cast and used the Bible. Modern formats and habits of engagement suggest that the Bible is “a rather loose and disorganized collection of factual, propositional statements,” as Stanley Grenz and John Francke write in their book Beyond Foundationalism.
Moderns were excited by the challenge of systematizing such a collection. But this leaves postmoderns cold. They're saying instead, “Don’t give me propositions to believe or rules to follow. Tell me a story. Write me a poem. Sing me a song. Send me a letter. Tell me what you dreamed last night.” We should be able to show them that God's already done that, in the Bible. And that's one more important reason for putting the Scriptures in a format that makes their literary character apparent.
The Books of The Bible was created in order to help people read the Scriptures with greater understanding and enjoyment. The edition was designed to encourage more responsible and respectful habits of Scripture engagement. We expected that it would actually make it harder to misuse the word of God through verse-jacking and similar non-contextual approaches. And through it we were trying to reveal the "beauty behind the mask," the marvelous literary creations that people discover in the Scriptures when the chapter-and-verse grid is lifted off.
But we are realizing more and more that there will be a further benefit to the new format, one that will perhaps outweigh all of the others. Presenting the Scriptures this way may actually help ensure that people will still be reading the Bible thirty years from now.
But why are Christians abandoning the Bible this way? The transition our culture is currently undergoing from modernity into postmodernity may have much to do with it.
In his book Searching For God Knows What, Donald Miller relates a conversation he had with a friend of his who had read most of the Bible. This friend was skeptical that its teachings could be summed up in the neat propositions of a "gospel presentation" he'd been given. He continued to insist on this even when Miller showed him that these propositions were actual statements from Scripture, with chapter and verse references attached. Miller concluded that in a postmodern world, the message of the Bible can no longer be communicated propositionally. Insead, this must be done relationally. He decided that the stories, poems and songs in the Scriptures already do that very effectively, if we simply let them speak for themselves and don't try to reduce them to "bullet points."
This story illustrates that the postmodern generation has already rejected the idea that any revelation God might make to us would come in the form of thousands of rules and propositions. But this is precisely the form in which modernity has cast and used the Bible. Modern formats and habits of engagement suggest that the Bible is “a rather loose and disorganized collection of factual, propositional statements,” as Stanley Grenz and John Francke write in their book Beyond Foundationalism.
Moderns were excited by the challenge of systematizing such a collection. But this leaves postmoderns cold. They're saying instead, “Don’t give me propositions to believe or rules to follow. Tell me a story. Write me a poem. Sing me a song. Send me a letter. Tell me what you dreamed last night.” We should be able to show them that God's already done that, in the Bible. And that's one more important reason for putting the Scriptures in a format that makes their literary character apparent.
The Books of The Bible was created in order to help people read the Scriptures with greater understanding and enjoyment. The edition was designed to encourage more responsible and respectful habits of Scripture engagement. We expected that it would actually make it harder to misuse the word of God through verse-jacking and similar non-contextual approaches. And through it we were trying to reveal the "beauty behind the mask," the marvelous literary creations that people discover in the Scriptures when the chapter-and-verse grid is lifted off.
But we are realizing more and more that there will be a further benefit to the new format, one that will perhaps outweigh all of the others. Presenting the Scriptures this way may actually help ensure that people will still be reading the Bible thirty years from now.
posted by Chris at
1:49 PM
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