Suggestions thus far (in no particular order):
- Revised Common Lectionary
- One of the Synoptics
- An Epistle
- Something with Jesus in it
- A Thematic Study
I would like to suggest a far freaking out one -- certainly a strange suggestion given the theologies expressed here: Revelation of John. Just that its notable by its absence.
7 comments:
Revelations is a good subject, maybe too good but I'll vote for it.
My local meeting's weekly study group went through it awhile ago. One member had suggested the choice "to understand what right wing fundamentalists read into it, so as to know what to say to them," but I was hitting the local library and finding a wide variety of intelligent takes, from Jacques Ellul to a Jungian shrink to Bruce Malina.
We also lost about half our group, who I think feared the book might turn out to mean something true and scarey. Those of us who remained all remembered having opened it as kids and being frightened by what we took it to mean. And I think this second look was illuminating for us, though the others insisted on rushing through faster than I wanted.
I'm game for Revelation ... just don't expect me to understand it :-)
I don't think we're supposed to understand it :)
Let's see what Larry thinks.
What Larry thinks:
At a very learly age I learned from my sainted father that Rev. barely made the canon and was the last book to be accepted.
I deplore the tremendous interest shown in it by hordes of materially minded "Christians" trying to find out what's going to happen. And the centuries old proclivity for reading it as an interpretation of "what's going to happen" in the next few years.
Not for nothing is it the last book in the Bible.
I don't mind going through it. It's a very rich source of O.T. references, and we'll have to deal with them to hope to get any grasp of what John was talking about.
As far as spiritual value is concerned: minimal IMO.
Nevertheless, if you're interested, let's go for it.
Your friend Stringfellow likes Revelation Larry.
Trouble isn't taht teh spiritual content is zero -- but that the way our culture reads it so dominates it -- looking at this material fresh will take A LOT of work.
I'm mostly interested in the ecclesiological material -- so a study of the letters to the 7 churches -- followed by a check in on whether to continue seems like a good starting point.
Anyone who likes Stringfellow can't be all bad!
I was at the library yesterday & grabbed what was one the shelf, plus Ellul (which I had to retrieve from storage) and minus Edgar Cayce and a couple Apocalypse Made Simple approaches. Forgot Stringfellow because he wasn't numbered specifically amount books on Revelations, though he used it a lot rhetorically in a way that made sense to me.
He & Ellul are odd cases for us to consider, in the sense that their take on the Bible seems closer to the tradition of Fox's adversaries than ours (& they don't think much of pacisfism in general) but they aren't rigid or literal-minded. They read it and they hear God talking through it, but they don't seem to be imposing anyone else's notions on what He's saying.
So are we tuning up yet?
Larry,
What do you mean by "spiritual value"?
jason
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