CNN published an essay I wrote but with edits that got it wrong. Unintentionally, I’m sure, but it says exactly what I’ve been arguing against. I disagree with both the title and the final sentence, arguably the most powerful parts. Neither of them are mine. Nevertheless, the essay concludes with the mandatory disclaimer that “The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Kristin Swenson.” Not so. 
Although most people think that I would indeed believe, given my interest in biblical literacy, that everybody should get out there and read the Bible, I don’t. Rather, I believe that everybody should know some basic things about the Bible. I’m not opposed to reading the Bible, of course, but simply reading is not enough. The title I suggested was “Why Know about The Bible If You Don’t Go to Church?”
When it comes to the Bible, “knowing about” and “reading” are two very (very very very very) different things. The Bible is an unusual book that doesn’t lend itself to reading straight through for understanding in the ways that modern books do. This is something I’ve tried not only to show but also to address with Bible Babel — providing information about the Bible so that when someone does read it, she can make better sense of it.
Without such information, misunderstandings abound. They can be quite innocuous, like the example of today’s Ezekiel 4:9 breads and cereals said to be made based on a text from the Bible. What the modern bakers don’t realize is that the original Ezekiel bread was supposed to communicate uncleanness and disgust. God forced the prophet-priest to make it, mixing things that were supposed to be kept distinct, in order to show how bad things would be for the sinful people in Babylonian exile. God did not urge people to make the bread out of righteousness or anything healthful and good. On the contrary, it represented what was forbidden, made by breaking the biblical commandments that respect God’s ordered universe. (The breads and cereals are delicious nonetheless.)
Other misunderstandings can have terrible effects. Take, for example, the Bible’s assumption of slavery as an acceptable human institution. Without knowing the cultural contexts out of which those texts come, white Americans in the antebellum South read the Bible as pro-slavery. Other people, of course, found general ideas in a constellation of biblical texts to tell that God means for all people to be equal and free. Thankfully, the latter party won out. But if you simply read the Bible, without knowing anything about it (and without thinking for yourself, which is something I stress in the existing CNN essay), the former party has a case.
I’m not all up-and-furious about this snafu. I know that editors seldom have time to run all edits by authors before a piece goes to print. And I understand how these particular errors might come about. I do, however, hope to set the record straight that I do not think everyone should anchor their understanding of biblical texts in simply reading the Bible, strange as that may sound. It’s ironic that what I sought to stress in that essay was the importance of learning information and thinking for oneself. Ditto here.
If you’re interested in comparing and contrasting the published piece with the essay I submitted, have at it:
Why Know about the Bible If You Don’t Go to Church?
True Grit‘s stern little girl Mattie — shoot, the Coen Brothers’ entire movie — dramatizes a single line of biblical text. And the way the film interprets that particular text makes that biblical verse directly related to the governor of Illinois’ recent decision to ban the death penalty, a decision which he claims was informed by the Bible.
After all, the movie’s and the Illinois governor’s conclusions — about capital punishment in this case — are exactly opposite. While Mattie’s justice requires death for the man who killed her dad, the governor’s has no place for such execution. Yet both have biblical precedent.
So knowing about the Bible not only makes the movies more fun and enables critique of public policy, but it also paradoxically encourages you to think for yourself.
The Bible’s long history of development, reflecting many voices, and the fact that it’s usually read in translation invites our engagement with it not merely as passive recipients of a fixed meaning but as unique individuals bringing different points of view to bear.
The trick, of course, is knowing something about the Bible, even if you don’t believe in it. And the more you know, the more intriguing it gets. For example, Christians reading biblical Easter stories on April 25 may not themselves know that Mary Magdalene shows up in every one of them, and in quite provocative ways… but nowhere there or anywhere tells that she was a prostitute (much less Jesus’ wife — sorry, Dan Brown).
If you’re not biblically literate, you can get along all right, but you’re missing out. It’s like a cocktail party with raucous conversation. You’re invited, but until you know something about the Bible, you’ll be stuck talking about the weather at the punch bowl.
Yes, True Grit is entertaining no matter what, and you can take Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn at his word that his death penalty decision has biblical basis, but each invites a deeper understanding. And together, they reflect the Bible’s ambivalence about crime and punishment.
“The wicked flee when none pursueth,” a line from Proverbs 28:1, hangs auspiciously on the screen at the beginning of True Grit. The biblical book of Proverbs is full of two-liners giving observations and advice about life, good and bad, and how to succeed.
Knowing that Hebrew (the original language of Proverbs) creates its poetry out a system of parallel lines, might lead you to check out the line after the one quoted in True Grit: “but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”
Linking the criminals’ running to the boldness of a lion, the biblical verse suggests a world in which courageous good guys chase down the yellow-bellied bad with the same determination, cunning, and strength as the king of beasts.
That’s our Mattie, at 14 years old a cub, maybe, but single-minded in her quest to bring to justice the man who killed her father. Mattie is “the righteous,” of course, and the justice she seeks is death.
Because the Bible is sacred scripture, authoritative and instructive for millions of people, many people today believe, like Mattie, that certain criminals should be put to death because of what Scripture says.
After all, the torah or “law,” prescribes execution in several specific cases, including murder.
Yet Illinois Governor Quinn is said to have consulted the Bible while wrestling with his decision to abolish the death penalty. What gives?
People looking to the Bible for a single, clear, yes-or-no answer about the death penalty will be disappointed, just as they are when seeking a simple, one-size-fits-all answer to abortion or environmental ethics.
For one thing, another translation of torah is “instruction” — maybe those “laws” shouldn’t be taken so literally. Indeed, while the Bible allows for all sorts of killing and would seem to demand criminal execution in certain cases, it also commands “thou shalt not kill/murder,” identifies God as the only ultimate judge, and praises forgiveness and mercy.
I don’t know Quinn, but I suspect that he knows enough about the Bible to know that he also had to think for himself. He wisely considered that our human systems, justice included, are imperfect — that the wrong person might be pegged for a capital crime. Knowing about the Bible, no matter what you believe, enables you see not only why Quinn would settle on the ban but also why it was such a difficult decision: sometimes the Bible says different things.
For centuries, faithful people took the first chapter of Genesis as a charter for environmental exploitation; but now they hear in “have dominion” the charge to “take care of” and that in such a context “be fruitful and multiply” cannot be taken as a command to procreate prolifically but rather to exercise one’s innate creativity in any number of other ways.
Too often the Bible is cited as a non sequitur, ironically by people who claim to know it best. “God said it, I believe it, that settles it,” is available for bumper stickers, t-shirts, mugs, and posters. Yet the Bible’s multiplicity of voices and complex history of development and use, invite you to learn more and in the process to add your own voice, thoughts, and deliberations to the conversation.
