Biblical Criticism and Theology Lite

Of all the scholars working today my favorite is perhaps James Kugel, former Harvard professor, now working in Israel. His books Traditions of the Bible and, most recently, How To Read The Bible, stand as testaments (no pun intended) to holding both religious faith and modern Biblical criticism in check.

There's something quantum in this. I think the struggles many have with this notion is that we like things in black and white, either/or. Nothing in life works that way (until we make a decision, that is...). I'm reminded again of another physics metaphor, that of the Feynman diagram...

Anyhow, we can hold two seemingly opposite things in tension without becoming dysfunctional. Did Moses write the Torah? If he didn't, does that change our faith or just our assumptions? If the events of Genesis did not "literally" happen, does this change our faith or just our assumptions?

Of course, if it's true, what then? Are scholars lying, the whole scholastic enterprise a "secular" plot to destroy faith?

If, if, if...

I'm reminded of the story attributed to Zhuangzi about the fishing net. Once you have the fish, do you still need the net?

So, let's say the Bible brings us to that place where we experience Truth at the deepest level of our being. This isn't Truth experience as sugar coating pain or regret or guilt or the emotional, feel good experience that comes with the rush of a good Pentecostal service.

This is that experience of which all who have experienced Truth just know.

So let's say you've experienced it and have experienced it through Biblical faith. What is the litmus test?

It isn't how much you know. It isn't whether or not Genesis was written by Moses. It isn't whether or not God dictated every jot and tittle of the Tanakh. It doesn't depend on whether or not the Gospels can be harmonized. All these things rely upon faith.

But what if it is true that these things are not factually, verifiably true? Will your faith crumble?

The strange thing about this is that I am coming out of roughly ten years or more of this struggle. And my faith is intact. Granted, there is a Zen-like, quantum entanglement kind of nuance to it, but it is still a strong Biblical faith nonetheless.

What is my litmus test? It isn't what I know. It isn't how well I quote Scripture. It isn't whether I can recite the creeds, pray or speak in tongues or whether I tithe. None of those things are really the fruits of which Jesus (or Paul, for that matter) speak.

No, the litmus test is how other centered we are, not out of lack but out of abundance, out of genuine concern for the others. If we love God, we must love others (even those who rattle us).

That, my friends, is the litmus test.

Any other litmus test is divisive.

(That wasn't where I intended to go with this post...I actually meant to talk about faith in the workplace...)