these are my notes. a lot was said and very fast. make a comment if you have a question. maybe we can get scot to jump into the conversaion. pictures from this pilgrim experience.

Scot McKnight
Teaching the Emerging Generation to Read the Bible
Shift Conference 2008

aspects of postmodernism emerging generation reading the bible

• science is not the only story
• science is dethroned, subjective reality is enthroned
• they embrace their local story
• epistemic humility
• acceptance of myth, as an acceptable form of telling the truth.

this is small, but it has long term implications.

is it okay that adam is eve is not true but tells a narrative story

cultural products

• come through pluralism, tv, increasing number of experiences with foreign countries
• teaching of youth to read Jesus through the hebrew world
• students are not bothered by a cultural expression
• they like the ambiguity of different stories because it is part of their world

"I don’t have answers to these questions. I’m a college professor."

the emerging generation is experiencing "ironic faith"

the emerging story is the development of "ironic faith" .. people believe "but" .. etc. so there is a certain amount of irony in their faith that becomes intolerable therefore they leave. the emerging group has crossed a certain threshold. they will either become part of a new thing or they will not be christians at all

first element that feeds this

• a doctrine of scripture that they can no longer accept. in-errancy or infallibility they can’t accept. it worked for modernity, but not for now. "is the bible true?" yes.. but they just wouldn’t use that word
• science. an increasing number of emerging types believes that science tells a lot of truth. they might say that evolution happen, so then how do i read the bible if this is the way that God allowed the world to be created. they don’t say that they should change their view of science.
• the doctrine of hell. we will face it in ways we have not faced it before in the next 15 – 20 years. you don’t have to have the answers, but you need to let the question be asked
• the God of the bible. people believe in a open theism. students read the bible that we encourage them too. and parts that we do not know much about.
• homosexuality.. they know what the bible says, and it is pretty clear. but they have close friends, brothers & sisters who are gay and lesbian and they seem like good Christians. there is a realization that there are homosexual Christians and there is no place for them in the church. it is not about morality or sexuality, it is about group identity

they are finding Jesus for the first time who grew up in a paul-ine world. they are choosing, which of these gospels am i going to follow. and they are not all the same
recognition that all theologies are language bound

this is scary stuff and destabilizes traditional evangelicalism. must be willing to listen to the questions.

short cut approaches

• some people read the bible like a Rorschach inkblot. they open up the bible and they see what they want to see. breaking of the bible into verses has helped this.
• morsels of laws. some people look at the bible as statements of things we are supposed to do.
• people read the bible as a hallmark calendar of blessings. "i have never seen a hallmark card filled with wrath passages." the bible is laced together with blessings and hard things. there are hard parts and need to get beyond reading the bible to just find blessings
• puzzlers. a lot of us do this instinctively. these people almost envision the bible as verses and cut them up and scatter them all out. if you know how to piece them together then you will know what God had in mind. if you can put them together you will know how to read the bible. when we come to scripture to read we already know how to read it, because we already have our theology figured out. out systematic theology, reading the bible as a puzzle, can be a dangerous way to read the bible. God didn’t give us systematic theology.. more people tend to believe the system than the story itself.
• maestro approach. i think a lot of us read the bible through a maestro’s eyes. reformers picked Paul. mainline liberals picked Jesus, as well the Anabaptists.

"i think we should teach people to read the bible that is.. and not teach them something.."

a model of how to read the bible

we need to read the bible as a story. not as myth or fiction. the way God revealed the bible. every author is a wiki story of the story. if you believe scripture to be the inspired word of God you have to be willing to take in

the creator creates Eikon’s. we are made with four relations God, Self, Others, World. we cracked the Eikon’s in four relations, with God, Self, Others, World. covenanted Eikon’s the whole bible is about covenanted Eikon’s, the covenanted people are the very foundation of the story. reformers grown in a Pauline context want to go from Genesis 12 to Romans 3. new covenant with Christ is the climactic dimension. the consummation.

we should read book by book or author by author. look for these five themes. map how these five themes come up in the wiki stories. we have to let the wiki stories do the work for us.