But Myers demonstrates his own love for people throughout the

Jake Myers Wants You to Make Love with Scripture

canada goose coats on sale Our American fascination with the Bible has featured its beautiful moments and plenty of ugly ones. If the Moses story inspired Dr. King’s view from the mountaintop the night before his own assassination, plenty of segregationists simultaneously believed Jim Crow reflected biblical values. After years of culture wars involving evolution, women’s equality, and LGBT rights inside canada goose outlet uk sale and outside the churches, plenty people have checked out of canada goose outlet price religious communities. Plenty more have given up on taking the Bible seriously. canada goose coats on sale

buy canada goose jacket cheap Jacob Myers has written a book for people who love Jesus but need help loving the Bible without sacrificing their minds and their spirits. Making Love with Scripture (trailer here) might not be as sexy as its title, but canada goose outlet online uk it is erotic. Myers offers a principle of biblical interpretation that goes back to at least the third century: Bible reading should always lead believers to love God and love people. As great figures like Origen and Augustine insisted, this principle rules out interpretations that legitimate harmful behavior and hateful attitudes. givethemcredit buy canada goose jacket cheap

cheap Canada Goose Myers calls his approach “erotic.” I’m not quite sure why. Like the Making Love with Scripture title, “erotic” connotes breathless movie scenes and online vendors who promise discrete shipping. Early Christians spoke of agape and phile more commonly than they did eros, which suggested a measure of selfish desire. But Myers demonstrates his own love for people throughout the book, applying it to multiple dimensions of biblical interpretation. cheap Canada Goose

Canada Goose Jackets Myers writes with a distinctive, glib, even hip style. Imagine conversations at a coffee shop, or maybe in the gym’s free weights section, and you get the picture. He freely mixes examples from pop culture, mixes hashtags and acronymns into his prose, proffers “pro tips,” and self deprecatingly shares his own embarrassing thoughts. Sometimes I find the style helpful. To be honest, however, more often I felt like I was sitting down in my city’s Chestnut Hill Caf. Clearly the least cool person in the room, I knew I was missing nuances of the conversation. Too often I felt inadequate. Maybe you won’t. He is generous and kind. He opens the book with an accessible introduction to some pretty heavy philosophy and literary theory. Texts don’t “mean” anything until people actually interpret canada goose outlet near me them. The Bible is no exception. Therefore, the Bible’s meaning depends on real human beings and communities and how they use it. It’s “interpretation all the way down.” We can choose to use the Bible to close off canada goose outlet our boundaries and reassure ourselves in our own correctness or we can explore it with a sense of wonder, open to the surprises it may bring. “Words are slippery suckers,” he asserts. “They mean all kinds of ways.” Canada Goose Jackets

canada goose uk outlet But do they? canada goose outlet ontario Like all of us, Myers carries his own convictions about how the Bible really is, what it really means, and what we should do with it. “Jesus was a liberation theologian.” Okay. “Period. drops microphone. exits stage”According to Myers, Jesus’ commitment to liberation in the here and now world canada goose outlet paypal provides the only reasonable key to biblical interpretation. Well, “Jesus” is the figure we encounter in those “slippery words.” I might agree that he was committed to human flourishing, especially for the oppressed and the left out, and I do. But a central claim like that runs counter to the assumption that texts can mean lots canada goose stockists uk of things. Indeed, Jesus has meant lots of very different things. canada goose uk https://www.canadagoosejacketoutlett.com outlet

canada goose coats One key theme involves our need to learn from other people. Making love with the Bible means living in community. It is essential, canada goose outlet buffalo Myers argues, for readers to stretch their horizons by being in conversation with interpreters who may differ significantly from ourselves. In particular, socially privileged readers, especially prosperous white readers in settings like the United States, should imitate Jesus by seeking out reading partners from marginalized social locations. The book is rich in examples of interpretations by African American women (womanists), Latinos and Latinas (mujeristas), and sexual minorities (queer hermeneutics). This is one of its great strengths: Myers shows us case studies of how real people actually read the Bible in life giving ways. canada goose coats

canada goose clearance sale Myers does not take as much account of diversity across confessional lines or of the broad history of interpretation. You won’t find much about the Cappadocian Fathers here. Would it surprise you to learn that he’s a Baptist? Baptists generally aren’t much for ancient precedent. canada goose clearance sale

canada goose uk shop In the end, Myers has a lot to say that church people, professional Christians included, need to hear. He demonstrates that we are responsible for our interpretations and for their effects in the world. His appeal to love, grounded in the very best of Jewish and Christian tradition, promises the most faithful single criterion of faithful interpretation. (I’ve begun using it in class.) And Myers makes an admirable tour guide, introducing us to people and communities who expand our appreciation for how the Bible can be canada goose shop uk meaningful in life giving ways canada goose uk shop.