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A Central Theme to “Scriptural Spirituality” 29 democracy or reconciliation. 5 My point here is not for moral neutrality, in different guises, or against faithful/theological engagement with societal agendas, but that any form of piety with which we approach the Bible remain critically analysed. The following three points expand on this. • That the Bible be used with integrity. “We do not find a consistent system of theological propositions in the Bible”; 6 the concept “theological propositions” may as well be transposed with concepts such as “ethical positions” and “political values.” In addition, apart from the evolution (that is, the development of themes) we find in the Bible, the reality of parallel, even contradictory biblical texts and traditions (which can be called on to support parallel, even contradictory modern concerns), 7 should not be ignored— such would be schizophrenic 8 faith. Harmonising the 5 See e.g., C. Gunton, ed., The Theology of Reconciliation (London: T&T Clark, 2003); J. W. de Gruchy, Reconciliation: Restoring Justice (Cape Town: David Philip, 2002); cf. E. B. Farisani, “The Use of Ezra-Nehemiah in a Quest for a Theology of Renewal, Transformation and Reconstruction” (Ph.D. thesis, Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal, 2002). 6 K. Nürnberger, Theology of the Biblical Witness. An Evolutionary Approach (Theologie: Forschung und Wissenschaft, Band 5; Münster: LIT Verlag, 2002), v. 7 Cf. J. H. le Roux, “Two Possible Readings of Isaiah 61,” in Liberation Theology and the Bible (ed. P. G. R. de Villiers; Pretoria: University of South Africa, 1987), 31–44; J. H. le Roux, Whose Side Is God on?/Aan Wie se Kant is God? (Pretoria, Unisa: CB Powell-Bybelsentrum, 1992); C. J. S. Lombaard, “The Bible in the Apartheid Debate,” in 1948 + 50 Years. Theology, Apartheid and Church: Past, Present and Future (ed. J. W. Hofmeyr, C. J. S. Lombaard and P. J. Maritz; Perspectives on the Church/Perspektiewe op die Kerk, Series 5: Vol. 1; Pretoria: IMER [Institute for Missiological and Ecumenical Research], University of Pretoria, 2001), 61. 8 I use “schizophrenic” in its correct technical sense of losing contact with reality (in this case the reality of what the Bible is: a book which is also historically situated), and not in its popular sense of a “split personality.”
30 The Old Testament and Christian Spirituality parallels and contradictions in Scripture is always fruitless: it takes leave of the text; it leaves us with a bland artefact; it attends some sort of power play. In short: the Bible is a complex text. With a compositional history of over ten centuries, and thus with a Wirkungsgeschichte/interpretational history of over thirty centuries, it could be no other way. The ways in which the Bible is used to nurture faith— that is, “Scriptural spirituality”—should take this into account, and do so in detail. More is required than that we simply “be shaped by the great biblical motifs.” 9 The complexity of the Bible must come home in personal devotions, church services, and societal involvement. Theoretical and exegetical integrity—a studied awareness of the issues and an informed navigation through the possibilities—is required, if the Bible is to be truly afforded the centrality to which we so easily confess. • That engagement with the Bible is dialogically critical. The paragraph above was concerned with what we bring to the text. However, the process is reciprocal: the concept of the hermeneutical circle incorporates that the reader remains open to be “talked to,” to be addressed/(in)formed/changed by the text. 10 Such “conversing” would exclude none of the possibilities: theoretical, exegetical, existential, functional.… That the Bible and the reader converse in many ways is a confession and experience Christian spirituality cannot do without. The text “reads” the reader 9 S. M. Schneiders, “The Study of Christian Spirituality. Contours and Dynamics of the Discipline,” Studies in Spirituality 8 (1998): 43; C. J. S. Lombaard, “The Old Testament in Christian Spirituality: Perspectives on the Undervaluation of the Old Testament in Christian Spirituality,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 59, no. 2 (2003): 440. 10 Cf. A. C. Thiselton, New Horizons in Hermeneutics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 31–54.
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The emerging discipline of Biblical
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