The Immigration Policy of the Northern Kingdom of Israel

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One of the things that stood out to me while mirror-reading the Elohist Source, is the prominent issue that the author was dealing with in regards to immigrants in the land.  Whether war, famine or some other cause, we don't' get much indication as to the reasons why aliens had immigrated to the Northern Kingdom, but we can see how the Elohist lays out expectations for them in the narrative.

When mirror-reading the Abraham Cycle, it seems that the Israelites were dealing with the descendants of Abimelech, as well as the descendants of Hargar's son living as aliens in the land of Israel.  The Elohist approaches the issue from two sides.  First, exclusion from the biggest entitlement program at the time, Abraham's inheritance.  Only the descendants of Isaac were entitled to the inheritance, which meant Abimelech's and Hagar's son's descendants were excluded.

However, this exclusion is tempered by a call to treat aliens fairly.  The Elohist does this by recounting Abraham's time as an alien in Gerar and showing how he was treated fairly by Abimelech, eventually culminating in a treaty that required the Israelites to treat the descendants of Abimelech fairly.

While, mirror-reading the Moses Cycle, the situation is different.  The Kenites are not the same type of aliens that were in the Abraham Cycle.  They were considered more of a minority than aliens.  However, the Elohist approaches the issue from two sides again.

First, the Elohist makes is clear that Elohim is the God of the Hebrews, not the God of the Kenites, as in, He did not originate with them.  On the flip side, the Elohist pushes inclusion.  The Kenites were free to worship Elohim if they wanted to. This is most clearly seen in the narrative when the elders of Israel, Aaron and Moses sit with Jethro (a Kenite) in the presence of Elohim.

Phase 1 Complete!

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For the past couple of months, I've been posting consistently five days a week.   My goal was to create body of content that would help introduce people to mirror-reading. Now that phase 1 is complete, I'll likely be posting less often in order to focus more in depth on methodologies and techniques for mirror-reading, developing a podcast, and developing some mirror-reading software. 

Thank you to all who have been following along, and I hope you will continue to support Mira Scriptura!

 

 

What's The "Biggest" Word In The Bible According To This Word Cloud?

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Below is a word cloud of the most frequent words in the Bible.

http://66clouds.com/bible.html

http://66clouds.com/bible.html

These word clouds are a simple way of helping one get more familiar with the common words throughout a particular book and can provide a big picture view.  That in turn can help one when trying to mirror-read. Word frequency my indicate how prominent a false teaching was. Be sure to read my post on keywords and themes for mirror-reading.  Below is a word cloud for Ephesians.

http://66clouds.com/new_testament.html#Ephesians

http://66clouds.com/new_testament.html#Ephesians

You can see the word clouds for each book of the Bible at 66clouds.com

Mirror-Reading Universal Terms

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I rarely highlight individual words for mirror-reading, but there are some that I think would be beneficial to talk about about.  Be sure to see my video about conjunctions here, but today I’m writing about universal terms such as “all” or those in the negative sense such as “none”.  

When mirror-reading, if we come across a universal terms, it may imply certain things.  If a Biblical writer uses the word “all”, then the false teachers may have been saying “not all, some or none” and vise versa.  Some examples:

Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Were false teachers saying that only some things work together?  Nothing works together?  Check out my video on Romans 8:28 here.

Ephesians 6:24
Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.

Were false teachers saying that only some who loved the Lord Jesus have grace?

Galatians 3:11
Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Were false teachers saying that some are justified before God by the law?

Mirror-Reading With Themes, Phrases And Keywords

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Knowing the keywords and phrases of a book of the Bible can help when trying to mirror-read it.

Theological vs Responsive Themes

Recognizing themes is important when mirror-reading the Bible. Many people know the value of themes but most frame the theme in terms of theology instead of the situational context.  In other words, they organize their themes in categories of theological doctrines.  Typical themes for the book of Romans might be sin, salvation and sanctification. However, this is the wrong approach, and themes should instead be framed in terms of what the Biblical author was responding to.  

Themes should be organized in categories of the false teachings they were responding to.  One of the main themes in the New Testament is correcting the false teaching that certain people (e.g. gentiles, women, children, slaves) were excluded in some fashion from the Kingdom of God.  One of the main themes in the Old Testament is the correcting of the false teaching that the Israelites needed other gods besides Yahweh. You can watch my video on those themes here.  

There are sub-themes that address either separate false teachings or false teachings that build off of the main themes.  @@It is critical that you don’t approach the Bible as a theology book but as a response to the situation of the original reader@@.

Phrases and Keywords - The Building Blocks of Themes

Themes will usually use a set of phrases and keywords, so that, when you read a certain phrase or keyword, you will know to which theme it belongs and which false teaching it is responding to.  For example, in Ephesians, one of the themes deals with inheritance because there was a false teaching about inheritance.  Phrases and keywords for that theme not only include the word “inheritance” but also, “Obtain a Lot”, “Length and Width”, “Measure”, “Heir”, “Redemption of the land”, “Seal”, “pledge”, “Possession”, and “predetermined”.

Another theme deals with a false teaching about the Temple.  Phrases and keywords for the theme not only include the word “Temple” but also “foundation”, “building”, “access”, “dwell” and “wall”.

Bible Translations for Finding Themes

Graphic credit: Dan Dowd

Graphic credit: Dan Dowd

When trying to identify themes, it’s important to use the right Bible translation.  If you're not working with the original languages then you’ll need a word-for-word translation like the KJV or the ESV.  You want a translation that is fairly consistent in the way that it translates the original languages. Paraphrase translations such as The Message will translate words different ways, and you will not be able to recognize the phrases and keywords that are the building blocks for themes.

Mirror-Reading With An Embedded Mirror

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In some cases, the false teaching that the Biblical author is responding to is in the text itself.  For example, there are a few instances in Romans where some conclude that Paul is using a rhetorical device to talk as if he's one of the false teachers, which he then responds to in order to correct that view:

  • Romans 1:18-32 e.g. "and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another"
  • Romans 7 e.g. "For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."
  • Romans 3 e.g. as dialogue "Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?  Much in every way."

It is beyond the scope of this post to determine whether that is actually the case or not, but if it is the case in each of the above instances, I would consider them to be "embedded mirrors".  In other words, Paul is stating the false teachings that he then responds to.

There may also be a similar device in Ecclesiastes.  The "Teacher" may be giving the false teaching, who is then briefly corrected by the narrator at the end of the book.  I don't think this is the case however, as I explain in my mirror-reading of Ecclesiastes here.

An example in narrative form is the Book of Job.  Job, Elihu, Job's three friends and God deliver to the reader dialogues between the false teachings and the true teachings.

Sinful Nature Or Theological Teaching?

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When Paul writes about behavioral issues in the Church, is it because of their sinful nature or because their theology was wrong?

Behavioral vs Doctrinal and how they support each other when mirror-reading

Many New Testament epistles have a section where doctrinal issues addressed, and then later in the epistle, behavioral issues are addressed.  We can use this to validate mirror-reading.  In other words, if we mirror-read and discover the false teaching that Paul was responding to, we can then extrapolate that out to what types of behavior that false teaching would produce.  If we find that behavior as one of the behaviors that Paul discusses in the latter part of the epistle, then we can take that as validation of our mirror-reading of the false teaching.

This could have theological implications.  For example, when Paul, in Ephesians says "Children, obey your parents", are we to take it that Paul has nothing better to address than to remind the Church of a common ethic?   Or was there perhaps a false teaching that gave those children (who could be adult children) a reason to disobey their parents?  This could have an impact on what we use to support the idea of a "sinful nature".  If you're curious of my theological views of "the flesh", check out this episode of the RE2 Podcast.

How To Mirror-Read Different Genres In The Bible

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Mirror-reading is primarily discussed in regards to the epistles of the Bible, but mirror-reading can be applied to other genres in the Bible as well.

Mirror Read The Bible

Epistles

This is the genre most people feel comfortable mirror-reading (if they feel comfortable mirror-reading at all!). For example, if Paul says "Don't do this", then the false teachers may have been saying "Do this". 

However, not everything that Paul (or other NT writers) say should be taken in such polarized fashion.  It is helpful to categorize what Paul says as opposite/different, same or unique.  The example above would qualify as opposite/different.  "Same" would be instances where Paul quotes the false teachers or when he mentions a point of agreement but then qualifies that agreement.  "Unique" would be words that Paul wrote that have no similarity to what the false teachers were saying.  However, it's important to remember that regardless of which category it is, all of the categories can be used to correct what the false teachers were saying.  Watch my video about these categories.

Check out this page and click on an epistle to see how I mirror-read it.

Wisdom

I prefer to think of the Wisdom literature as "Teachings".  They are similar to epistles in that if the "teaching says this" then the "false teaching says this".  I've only mirror-read Ecclesiastes thus far, so I'm curious if the other wisdom literature is the same.  You can check out my mirror-reading of Ecclesiastes here.

Historical Narratives

For the purposes of mirror-reading, it's not really necessary to believe that the events in the historical narratives actually took place.  The important thing to understand is that the events in the story take place in a historical setting.  

The books of the Bible are not just recorded history but a response to a situation.  They may be about past events, but they addressed events that were current with the original readers.

I've listed two ways to mirror-read historical narratives below:

1. Corrective of Past

Narratives can be used to correct historical accounts or repair the reputations of historical characters.  I've listed a few examples below:

1&2 Samuel

The author of 1st and 2nd Samuel tries to repair the reputation of David and to clarify events of the past in order to diffuse hostilities between the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin.  Read here.

Haggai

The author explains events of the past to show why there was a famine and addresses fears that God was no longer with them.  Read here.

Enoch

Yes, not a book of the Bible (usually) but still a good example.  The author tries to repair the reputation of Enoch.  Read here.

2. Analogy

Narratives can also be analogous to the situation of the original readers. I prefer to refer to them as corrective parallels. Some might says that's just a parable, but the term parable often implies a work of fiction, and we don't really need to make that determination in order to mirror-read. It is often said that reading Paul's letters is like hearing half of a phone conversation.  Parallel narratives are like hearing half of an analogy. e.g. "The Story of Jonah is like..."  Parallels are not allegories in that they draw on similarities but not symbolism.

Matthew

Not all of Matthew is analogous but some of what Jesus says is.  Specifically, when he mentions "Every kingdom divided against itself", it's analogous to the situation in the Church at that time.  Watch the video here.

Prophecy

Prophecy uses future events to address current (to the original readers) issues.

Nahum

Nahum foretells the destruction of Nineveh to encourage Jews to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Read here.

Habakkuk:

Habakkuk foretells the invasion of the Babylonians to show that God is in control.  However, there is a secondary meaning to Habakkuk in that it may be using some parts of the prophecy as a parallel.  Read here.

 

Header Image PHOTO CREDIT: Robert cropped from original

The False Teachers Weren't Stupid

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Hindsight is 20/20, and we don't realize how reasonable the Biblical arguments were that the false teachers made were at that time.

Old Testament Scriptures and New Testament Prophecies.

The false teachers used the Old Testament Scriptures to support their false teachings.  There are plenty of OT verses that talk about how Israel was God's chosen, and how they were the light of the world. If that was God's plan, then who can change it?  I write about the "cornerstone" written about in Isaiah, how the false teachers used it and how Paul responds to it in Titus.  I also write about the use of Scripture in Isaiah that the false teachers used to pronounce God's wrath on the Gentiles.  Paul responds to it in 1 Thessalonians.

This should make us think differently when Paul quotes Old Testament passages.  Is he simply quoting them to support his case, or is he quoting them in order to correct the interpretation of them by the false teachers.  Check out the video below where I discuss further.

The false teachers also used prophecies spoken by true prophets in the Church at that time.  I write about how Paul corrects their interpretations of those prophecies in Ephesians.

If you think the false teachers were just bumbling idiots then you don't understand what their false teachings were, which may have an impact on how you understand the correct teachings of the Bible.  Mirror-Reading can help with that.  The false teachers were trying to integrate Christ into their existing religious paradigms and their false teachings were the result of their attempts. 

Header Image PHOTO CREDIT: Quinn Dombrowski cropped from original

Doug Wilson: Tolerant Or Intolerant?

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Doug Wilson

An elephant that brings his own china shop with him, Doug Wilson seems to create controversy effortlessly.

This is part of a series which I'm calling "Interesting Voices".  You can see the whole series here.  They run the spectrum from conservative to progressive, little known to well known.  They may or may not already be familiar with mirror-reading. I may or may not agree with them theologically, but regardless, I think they are interesting voices speaking to the Christian community today.  The purpose of the series is to both raise awareness of mirror-reading and to introduce you to these voices.

Yes, I know the typical china shop metaphor calls for a bull, but when I think of a bull, I think of one that's angry, snorting and exerting force while bucking and kicking and whose sole purpose is destruction.  I think that is not in-line with Doug Wilson's calm demeanor.  I picture him instead as an elephant walking through the china shop nonchalantly, knocking over things simply as a byproduct of the path that he's on.  However, he can be provocative at times (as you'll see below).  I sometimes wonder if Doug said something in a forest and no one was there to hear, would they still be offended?

Doug pastors at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. He's written several books, and he writes online at a blog with one of the cleverest titles ever: Blog and Mablog. I first discovered Doug by watching a documentary called "Collision".  It documents a series of debates between Doug and the late Christopher Hitchens.  Here is the trailer:

Doug is a presuppositionalist, which I'm not a fan of, but atheists don't seem to encounter it much, so it is fun to watch them grapple with it for the first time.  Hitchens, however, seemed to enjoy the new challenge that it presented, since it is different from what he had typically encountered.  After Hitchens died, Doug released this gracious but pointed video:

Doug ran into some controversy when he and some others spoke on Federal Vision at a conference.  It wasn't intended, or expected for that matter, to stir up any hostilities, but the aftermath of the conference resulted in a few denominations branding Federal Vision as a heresy.  Here is Doug discussing what Federal Vision is:

He also has been pegged as a racist by some because of some of the things he's written. Doug would dispute that claim, and he and Thabiti Anyabwile engage in a discussion regarding his book "Black and Tan" that clarify some of his views.

Doug has also been vocal on his stance regarding homosexuality.  His lecture at University of Indiana caused quite a stir.  The students were less than charitable:

I was impressed with his patience with the crowd. You can watch the entire lecture and Q&A here:

Although he's thought of as intolerant by many, he appears to be a tolerator of the intolerant while still holding to his beliefs.  However, Doug, at times, does stoke the fire as the inflammatory picture below shows:

He certainly won't make any fast friends in the LGBQT community with pics like that.  Not that he's trying to.

There is another documentary that stars Doug, and it highlights some of the controversy surrounding his lecture at IU.  Here is the trailer:

He is also a cessasionist but always engages charismatics in a gracious way.  Here he is with Mark Driscoll talking about spiritual gifts:

He also debated Adrian Warnock shortly after Macarthur's Strange Fire conference.  At times, I felt he and Adrian were simply debating semantics, and Doug might be closer to being a charismatic than he thinks.

Doug was also interviewed on Rethinking Hell and gives one of the best defenses of the traditional view that I've heard:

Doug is also a preterist, and you may find the following video interesting, where he, Piper, Hamilton and Storms discuss eschatology:

I'm sorry if I didn't mention your favorite offensive thing that Doug has said.  I'm sure there will be more before I can hit the "save and publish" button for this post.

Doug Wilson and Mirror-Reading

I listened to this sermon of his on Ephesians 1. There was virtually no mirror-reading.  He does give some historical background to Ephesus, but when it came to reconstructing the situation and the false teachings that Paul was responding to, there was nothing.  He instead approaches Ephesians primarily as a theology book instead of as a letter.

However, I also listened to his sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:21-25 and was pleased to find some mirror-reading going on.  He even talks about how 1 Corinthians is like hearing half of a phone conversation.  If only he would say that of every book in the Bible.  He describes the divisions that were taking place in the Church of Corinth at the time: Legal business disputes, social group status, food issues, idolatry accommodations, sexual relationship issues, spiritual gifts and the Lord's supper.  He also touches on the Jew/Gentile dispute, and talks about how the Gentiles said that they had baptism and the Lord's supper.  Doug shows how Paul responded by pointing to 1 Corinthians 10:1-4:

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

Questions For Doug Wilson

I’ve listed a couple of open questions to Doug below. I welcome a response from Doug, whether as a guest post, a response on his own blog or simply in the comments below.

1. What are your thoughts on mirror-reading?
2. Did you want to respond to anything that I've written above?

Questions For My Readers

What do you think of Doug? Do you agree with his views? Who else do you think is an "interesting voice"?

 

My Response To Matt Whitman's Response

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Matt Whitman from the Ten Minute Bible Hour was kind enough to write a response to the post that I wrote about him.  All of the "Interesting Voices" that I've written about thus far have responded positively except for one, who hasn't responded at all <cough>Tim Mackie</cough>. Austin Fischer left a nice comment, but Matt is the only one who has taken the time to write a pretty substantial response and post it on his blog. And he did it in he midst of what seems to be a pretty busy schedule.  As someone who's blog is still pretty new and still trying to find my voice, I really value feedback like Matt's.  So thanks, amigo!

I think Matt and I share a lot of common ground, so I'm just going to respond to a couple of snippets. Be sure to read Matt's entire response over at The Ten Minute Bible Hour.  From his post:

At the end of his post Michael asked what I thought about mirror reading, and I guess I’d say it’s intuitive and I dig it especially where there’s reasonable evidence to support conclusions about the invisible side of the conversation. That said, there lots of great tools for unpacking a biblical text, and I think an over-dependence on mirror reading could lead to some hard-to-defend conclusions that are little more than fun speculation.

I think mirror-reading is intuitive for everyone but only to a certain extent.  I also agree that mirror-reading is just one tool in the Biblical interpretation toolbox.  I consider mirror-reading to be a subcategory of the historical-grammatical method (as I point out here). Also, I consider mirror-reading's "situational context" to be a subcategory of historical context.

As far as an over-dependence on mirror-reading is concerned, I feel that's like saying an over-dependence on Biblical interpretation could lead to bad theology. It's not the method but how well the method is executed.  There has certainly been many bad mirror-readings, but I see it as crappy mirror-reading instead of an over-dependence on it.

John Barclay's article has tempered my zealousness for mirror-reading somewhat, but his methodology is a move in the right direction. I think we can improve upon and expand such methodology to utilize mirror-reading for greater insights and greater detail but without the speculation.  Phase 1 of this blog has focused primarily on raising greater awareness of mirror-reading.  In Phase 2, I'll focus more on formal mirror-reading, developing techniques and methodologies that will hopefully generate mirror-readings that have greater detail and accuracy but can also be substantiated on every point. So, although I understand peoples desire to be cautious when it comes to mirror-reading, I'll be pushing them to not be afraid.

Again, from Matt's post:

But Michael’s critique demonstrates my concern with leaning to heavily on mirror reading. He’s right that the Bible wasn’t written to be just a good story, but it wasn’t all written exclusively as a reaction either. Each genre has its own motivations, and trying to force mirror reading to the front of the interpretive line with all of them won’t always work best.  

It's my position that we must at least attempt to mirror-read every book of the Bible.  Yes, the Pauline letters will yield greater mirror-reading results than perhaps other genres, but mirror-reading is still valuable when approaching all genres and books of the Bible. I've been able to mirror-read every book of the Bible that I've attempted so far. (although, honestly, I have my doubts about Proverbs, but I'll still try if I ever get around to it).

I believe that mirror-reading should be at the front of the line, at least initially.  I say that because the possibility is always there of not being able to understand the "what" without the "why".  If it launches one into speculation, then yes, discard immediately (although, I don't mind speculation as long as it's indicated as such).

Thanks again to Matt for engaging in the mirror-reading discussion with me!


People Believe What They Want To Believe About The Bible

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I've recently encountered a number of tweets that deal with a similar idea.  I don't know what motivated each tweet, but the fact that they have a common theme is interesting.  Here are the tweets:

From Trevin's post:

How do you make a moral decision?

How do you determine if something is right or wrong?

Many of us think of morality as something we discover after rational and reflective consideration. You hear both sides of an argument, you consider reasons that may justify your action, and then you pronounce judgment.

But Jonathan Haidt says we’re getting it backwards. In reality, you judge first, and only then do you justify.

Have you ever had someone explain a Bible verse, and you know intuitively that their explanation was wrong, even though you couldn't articulate why?  It's because it's messing with one of your paradigms.  We can't always articulate our paradigms, but we know them subconsciously.  Your intuition may be right but only if your paradigm is right.  None of us has all of the answers to everything, but we all have some sort of structure made of paradigms.  It's like a picture made of mosaic tile.  The pieces that fit, we add, if they don't, we discard accordingly.  Some pieces we feel forced to fit into it, and so we jam it in wherever we can with mental gymnastics, but if that doesn't work, we're forced to change one of our paradigms. 

I recently posted on whether we recreate Biblical characters in our own image.  One of the reasons that I like mirror-reading is that it takes the focus off of my own paradigms and, in an indirect way, attempts to reconstruct the paradigms of author, the false teachers and the original readers.  One may not embrace or even realize the theological implications from the insights gained from mirror-reading, but I know some of my own paradigms have shifted because of mirror-reading, and I can't help but think that it makes me a little more objective when studying the Scriptures.

Header Image PHOTO CREDIT: [like caramel!] cropped from original

Jeffrey Kranz: Slicing And Dicing Biblical Data

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Jeffrey Kranz

Looking for infographs, overviews and fun facts of the Bible?  Jeffrey Kranz offers some fantastic resources!

This is part of a series which I'm calling "Interesting Voices".  You can see the whole series here.  They run the spectrum from conservative to progressive, little known to well known.  They may or may not already be familiar with mirror-reading. I may or may not agree with them theologically, but regardless, I think they are interesting voices speaking to the Christian community today.  The purpose of the series is to both raise awareness of mirror-reading and to introduce you to these voices.

Jeffrey runs a website called The Overview Bible Project.  He and his wife, Laura, put together some pretty great stuff.  By his own admission, not much of it is new information, but he does a great job of taking information in the Bible and reorganizing it so that it's easier to understand or gives additional insight.  For someone who's favorite book of the Bible is Ecclesiastes, his website is fun, upbeat and educational.

Logos Bible Software

Jeffrey used to work at Logos Bible Software and still seems to have ties.  Here's an article on Logos 5 and how he uses it.  It's a bit dated now but still good.

He's also interviewed in the video below about James being the bossiest book in the Bible (Jeffrey, keep the beard, it works for you! Logos, that is some choppy video editing!)

Infographics

Jeffrey puts together some nice infographics.  Here's one on Romans:

You can view all of them here.  One suggestion for Jeffrey would be to have all of them listed on one page, so I don't have to keep hitting "Older Posts".

Content Genius

Jeffrey is also an online content genius and runs a website called Gradlime where you can learn all sorts of things about how to be successful on the internets.  I've enjoyed everything I've read on there so far, although, sometimes, he makes me feel like my website is never good enough...and that my posts aren't long enough.  Oh well, I'm getting better everyday!

Jeffrey Kranz And Mirror-Reading

The thing that really drew me to The Overview Bible Project was, well, the overviews of the books of the Bible.  Jeffrey goes through each book of the Bible and summarizes them in an easy to understand way. Be sure to check them out here.

1 Corinthians

Jeffrey does engage in mirror-reading (well, everybody does).  In his overview of 1 Corinthians, he does a pretty good job of setting up what the situation was in Corinth.  For example:

 The Corinthians were fighting each other, with one faction claiming Paul as their leader while others claimed the eloquent Apollos, the original apostle Peter (Cephas), or the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (1 Co 1:12). Paul reprimands them for their immaturity (1 Co 3:3), and points to God as the one who deserves glory, not His servants (1 Co 3:5–7).

Ephesians

However, in his overview of Ephesians, there isn't really much of a set up of the situation in Ephesus.  Instead, he uses theological categories to summarize the book:

  • Grace. We’re saved by God’s grace—His favor which we could not deserve (Eph 2:8–9). Paul encourages the church to deal graciously with one another in turn (Eph 4:25–32).
  • Peace. We naturally deserved God’s wrath (Eph 2:3), but He has adopted us through Jesus (Eph 1:5). Furthermore, he has united the Jews and non-Jews in His Son, establishing peace between all parties (Eph 2:14). Now, the church is to preserve peace and unity with one another (Eph 4:3).
  • Love. God showed His love through Jesus (Eph 2:4), and Paul commends the Ephesians for the way they love one another (Eph 1:15). He prays that they be rooted in love (Eph 3:17) and encourages them to continue walking in love (Eph 5:2).

This treats Paul's letter as a theology book instead of a letter that responded to a certain situation.  I'd rather see a list of false teachings that Paul was writing to correct.  Yes, theology can be derived from what Paul wrote, but I think we loose something if we don't understand the situation in Ephesus first.

Questions For Jeffrey Kranz

I’ve listed a couple of open questions to Jeffrey below. I welcome a response from Jeffrey, whether as a guest post, a response on his own blog or simply in the comments below.

1. What are your thoughts on mirror-reading?
2. Did you want to respond to anything that I've written above?

Questions For My Readers

What do you think of Jeffery? Do you find his overviews helpful? Who else do you think is an "interesting voice"?

 

Do We Recreate Biblical Characters In Our Own Image?

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I was reading an interview with Peter Enns over at The Pangea Blog.  They talk about his book on Ecclesiastes.  Peter says:

"The main character of the book, called Qohelet, has some pretty harsh things to say about life as an Israelite. He is not simply skeptical. He is undone. He is in faith-crisis mode, and he pulls no punches letting us know it. His big beef is with God. Qohelet is angry with him."

That says a lot about what was going on inside Qohelet.  I'm not saying Peter is wrong (although I do have a different take on Ecclesiastes).  I think we can infer that type of thing from the text.  It just seems that some people (not necessarily Peter) are cautious when it comes to mirror-reading but have no problem reconstructing the psyche of someone.  I've heard many sermons where the preacher talks about how David felt this way, Abraham thought this, or Paul was this type of person.  They'll even talk about how God felt and what He thought even when it's not explicit in the text.  So, although they are leery of reconstructing the specific events that mirror-reading can bring to light, they embrace reconstructing the persons, personalities and psychologies of Biblical authors and characters.

I also recently listened to a debate between Reza Aslan and Anthony Le Donne on Unbelievable? with Justin Brierely. Aslan attempts to reconstruct the person of Jesus, although he excludes much of the New Testament text about Jesus.  

When we do this type of thing I wonder if we are driven by creating the characters in our own image.  It seems like Peter Enns has had his own crisis of faith and so Qohelet is also similar.  Aslan has a history of desiring political change, and so Jesus is a political revolutionary.  Are Enns and Aslan drawn to those characters because that's who they truly were, or are they reading their own personalities into the characters? To be sure, they offer evidence for their views, but I can't help but think that who they are colors their view.  They are also concerned with the original readers but stick with the broad historical context instead of the more specific situational context that mirror-reading can provide.  It is, of course, impossible to be completely objective, but I find it all thought provoking.

One of the reasons that I like mirror-reading is because it takes the focus off of trying to fit one's own situation or own theology into the text and focuses on the original reader's situation.  And yet, I wonder if my own personality is coloring my own conclusions. 

Header Image PHOTO CREDIT: Hernán Piñera cropped from original

Tim Mackie: Telling The Grand Story Of The Bible With Awesome Videos

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Showing how each book of the Bible is designed and how they fit into the overall Biblical narrative, Tim Mackie and his team animate the Bible.

This is part of a series which I'm calling "Interesting Voices".  You can see the whole series here.  They run the spectrum from conservative to progressive, little known to well known.  They may or may not already be familiar with mirror-reading. I may or may not agree with them theologically, but regardless, I think they are interesting voices speaking to the Christian community today.  The purpose of the series is to both raise awareness of mirror-reading and to introduce you to these voices.

Tim pastors at Door of Hope Church in Portland. He has his PhD in Semitic Languages and Biblical Studies.  He's also a professor at Western Seminary. You can check out his website here.

I first discovered Tim when I ran across his "Bible in Five" series of videos.  They consist of Tim and a transparent dry eraser board as he explains each book of the Bible.  Check out the video below as he tackles Matthew:

Tim has begun the process of upgrading those videos by teaming up with Jonathan Collins and starting "The Bible Project".  From a quality production point of view, these videos are brilliant!  The New Testament videos are of the animated white board variety (more of a parchment board than white board).  Here's one on Hebrews:

The Old Testament videos are even more animated with some sound effects thrown in.  Here is the video on Numbers:

Tim Mackie And Mirror-Reading

Tim does mirror-read in his video on 1st Corinthians.  He even catagorizes in terms of the problems and Paul's response.  My only complaint is that he doesn't touch on the reason for the problems:  What were the false teachings that caused the Corinthians to think it was okay to do the things they were doing.  You can check out the video below.

Besides 1st Corinthians, Tim doesn't do much mirror-reading.  He does set up some basic background info at the beginning of the videos for the epistles.  However, when it comes to the narrative books there is virtually no mirror-reading.  I believe narratives can be mirror-read.  I do some mirror-reading with the Pentateuch in this episode on my RE2 podcast.

Questions For Tim Mackie

I’ve listed a couple of open questions to Tim below. I welcome a response from Tim, whether as a guest post or simply in the comments below.

1. What are your thoughts on mirror-reading?
2. Did you want to respond to anything that I've written above?

Questions For My Readers

What do you think of Tim? Do you enjoy his videos? Who else do you think is an "interesting voice"?

 

Theological Implications Of Mirror-Reading

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It's impossible to be completely neutral when it comes to theology, but I attempt, on this site, to be as theologically neutral as possible.  Mirror-reading focuses on the text and is more about exegesis than theology.  Certainly theology can be derived from mirror-reading, but I hope that by focusing on the text, I'll avoid unnecessary conflict or alienation of those who hold particular theological views.  I realize that this may be naive or even disillusion.  It may draw sub-par web traffic. Regardless, I'll do what I can to stick to mirror-reading without peddling theological views.

However, one of my frustrations is that sometimes I'll share a mirror-reading insight with someone, they'll agree with it and then will turn around and espouse a theological view that contradicts it.  I've been encouraged by others to share the theological implications of my mirror-readings, simply because they want to know, but for now, I'm go to try to avoid it.

Another reason why I don't like to draw theological lines in the sand with mirror-reading is because I can only draw a conclusion from the parts of Scripture that I feel I've mirror-read thoroughly.  I may conclude that one verse does not support a theological view, but what about the half-dozen other verses that support it?  I haven't mirror-read all of those yet, and so I'm reluctantly to take a hard stand on minor issues.  

If you really must know some of my theological views, you can check out some of my views on the RE2 podcast.

Header Image PHOTO CREDIT: mckinney75402 cropped from original

When His Ways Are Not Higher Than Your Ways

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When you don't understand part of the Bible, it may be a "mystery" but not for the reasons that you think.

A Mystery That Glorifies God Or A Lack Of Knowledge?

Don't be so quick to write off a Bible passage just because it's meaning is not clear.  I've seen many people come across a difficult verse and say, "God is just so mysterious, isn't He?"  Well, He is mysterious in many ways, but to chalk up a verse to mystery just because you don't understand it, cheats you of a deeper understanding, and perpetuates the idea that God put something in the Bible just to mess with our heads.

I get it.  When I first started reading the Bible as a serious student, I came across a couple of chapters in Daniel that I had no idea what they meant.  Daniel's use of metaphorical language made no sense to me, but a quick look down at the study notes in my Bible shed light on the matter, and I understood how events in history related to what Daniel said.  When I read about how women shouldn't have short hair in 1st Corinthians, I had no understanding of the cultural meaning of women with short hair during that time.  I said to God, "God! How was I supposed to know what that meant?  If I didn't have these Bible study notes, I would be clueless".  

At the time, I thought the Bible was a clear manual on how to live my life: Do this, Don't do this.  Sure, some of the books of the Bible were in narrative form, but I thought the "rules" would be clear in a Sunday School lesson kind of way.  However, the truth is that the Bible is a library of books, including different genres, and not all of it can be readily understood.  The examples I gave in Daniel and 1st Corinthians may even seem like obvious cases that needed further information, but in every verse that confuses us, we must ask ourselves "Is this a God designed mystery, or do I just not understand it?"  Don't assume that it's a Theo-esotaric passage that only God can understand and that baffle the rest of us. It's certainly possible but don't use it as an easy out.

3 Reasons Why You Might Not Understand The Bible.

1. Your hermeneutic is wrong

Your whole a approach to the Bible, the way you interpret it (your hermeneutic) may be wrong.  Are you trying to read your own theology into the Bible?  Are you trying to allegorize it?  Or are you trying to understand how the original readers would have understood it?  To learn more about the different ways of interpreting the Bible, be sure to check out this post.

2. You don't know the context.

You may not understand the Bible because you are missing information about it.  Youneed to know the context.  There are different types of contexts such as historical context, cultural context and literary context.  The examples I give above in Daniel and 1st Corinthians are good examples of why it's important to know the historical context.  

3. You only have half of the conversation

There is also situational context. The Biblical authors were responding to a particular situation when they wrote their texts.  If you don't know what those situations were, you won't get a full understanding of what the text means.  The problem is that the authors don't always tell us what the situations were that they were responding to.  However, we can use a technique called mirror-reading to reconstruct what that situation was.  If you don't know how to mirror-read, be sure to check out this post.

 

Austin Fischer: Cresting A New Wave of Arminianism?

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Austin Fischer

In what could be a growing movement away from Calvinism, Austin Fischer leads the way.

This is part of a series which I'm calling "Interesting Voices".  You can see the whole series here.  They run the spectrum from conservative to progressive, little known to well known.  They may or may not already be familiar with mirror-reading. I may or may not agree with them theologically, but regardless, I think they are interesting voices speaking to the Christian community today.  The purpose of the series is to both raise awareness of mirror-reading and to introduce you to these voices.

Austin is a Teaching Pastor at Vista Community Church in Belton/Temple, Texas and blogs over at Purple Theology.  A cross between Matthew McConaughey and Owen Wilson, his southern charm makes him pretty much instantly likable.  His book, "Young, Restless, and No Longer Reformed: Black Holes, Love, and a Journey In and Out of Calvinism", chronicles his journey and his reasons for leaving Calvinism.  The title is also a play off of Collin Hansen's book "Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists".

Fischer vs Piper

Not surprisingly, John Piper is not too happy about it.  John feels his and Jonathan Edward's views are misrepresented:

Austin then responds to Piper in a blog post in a "Dear John" open letter. He feels Piper misrepresents him. From the post:

I sat and watched the meticulous picture of God that Edwards and Piper painted. I loved so many of the strokes and colors. They finished painting, stepped back and said, “What a masterpiece! The manifold excellencies of the glory of God, displayed in the doctrines of grace.” I stepped back and said, “I really want to see that!…but I’m afraid I see a black hole instead.”

Austin offers a solid, simple and gracious response, although I wish he would have interacted with the Biblical text (by mirror-reading them, of course!) that John mentions. 

A Cold And Morally Ambiguous God?

Jonathan Merritt interviewed Austin:

All doctrines of hell are difficult, but the Calvinist doctrine presented me with a God so (seemingly) cold and morally ambiguous that I despaired of how I could know and relate to such a God. If the God who could die for sinners could also create sinners in order to damn them, then the universe was an incoherent place ruled by an enigmatic deity of arbitrary, raw power. It is certainly within God’s rights to do such a thing, but if it’s within God’s heart then we’re all in big trouble. That was my conclusion at least.

Most Calvinists I know would say that it doesn't matter what Austin "feels" or "thinks", it's only what the Bible says that counts.  That's not to say Austin doesn't have Biblical arguments, but I think most Calvinists would see Austin's foundational motivation to be moving in the direction of something like Josh Tongol's "love hermeneutic".

The Debates

Be sure to check out this debate that Austin participates in with Brian Zahnd, Daniel Montgomery and Timothy P. Jones:

Austin also debates James White on "Unbelievable?".  James is a formidable debater, and I would have no desire to debate him, but I think Austin holds his own.

Arminianism Waking Up?

Recently, Austin tweeted this:

I think it's interesting too, and I also think this is right on. From the article:

Calvinism and Arminianism waxes and wanes.

Arminianism is the default perspective of the Christian church.
When Calvinism waxes, it takes a while for Arminianism to respond.

In the mid 1980s, a Westminister Theological Journal lamented the waning of Calvinism. The article title played off the title of the folk song, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” Its title was “Where Have All the Tulips Gone?” At that time, it seemed that J.I. Packer and R.C. Sproul were the only Calvinists around, and a few minor players.

In the mid 1990s we saw a resurgence of Calvinism. It has taken about 10 years for Arminians to wake up. It’s a pendulum swing, I think.

The success of Austin's book could be a reflection of an overdue Arminian response.

Austin Fischer And Mirror-Reading

I listened to two sermons by Austin.  One on 1 John 4:1-2 and the other entitled "Jonah: Week 3".  You can listen to them here.

1 John 4:1-2

Austin does do some mirror-reading when he recreates some of the original situation when he talks about "those who have gone out from us".  He talks about how "Christ had come in the flesh", but mirror-reading would ask, why would someone say he didn't come in the flesh? Were there theological reasons for them to think that?  Are there reasons hinted at elsewhere in the text? 

Austin mentions that there are pages and pages of debate on what "in the flesh" means?  I haven't seen them.  I thought "in the flesh" simply meant that Christ came in human form, as opposed to spirit form.  I won't elaborate here but you can read this post at my abandoned Ephesians website.

To be fair Austin does recognize "in the flesh" to be referring to the incarnation, but he also makes a comparison of our typical view of a 6'6" blue-eyed, barrel-chested Christ and the 5'3" middle easterner that He actually was, and then refers to the barrel-chested Christ view as being antichrist .  However, even if you believe in the barrel-chested Christ view, you still could believe He came in the flesh and is therefore, not antichrist.  To define antichrist the way Austin does really gets away from what antichrist meant to the original readers, because they certainly wouldn't have thought of him as a blue-eyed Christ.  

Jonah

Austin does a fine job summarizing Jonah and making points about how everyone is special to God, and how we should extend grace to others.  However, he does not mirror-read Jonah.  That's not surprising since most people don't mirror-read narratives, but I maintain that narratives can be mirror-read and Jonah is no exception. 

Instead of asking why did Jonah do such and such, we should be asking why did the author of Jonah write such and such to the original readers.  In other words, what was the situation that the author of Jonah was responding to, and how did the story of Jonah relate to it?  Unfortunately, my own mirror-reading of Jonah crashed and burned, but the principle of mirror-reading still holds.

Questions For Austin Fischer

I’ve listed a couple of open questions to Austin below. I welcome a response from Austin, whether as a guest post, a response on his own blog or simply in the comments below.

1. What are your thoughts on mirror-reading?
2. Did you want to respond to anything that I've written above?

Questions For My Readers

What do you think of Austin? Do you side with Calvinism or Arminianism or something else? Who else do you think is an "interesting voice"?