tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914939.post110623513955313820..comments2023-10-04T01:27:24.003-07:00Comments on Versus Populum: Another case of "Christ and Culture":Dwight P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15849665963994688905noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914939.post-1107183703377139952005-01-31T07:01:00.000-08:002005-01-31T07:01:00.000-08:00"Handing down" is at the root both of "tradition" ..."Handing down" is at the root both of "tradition" and "mandate". It is a notion that Lutherans don't spend much time on -- to their distress and loss. The handing on of the scriptures is a good practice (we do it in our congregation, too) -- as is handing on of the Creed (or the catechism) to confirmands (reflecting early Christian catechetical practice).<br /><br />Stay in touch on this blog and The Thinklings blog.<br /><br />DwightDwight P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/15849665963994688905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914939.post-1106863062836195042005-01-27T13:57:00.000-08:002005-01-27T13:57:00.000-08:00Dwight - I think we might get along - I too, at so...Dwight - I think we might get along - I too, at somewhen in my 30's, am an "old fogey." <br /><br />Inspired by the Youth and Family Institute at Augsburg College and their "Child in our Hands" initiative, at our church we give "Beginner's Bibles" to kindergarteners and NRSV Bibles to fifth-graders (granted, this year it was the NRSV Student Bible). This year my eldest son received a Beginner's Bible. For the first couple of days, at least, he has been hugging it to him and carrying it around with him. I can only hope that the other kids who received them are responding in a similarly positive way.<br /><br />Last year when we gave the Bibles, the lectionary gave me an opportunity to preach on the opening verses of 1 Corinthians 15, in which Paul says, "I HANDED ON to you as of first importance what I in turn had received..."<br />I mentioned specifically that before you could buy the Bible, the only place to hear the Word of God was in the church. To me, the imagery of handing on the Scriptures, of GIVING the Scriptures into our children's hands in a world that markets them instead, is key to making or remaking the point that these are the Church's Scriptures. <br /><br />You and your friends have a wonderful conversation going. God bless you all.Maurice Frontzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00923071081627969343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914939.post-1106671913009395242005-01-25T08:51:00.000-08:002005-01-25T08:51:00.000-08:00Both of the previous commentators has done me an h...Both of the previous commentators has done me an honor by taking my post seriously -- and they both make very good and valid points. I acknowledge that before I go back on the defensivive. <br /><br />Brother Jim, I am old, and by my twelve-year-old daughter's lights, I am a fogey. I admit to being both, on occasion. (I'm also a terrific snob, and that might very well have something to do with my upset, too. I'm not smart enough to be an intellectual, however, so that charge can't be used to discredit my commentary.) I am old enough to remember "Good News" (TEV). I was taken with it, and I still don't really find it offensive. (It was, however, a translation and not a paraphrase, which is what saves it for me.) And I have used paraphrased editions for illustration and expansion. (Does anyone remember Clarence Jordan's "Cotton Patch Versions"? I kow I still have my copies -- even if they are lost in the depths of one of my 200 boxes of books that don't fit on shelves.) And part of me welcomes anything that opens the scriptures before anyone. I think that was your main point, Jim, and I understand and affirm it to the extent that these various enterprises opened the scriptures. <br /><br />But that's the key issue: Is it scripture? Is it an accurate protrayal of what is actually said in scripture and not a "paraphrase" that touts either what the editor thinks the Bible ought to say or what the editor thinks the reader will want to hear? In the case of the Nelson attempt, the language and art work conspire to inculcate a kind of worldliness or USAmerican acculturation that is at odds with the whole point of scripture -- which is to be the narrative basis for its own culture.<br /><br />And Sister Julesrud, that's why I have no complaint with storybook bibles and the like for little children. Certainly, my daughter's bookshelves contain several different re-tellings. Some of them look scripture-like and some make no pretense to anything other than a "reimaging" of the text (complete with some wonderful artwork). The key issue here is, as above, whether it leads the children to a deeper and more grown-up investment and involvement with scripture and with Church. Clearly, yours did -- so no problem. Too often, however, especially given the current crisis in Christian education and catechization, that's the limit, not the beginning. At that point, they have done more harm than good (in many cases, at any rate) by giving a false view of what the faith is all about. <br /><br />I acknowledge my debt -- or I lay the blame -- for some of this thought to Stanley Hauerwas who in, Releasing the Scriptures, essentially advocates taking the Bible out of the hands of individual Christians. (Stanley always grabs attention with a clear, polarizing statement.) He would return the Bible to Church, wherein is the only reliable guide to reading and understanding scripture. I may take up that theme in the future. But for now, I just raise this to highlight how middle-of-the-road I really am!<br /><br />I bid you both peace.<br />DwightDwight P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/15849665963994688905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914939.post-1106500531709783152005-01-23T09:15:00.000-08:002005-01-23T09:15:00.000-08:00When I was quite young, my parents acquired "Egerm...When I was quite young, my parents acquired "Egermeier's Bible Story Book" and my father would read to my brothers and me in the evenings -- perhaps not every day, but often. Paintings accompanied a number of the stories (no masterpieces, I assure you, but whenever the return of the 70 comes up in the lectionary, my mind instantly goes back to the glowing faces of the returning disciples depicted in one of those paintings). I loved it. <br /><br />My mother thought dad should also read the comparable passages from a "real" Bible, because it would be good for us. I didn't like that -- it was profoundly boring.<br /><br />The net result is that I knew a lot of the characters in the Bible. My presence on a team virtually ensured winning Bible trivia contests with clues such as this: "I was a seller of purple in the mart." LYDIA!!!<br /><br />As I grew older and did the requisite verse memorization in my Sunday School classes and later, confirmation classes, I learned dogma. That has also stuck, though sometimes in rather unhelpful ways.<br /><br />At least, where I am now, I love studying and comparing different versions of "the real thing" -- so I'm guessing, no harm done by my early exposure to the Story Bible.<br /><br />Bottom line: I probably won't read Nelson's new offering, unless I'm fellowshiping with someone to whom it speaks. Then, that person's enthusiasm will draw me in, which has been true for a number of now-valuable things in my life.<br /><br />JulesrudAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914939.post-1106445958243784352005-01-22T18:05:00.000-08:002005-01-22T18:05:00.000-08:00A gazillion years ago I was a Navy pilot. The chap...A gazillion years ago I was a Navy pilot. The chaplains would, at the beginning of each deployment, hand out the tiny pocket-sized "Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen New Testaments" in an environment in which refusal was not an option. The waste containers generally held about 95+% of them within minutes after the occasion.<br /><br />Once, a new chaplain handed out "Good News" editions. Many were read, and I saw many dirty from handling day-after-day by sailors who worked in grease and grime twelve hours or more, every day. But there they were, tucked away in the little net bags that constituted the private storage for sailors.<br /><br />I wouldn't deride you as an old fogey, Dwight, because you don't give evidence of it. But when we deal in a paralyzingly routine way with our social and intellectual [near-]equals, we become numb to the truth that some people can't read at all, and some can barely read. Fifth-grade for some would be a big accomplishment.<br /><br />And as a cyber-twit myself, I find reading a book so mono-dimensional that I'll try to get a book in Audible format or as an e-book, like my lovely collection of Bible translations and commentaries from Logos.<br /><br />I once heard a salty old Navy pilot say that if there were more words than pictures in a training manual, the book would be useless. There's a modicum of practical wisdom in there.<br /><br />We're after all of them for Him, Dwight, not just the ones as smart as us.<br /><br />In Him,<br /><br />jimJimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16784102513870545675noreply@blogger.com