Preparing for Discussion - Bible: A Book Like No Other

Bible: A Book Like No Other

·         Let’s take a look at what the Bible, itself, tells us about the Word of God. What adjectives are used to describe scripture in these passages?

o   Psalm 119:103-105

o   Isaiah 40:8-9

o   Hebrews 4:12

o   2 Timothy 3:16-17

·         What has been your experience of Scripture reading, both personally and in church? Lauren Winner describes the way that her church community reads the Bible ove rand over again, and she couldn’t figure out why. I’m not sure that this has actually been my experience of church? Has it been your experience that the church reads the Bible over and over again? Have you ever read the Bible all the way through? 

·         Page 94 in the journal book references Lauren’s experience of reading scripture in locations other than church or home. Have you ever done this? Did it change how you thought of that passage of scripture to read it in a new place?

·         If you have not ever had that experience of “dislocated” reading, where might you consider taking your Bible to read it? What passages might you choose for this new location?

·         Page 95 of the journal book pictures an egg, like the one Lauren Winner speaks of in the video. If you were to write a scripture passage on a egg, symbolically “injesting” that scripture, what passage or verse would you choose? What scriptures are that meaningful to you?

·         Have you had powerful experiences with scripture, experiences that seem to move it our of the realm of being just an ordinary book? On pages 96-97 of the journal book, we see the Thomas Merton quote from the video: “By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet. ” 

·         Lauren Winner asks, “So, is the sky bluer?” Do we have that experience of scripture? Why or why not?

·         Pages 92-93 of the journal book suggest some of the baggage that might come with scripture for people that might help answer the question above. Scriptures have been used “as a word of hope, a warning sign, a weapon, and a status symbol,”  both to “liberate and oppress.”  When have you seen scripture used in these ways? 

·         How might we go about our lives “singing” the scriptures, as suggested in the video? How do we make the words of God part of our daily lives and who we are? How might it change us to do that?

When Truisms Are True

This New York Times article takes an interesting look at how our experience of something changes depending on our surroundings, just as Lauren Winner suggests that our understanding of scripture might be changed or challenged by reading in a new location. Check it out:

When Truisms Are True

Bible: A Book Like No Other

Lauren Winner is the presenter of the 6th session of Animate: Faith, entitled "Bible: A Book Like No Other."

Lauren broke onto the Christian scene with her 2002 book, Girl Meets God, in which she chronicles her conversion first to Orthodox Judaism, then to Christianity. She is an assistant professor of Christian spirituality at Duke Divinity School, and a priest associate at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Durham, North Carolina.

She has appeared on PBS’s Religion & Ethics Newsweekly and has written for The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post Book World, Publishers Weekly, Books and Culture, and Christianity Today.

Five fast facts

1. Lives in Durham, North Carolina
2. Can usually be found with a novel in hand
3. Owns 30 pairs of cat-eye glasses
4. Fellow at the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University
5. Has a BA from Columbia University, an MPhil from Cambridge University, an MDiv from Duke Divinity School, and a PhD in history from Columbia University

(Bio from: http://wearesparkhouse.org/adults/animate/faith/voices/lauren/)

Visit Lauren Winner's own website here: http://laurenwinner.net/