Reading

No one ever told me that I was supposed to read the Bible literally.
No one ever told me that I wasn't supposed to, either.

When I went to the Seventh-Day Adventist boarding high school I discovered that all of my classmates had grown up in the private school system, and they all had all of the core knowledge about the Bible that I was never exposed to while growing up (though, I think because my mother is Jewish, I have always believed in God). But I suppose the teachers assumed that they didn't have to say "We Adventists believe that the Bible is to be read literally, and as absolute truth to the exclusion of all other philosophies." They never said it, so I never thought it. In retrospect, it seems like a large oversight on their part, considering that I spent six years in the Adventist education system under their influence.

Which isn't to say that I'm not still under their influence. My two closest friends are Adventist; one is a sixth-generation Adventist (which is about how long the denomination has been around... so she's die-hard), and the other is an Adventist pastor-in-training. They are both very literal... if the Bible says six days (and one day of Sabbath - Sabbath is key in the doctrine), then it darn well means that it was SIX DAYS. Perhaps I fear loosing their confidence in me, (or shooting myself in the foot for future job opportunities in the denomination) but because of them I restrain myself a bit when I look at more liberal interpretations of the Bible, or at least I restrain myself when I’m tempted to talk about them. So, because they are my close associates, and because that tends to produce a type of isolation it's very interesting to read even the two postings that are out here... sometimes I forget that my situation is unique, and that other people have come from backgrounds where (for one) God is an imaginary being. That knowledge demands that I readjust my thinking, too.

The only way to describe it is to say that I read the Bible with two minds. I know (sort of) what Adventists should believe.... and I know what I believe... and, in a benign example of Orwellian-type doublethink, I somehow get them to work together (maybe?). And whenever I get confused and start to drive my friends crazy with questions, I usually end up just shrugging and muttering to myself "Ahwell, it will all figure itself out in the end."

I read the Bible for the wisdom it contains... not so much for the details... and to me, learning to appreciate the Bible on an intellectual level, not merely as a book that should appeal only to the emotions, makes me value it more in my life. I see it as more dynamic and fascinating. For that reason this type of class, and others like it, excite me... and all those alternative thoughts thrill, not threaten.

How Do I Read Genesis?

When I was growing up I read Genesis as an account — not quite an historical account, though — that was wrought with metaphor, but acted as a guide for viewing the world and for my beliefs. This changed as I grew older, and in high school, when I began to read it as literature for courses, I read it as an ur-text, as a text full of tropes, stories, myths, and language that would be referred to or incorporated by later writers. I also understood the book as a mode for starting lively discussions on various topics: good and evil, fate and free will, etc. As I became more engaged in cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, and rhetoric, I began to view Genesis as more of a cultural artifact, and I have begun to read it with a series of questions in mind:

Who were the authors of this text? What was their situation? Their privileges? Who controlled and molded this text into what it is today?

How is the treatment of others in this text fair or unfair? How has this text been used to control people or groups of people?

How was this text used as an act with which to define the world in a certain way?

What values and behaviors are encoded in this text? Whose values are these? How are certain power structures reinforced with this text?