The “story-nature” of Biblical revelation is not only an incredible find for understanding God’s word better, it also greatly enhances our ability to preach. Stories resonate with people in ways that other communications can’t touch.
But it really bothers me that I am perceiving (or think I am perceiving: maybe I’m wrong) a decrease in respect for the veracity of the Bible’s history in Evangelical circles. You would think that importance of the story to the Bible would force people to re-think whether or not the chronologies can be relegated to the periphery of our reading.
The Bible’s stories are true.
I’ve seen a great deal of this tendency to devalue the significance of the historicity of the Biblical narratives–yet the prevailing view among Evangelical folk I come into contact with continues to be an emphasis on the veracity without any consideration given to the value of the story. We’ll fight tooth and nail for the historical reliability of the Old Testament so we can then interpret it as a collection of moralistic fables.
You’re singing my tune Sean. I own the sheet music. But I suddenly wonder if I’m properly guarding against all the possible mistakes…
Again, I may be misunderstadning the situation. Not a big deal. Don’t want to hold an “investigation” on this blog. But your statement about “moralistic fables” is more or less my personal preaching mission statement.
I will be plagiarizing your comment repeatedly in the future.