Thursday, November 06, 2003
Deconstruction & Community
This morning in Old Testament we discussed the deconstructive method of Biblical criticism. I got freaked out by this idea, because if we unravel and unravel the text, over and over again, we end up with a meaningless text. Is this what we want to do with the Bible, reduce it to nothing? Well, Carol responded to me by saying, "Think of it like a sweater; if you unravel a sweater, when you are done, you are left with the substance of the sweater still." I said, "True, but then you'd be cold and you wouldn't know how to knit the sweater back together again." She replied, "That's the importance of doing it in community. Someone else can teach you how to knit it back together and someone else still can keep you warm while you learn this." This is one of the best arguments for doing criticism in community that I have heard. After class, she told me, "I think between the two of us, we've come up with something worth remembering!" Mitch's concern is what happens if when you are done re-knitting, you end up with pants instead of a sweater? Completely different things. Deconstruct that!
-R
This morning in Old Testament we discussed the deconstructive method of Biblical criticism. I got freaked out by this idea, because if we unravel and unravel the text, over and over again, we end up with a meaningless text. Is this what we want to do with the Bible, reduce it to nothing? Well, Carol responded to me by saying, "Think of it like a sweater; if you unravel a sweater, when you are done, you are left with the substance of the sweater still." I said, "True, but then you'd be cold and you wouldn't know how to knit the sweater back together again." She replied, "That's the importance of doing it in community. Someone else can teach you how to knit it back together and someone else still can keep you warm while you learn this." This is one of the best arguments for doing criticism in community that I have heard. After class, she told me, "I think between the two of us, we've come up with something worth remembering!" Mitch's concern is what happens if when you are done re-knitting, you end up with pants instead of a sweater? Completely different things. Deconstruct that!
-R
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