Category: Series: Interpreting the Bible – Ken Bailey
-
Sins of Interpretation #7: Electrical Shock Theory
The final of Kenneth Bailey's Sins of Biblical interpretation, as presented in Interpreting the Bible, is what he calls the Electrical Shock Theory. If I were naming it, I'd probably call it the Free Association Theory. Bailey clarifies that reading the Bible for inspirational and devotional purposes is entirely appropriate. All of us should. But…
-
Sins of Interpretation #6: Changing the Ground Rules
The sixth sin of biblical interpretation in Kenneth Bailey's Interpreting the Bible is the sin of Changing the Ground Rules. Today, when we think of historical description, we equate accurate history with precision in the facts of recorded events. This was not the case with Middle Eastern accounts of history. Indeed, it has not been…
-
Sins of Interpretation #5: Colored Glasses Theory
Today we visit Kenneth Bailey’s fifth sin of biblical interpretation as presented in Interpreting the Bible. He calls it the Colored Glasses Theory. Bailey reminds us that we are each shaped by our culture and context. How we read the Bible is influenced by the sermons we’ve heard, Bible translations we’ve used, what our parents…
-
Sins of Interpretation #4: Mathemitazation of Scripture
The fourth of Bailey’s interpretation, “sins,” in Interpreting the Bible is the mathemitazation of Scripture. Bailey is referring to a dehistoricizing and decontextualization of Scripture. Passages in Scripture are treated as though they were a set of mathematical formulas. Much like we could translate “two plus two equals four” into any language without any loss…
-
Sins of Interpretation #3: Cut and Paste Method
The third sin of interpretation presented by Kenneth Bailey in Interpreting the Bible is what he calls the "Cut and Paste method." As he introduced this method, I expected to hear about Thomas Jefferson's famous effort to edit out of his Bible those portions that dealt with supernatural acts or other issues with which he…
-
Sins of Interpretation #2: “Blink Off / Blink On” Method
The second sin of biblical interpretation presented by Kenneth Bailey in Interpreting the Bible is the “Blink-off / Blink-on.” I can’t say I found the name helpful, but here is the basic idea. The idea is that God inspired authors to write passages that were unintelligible to the authors, or the authors wrote passages that…
-
Sins of Interpretation #1: Allegorical Method
Kenneth Bailey has given us some food for thought about the origin of the Bible and its authority in Interpreting the Bible. Now we turn to his seven sins of biblical interpretation. The first sin is the allegorical method of interpretation. The allegorical method is an interpretive method that began to take hold as early…
-
Luke’s Origin
How did books like the gospels come to be? Luke actually gives us considerable information about how he composed his gospel. In Interpreting the Bible, Kenneth Bailey invites us to look at the opening verses of Luke. Bailey abstracts four key points from these verses and places them in a timeline. Here is the passage…