Reading the Bible with New Eyes
Jesus’ Leadership in his First Century Contexts
You can download a PDF schedule on our downloads page
Thursday Mornings:
With The Rev. Terry Kyllo
Christ Episcopal Church
Basement Conference Room
10:30 AM to 11:30 AM
All Welcome!
We will be continuing our Contextual Study on selected Thursdays this fall. We will use the gospel text for the coming Sunday. You can find these texts and various commentaries at www.textweek.com.
23-Sep
30-Sep
7-Oct
14-Oct
21-Oct
11-Nov
18-Nov
2-Dec
9-Dec
Sunday Afternoons:
With The Rev. Terry Kyllo
Christ Episcopal Church
Upstairs in the Parish Hall
3:00PM to 4:30 PM
All Welcome!
We will study two or three of the last month’s gospel texts using the Contextual Study process outlined in our web sites. We will also continue to introduce concepts from the social science perspective on the Scriptures and what they add to the conversation of Biblical interpretation.
26-Sep
24-Oct
21-Nov
Overview:
We quite naturally read the Bible through the assumptions of our own culture. But the Bible was written between 2800 and 1900 years ago, in cultures and historical situations that were vastly different from our own. This leads to interpretations would be totally beyond the wildest imagination of the original writers of these stories. Understanding the cultural context of these writers can help us more deeply respect the scripture.
All are invited to join us for these ongoing studies to better understand the original contexts of scripture writers.
In both the Lutheran and Episcopal traditions this kind of study has a long history as each one respects the role of scripture, tradition, and reason as faith seeks understanding.
In the last 20 years, our tools to understand scripture have increased dramatically. Historians, archeologists, anthropologists, and social sciences have helped us to glimpse more realistically the social, political, economic, cultural contexts of Jesus’ ministry. We use these tools to set aside many of our assumptions about the text we read that week and try to interpret it in light of its own culture.
Reading the Bible this way sometimes confirms much of what we thought, and sometimes it dramatically challenges our understanding. While we will never be able to be certain how readers in the first might have understood a Bible passage, we will seek to understand what interpretations are plausible in light of this exciting research.
Here is the process we use:
1. Welcome and check-in
2. Read the text
3. How have we or others interpreted this passage in the past?
4. Set those interpretations aside
Read the text again
What words/practices/people deserve our attention in light of
a. The writer and the writer’s community
b. The narrative context
(how it fits within the whole writing)
The social/daily life/economic/political world of the first century
d. The Jewish theological/political context
8. What don’t we know?
9. Where was Jesus leading within his own context?
10. Where is Jesus leading? (Where is Jesus leading us to lead within our own context?)
Prayer
Together with our partner churches in the Skagit Valley, we offer a reading list to help you engage scripture in a more respectful, thoughtful, and historically accurate way. You may also read a brief overview of Pastor Kyllo’s writing on the subject on the downloads page: click on “A Closer Approximation.”
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