Scripture Unbound: A Unitarian Universalist Approach

MJ. Smith

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• Title:Scripture Unbound: A Unitarian Universalist Approach
• Author: Jonalu Johnstone
• Publisher: Skinner House Books
• ISBN:978-1558968462
• External Links: https://www.amazon.com/Scripture-Unbound-Unitarian-Universalist-Approach/dp/1558968466/ref=sr_1_6?

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Despite knowing more Unitarians than Southern Baptists and despite a very broad interest in hermeneutics, I know very little about the Unitarians. This book would help fill that gap for me as well as fill a gap in Logos/Verbum offerings.

Amazon excerpt:

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Why Study Scripture?

Scripture, like religion itself, wields its influence in ever-widening concentric circles, beginning within ourselves. Scripture can lead us as individuals toward transformation. When we hold and read books that have survived for centuries, we take a step on a personal spiritual journey. There is something about reading a text that is revered by a community, with a reach that is often worldwide and handed down through millennia. The practice of applying it to our own lives can help us feel less alone and more connected to a truth larger than ourselves. It prompts us to examine how we are called to be and what we are called to do in this world. This reflection is the beginning of wisdom. Scripture, then, can illuminate how, individually and collectively, we have come to where we are, and can push us toward more profound truth.

In terms of understanding our Unitarian Universalist heritage, early Unitarians and Universalists were biblical people, immersed in the stories and symbols of Jewish and Christian scripture. Many of them reached their so-called heretical positions through Bible study, as we’ll see in chapter 7. By the nineteenth century, some of our Unitarian forebears had discovered the scriptures of other religious traditions, bringing these into our culture. Ralph Waldo Emerson first obtained a copy of the Bhagavad-Gita in 1845,1 and it has been argued that Eastern religious thought seeped into Transcendentalism, which has influenced Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist theology ever since.

We all come from somewhere. None of us live in a cultural void. Whatever our faith background, educational background, reading habits, or media consumption, we have been shaped both subtly and directly by concentric circles of culture: our families, our communities, our faith traditions, and our nations. And all of these cultural circles inevitably have some relationship to scripture. Even antagonism or indifference to scripture has an effect on how we understand ourselves and how we relate to each other. We have conscious knowledge of some of these influences, while others enter our blood without our complete awareness, especially those that come through story and image. They work on us deeply, as dreams do. We live in them and sometimes don’t even notice their effect on our points of view or our arguments. If we don’t know our cultural history and sources, though, we can’t fully know ourselves.

Biblical mythology runs through American culture. There are so many wonderful examples. David stands up to Goliath in 1 Samuel in the Hebrew Bible, and we draw from that story every time a small, more vulnerable individual or group stands up against oppression, bullying, or a better-equipped foe. Jesus had a vision of a “shining city on a hill” in the Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of Matthew, and this vision has echoed down the centuries through the words of John Winthrop and Ronald Reagan. The story of Moses and the Exodus weaves through the African-American struggle for freedom in the nineteenth century and the Civil Rights Movement of the twentieth, arriving at the contemporary Passover Seder.

Today our world grows more connected through global communications and trade, while our communities diversify. The people we meet—even our next-door neighbors—often come from cultures and religious traditions other than our own. If we have some acquaintance with the values and tenets of their scriptures, we have a greater opportunity for empathy and connection with them, as well as a deeper understanding of the huge geopolitical forces at work around the world. We can be more empowered. If we have some familiarity with the Qur’an, for example, we are better equipped to counter the attacks of bigots against Islam. A broader knowledge of world scripture helps us place ourselves in the context of our modern world.

Among the six Sources of our Unitarian Universalist living tradition, we claim Jewish and Christian teachings, as well as wisdom from the world’s religions. We have looked to texts from around the world, from varied and diverse cultures. And as individuals, Unitarian Universalists come from a broad range of spiritual and religious backgrounds, each with their own connections to particular scriptural sources. What’s more, our intellectual curiosity invites us to learn more about our neighbors.

Though we may not view the New Testament and Hebrew Scriptures as divinely inspired, the Qur’an as dictated by God, or the Vedas as apaurusheyatva, we can appreciate the texts as gifts to humanity. We understand that, through the ages, these works have shaped whole societies and civilizations. We can honor and appreciate them as sources of wisdom that speak to us across generations and cultures. This attitude toward scripture places Unitarian Universalism in a position distinct from other faiths; rather than venerate one text over others, we feel free to read each in the light of all the others.

Resistance

At the same time, many contemporary Unitarian Universalists approach the very idea of scripture with a healthy dose of skepticism. Scientific thought influences us deeply. Many of us recognized contradictions in the scriptures we grew up with, which began our journey to Unitarian Universalism. Often, we continue to struggle with scriptures and interpretations forced upon us earlier in life, or literal understandings that fall short of reason. Our approach to scriptures, then, must acknowledge and wrestle with our doubt.

Many contemporary people find ancient writings culturally distant and irrelevant. Indeed, taken out of the context in which it was written, scripture can be hard to make sense of. To some of us, it seems rigid or, worse, a tool with which elite groups have maintained power and order, suppressed those who are different, and forced people to follow narrow paths of behavior.

No one can deny that texts have been misused though the centuries for these purposes. Studying scripture can be challenging in other ways too, as we encounter worldviews distant from our own, assertions that conflict with scientific understanding, and broad cultural differences. Yet, as I read scriptures, I find they address topics I still struggle with: mortality, relationships, ethics, war, and peace. They speculate on where human beings come from, what our tasks on earth might be, and how we can best live with one another. If we Unitarian Universalists truly value the pursuit of truth and meaning, how can we dismiss what has brought meaning to so many generations? Countless people have found inspiration in books set aside as special by their traditions. If so many have found so much wisdom in a text, there must be something there that can speak to us even today. In our rapidly changing world, we must strive to protect the valuable lessons of the past. We may even find inspiration and guidance for our individual lives hidden in those treasured words.

The goal of this book is to question common assumptions about scripture and help readers open up to new ways of thinking about it and engaging with it, remaining committed to the Unitarian Universalist affirmation of the free and responsible quest for meaning. I hope to illustrate that in reading scripture we may discover—rather than rigidity—nuance, depth, and a wealth of material that generates new ideas, impressions, and interpretations.