The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible
By Scot McKnight
Rating: 9
June 23, 2009
As a Gordon-Conwell graduate, I’ve sat under some great minds that taught me the fundamentals of biblical interpretation — at least from an evangelical perspective. Greg Beale — aka “the Beast” because of his fascination with Revelations but also because of his unmatched reputation of piling on the workload — taught me that “context is king.” Doug Stuart, who co-wrote How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, walked me through Old Testament Narratives. I’m indebted and thankful.
Yet out of everything I’ve read and studied, Scot McKnight’s climbs high as one of the most honest. In this book, he calls out everyone’s leaning to “pick and choose” when it comes to interpreting the Bible. And says that we all do it, no matter how hard we try not to. No one even tries to apply the bible literally, without exception. Even the author of The Year of Living Biblically couldn’t actually stone magicians to death. Instead, he threw pebbles.
It’s in this honesty that he sets out a “pattern of discernment” and, in my opinion, his best insight: every book of the bible is a version of the Big Story. For McKnight, it’s a five-part Story involving eikons. For me, the Big Story lined up nicely. But I’m biased. And McKnight says that every biblical author is retelling that same story — the Gospel — in their own time and context for a particular audience. And together, in God’s community, we will best be able to discern what to do next.
It may feel mushy for some as an interpretive guide, especially for anyone who has gone to graduate school for this kind of stuff, but it may be as precise as we can get it without being dishonest.
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