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A Short History of the Reading and Interpretation of the Bible

As Story, Book and Byte

With Some Implications for Bible Reading and Interpretation in the

21st Century

Setting the Stage

Today we are on the cusp of a revolution in Bible reading and interpretation not unlike the last
revolution regarding the Bible that occurred during the Reformation. Note carefully that this new
revolution has little to do with the many and varied alternatives that have arisen over the past
thirty years to the tried and true historical-critical approach to the Bible. These alternatives--
some good and some not so good--have tended to distract evangelical scholars into debates on
the merits of one approach over another, all the while causing us to miss out on the beginnings of
the revolutionary shift from one dominant Bible reading and interpretation paradigm to another
totally different paradigm. Indeed, this new revolution concerns the very way that the Bible itself
is perceived, or will be perceived, by the generations of the twenty-first century for whom the
concept of a book as a textual document will become increasingly obsolete.

Bob Hodgson, in a recent seminal internet article (c.1999:2-3), raises a series of questions that
get to the heart of this revolutionary paradigm shift in Bible reading and interpretation:

Is the Bible identical with its ancient handwritten or modern printed text? Or

can the Bible also be "present" in other forms?

How, for example, is the Bible present when its writings are digitized and

exist as electrons and pixels that make up audio and text files that can be played
through a personal computer--electronic files that can be manipulated and
changed?

Is the Bible also present orally, for example when we tell a Bible story from

memory, or even paraphrase it? Is the Bible present aurally when we listen to it
read from a pulpit?

In what sense is the Bible present visually in early Christian artistic

depictions of, say, the story of Daniel in the Lions Den, or in a modern comic
book publication of the story of Moses? In what sense is the Bible present
sonically when we listen to a musical composition based on a Bible story, such as
Handels Messiah?

In short, where is our Bible today? And where will our Bible be in the

twenty-first century?

Indeed, where will our Bible be in the twenty-first century and how will we read and interpret it?
These questions must be addressed by evangelical scholars today if we hope to be relevant for the
generations of the 21

century.