This book is a companion book to the PBS series of the same name hosted by Bill Moyers. I picked it up because I absolutely love the book Healing and the Mind where Bill Moyers talked with numerous people from different walks of life about healing. It was literally life changing for me. I was hoping for a similar format and experience here. I was not disappointed.
Bill Moyers brought together 38 people with different religions and philosophies, created unique and dynamic small discussion groups, and talked about the book of Genesis. Each group tackled a particular section or story from Genesis, sharing their knowledge and perceptions of what it meant to the people of that time and what it means to us now. In the epilogue, Moyers gives suggestions for starting your own group, and I think perfectly describes what happened with these groups.
Dialogue is about telling and listening. As I participated in these discussions, I noticed several things that contributed to the pleasure and excitement. People listened to one another without censure and disagreed without denunciation. No one tried to mask his or her own religious beliefs, but respected the integrity and boundaries of the religious traditions of all others in the group...
Furthermore, although some participants were ordained or formally trained in biblical scholarship, no one resorted to expertise to claim authority over the others. Participants approached the story in the spirit of the great theologian Martin Buber, who urged people "to read the Bible as if they had never seen it." Even the most faithful believers kept themselves open to surprise; the admission of not knowing exactly what the passage means made possible an unexpected visitation, revelation.
(pages 349-350)
I write to process what I am learning. I learn through writing, but I also learn through talking things out with other people. Whether the discussion happens online or in person, I grow from hearing other people's perspectives and opinions, even if I don't always agree. I crave the kind of discussions that the groups have in this books.
In the discussion of exile, Burton L. Visotzky makes this statement:
The words are just there on the page. But as communities of readers, we get together and when we talk, when we debate, when we get heated, that's when we hear the words of God. That's when the text becomes revelation. Revelation, which can happen in a secular community as well as a religious community, is a very powerful thing. It's that lightbulb going on over your head. You hear someone else with a different point of view, and that person doesn't even have to convince you so much as to show you that there's more than one reading of the text. (pages 335-336)
Let me repeat the most important part,
...when we talk, when we debate, when we get heated, that's when we hear the words of God. That's when the text becomes revelation.
Yes, personal study and thinking about it alone can bring knowledge, revelation and peace. But, the words come alive when we wrestle with them, when we share what we think and open ourselves to other possible meanings. It's too easy in Sunday School to answer a question with "THE LIST". You know the list: read your scriptures, pray, go to church, listen to your leaders, serve others, etc. It's time to ask hard questions. It's time to explore answers that might not be in the teacher's manual. It's time to open ourselves to all of the possibilities of what God is saying to us through the scriptures.
Anyone want to join me? Anyone want to warn my Sunday School teacher?
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