How to Read a Sacred Text

HH01515A.gif (970 bytes) If you are confronted with a dark saying, you can make it plain by turning it toward you, because the light is shining away from you. Or, perhaps it is not the saying that needs turning but you. You are not standing where you should be. You need to alter your place or condition to situate yourself in the light of what is said. (Philo of Alexandria)

We enter into Conversations with Scripture assuming that we have something to say to Scripture–just as Scripture has something to say to us.

If we can’t engage in some kind of conversation from where we stand as 20^th century people, then surely the text is dead. It has nothing to say to us. But we believe in the living word of God that has meaning for us today.

The Jewish mystics offer us some guidance in conversing with Scripture:

Rabbi Shim’on said,

"Woe to the human being who says
that Torah presents mere stories and ordinary words!
If so, we could compose a Torah right now with ordinary
words. . . .
This story of Torah is the garment of Torah. . . .
She has a body: the commandments of Torah,
called ‘the embodiment of Torah.’
The body is clothed in garments: the stories of this world.
Fools of the world look only at that garment, the story of Torah ;
They know nothing more.
They do not look at what is under that garment. . . ."

THE PROCESS

If you would like to learn something more, if you would like to engage in conversation with the text, here is a process to try:

	Choose a text–or part of a text–to reflect upon.
	Draw a vertical line down a piece of paper.
	On the left-hand side, write down word-for-word the part of the text that interests you. It might be something familiar that seems worn out, or something difficult that challenges you.
	On the right-hand side, respond to the words. Write whatever occurs to you. Ask questions, notice words that seem surprising, images that rise up.
	Try to resist the urge to interpret. Avoid the rush to meaning. Instead, reflect on the curious or interesting or strange words and images.

As John Shea has remarked:

"The strangeness in a story is a seed
that grows into a change of awareness.
Many stories [of a liturgical season]
have strange elements in them
that are meant to be
catalysts for consciousness. . . .
We cannot understand in our present state of consciousness.
. . .Something must change in us
in order for the story to be received."

Click on the buttons to read some conversations with the Scriptures.