Bible Interpretation, Student Workbook, SW05

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B I B L E I N T E R P R E T A T I O N

4. To inspire : Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego (narratives)

5. To entertain : David and Goliath (narrative); Sermon on the Mount (speck and the beam metaphor)

6. To question : Ecclesiastes, Job

7. To persuade : Revelation of St. John, Gospel of John

Both narrative and prophecy have characteristics that allow them to address many of these purposes simultaneously.

B. To deepen our understanding of our own fundamental human experience

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The Bible focuses in depth on the fundamental experiences and questions that human beings live and encounter throughout their lives.

1. Feeling, participation, and emotion are the purpose of biblical study, not merely the search for abstract information.

2. To use the biblical characters as mirrors of fundamental human experience

3. Allows us to wrestle with the big questions : who are we, where did we come from, where are we going, where do we go when we die, etc.

C. To allow us to image reality in its most concrete form