In “Honest to Jesus” Robert Funk writes that spirituality can be turned into a form of self-indulgence by insisting that “the Bible is a sourcebook for private spiritual nurture.” Funk continues, “Because scripture is considered ‘spiritual,’ individual are entitled to extract their own ‘spirituality’ in private, without the assistance of historical or critical analysis or, for that matter without reference to what the text meant originally. The doctrine that the state may not interfere with religious thought and practice and may not abridge freedom in that sector is taken as a guarantee that religion is a private and personal matter. Accordingly, everyone is permitted to be his or her own expert. Everyone is his or her own authority on the subject; no one has the right to tell an individual what the Bible or the gospels mean.
“This conviction has considerable merit. I subscribe to it myself.
“However, for many it is no more than a shield for self-indulgence, a prescription for do-it-yourself brain surgery. If in private meditation we are satisfied without own secret responses to a text that we may not, in fact, understand, then we have done no more than confirm our prejudices, invoking the text as an ally in self-deceit.”
Please join us as we discuss this topic, congratulate ourselves by citing some egregious examples, and then hopefully, with some honest reflection, explore alternatives.
We’ll be delighted to see you. As always, loving childcare is provided.
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