Reviews for Religion in the Contemporary South: Changes, Continuities, and Contexts

The average rating for Religion in the Contemporary South: Changes, Continuities, and Contexts based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-12-03 00:00:00 Daniel Crew The core of this work deals with: what is authoritative? To what extent is the bible authoritative? and how to read Scriptures for a change of heart? Rather than defining Scripture as perfect or inerrant, Countryman shows how being honest about the received text of the Bible reveals that while it is not always accurate in cosmology, science, history, it nonetheless is a significant guiding source to those who desire to be formed by God. Authority consists of instructing us about our origins and our destinations and the best ways to move between those poles of existence. With our foundational identity discovered along with others who followed God we learn what normative spiritual life consists of and what happens when we turn away from God's wisdom. In order to get in touch with authority, norms and guidance the Bible must be interpreted together with other authority-producing aides such as rationality and community. All these aspects, however, do not guarantee perfection but lead us into a risky trust of God and his ways in the world. When words are used to mediate authority we are in the realm of human culture so we are inevitably prone to mistakes and all kinds of fallibility. But with knowledge, skill and devotion many of the most grievous interpretations can be avoided. Among these misreadings is to turn use selected scripture as tool to tyrannize others and ourselves. Instead the Bible is to be read in its cultural historical context and with view to its entirety to glean rational principles of discipleship, in effect to be transformed. Countryman warns against arrogant individualist approaches and advises we listen respectfully to others within and outside our community for ways to interpret the Bible. One helpful principle he mentions is always to look for the strange aspects of Scripture, for in them new ways of moving toward obedience are evident. The key is to avoid over-familiarity. I get the sense that Countryman is asking us to be patient with the process of reading scripture and not to expect the Bible to accomplish what it was never intended to but rather to open our imaginations and hearts up to a new way of Being, along with others. His tips for interpretation and examples are helpful aides. If one were to takes his advice then the authenticity of our bible reading would be better evaluated not by how many verse we memorize or can proof text but the overall fruitfulness and Christ-likeness it produces in our lives. Countryman's book is not an academic treatise but a very practical guide to reading Scripture especially relevant for those beginning to look into the place of Bible reading for discipleship. Biblical Authority or Biblical Tyranny? has a very ecumenical, theologically moderate approach particularly suited for postmodern Bible Readers.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-08-13 00:00:00 Stanley Wagner This book is exactly what I was looking for during most of my time in seminary. It faces contradictions and inconsistencies head-on and without flinching, and forms a healthy theology of biblical revelation that includes those aspects of the Bible. At the end of the first chapter Countryman (a priest and a New Testament scholar) says that the Bible as the Word of God is not the last word, it is the first word in a great conversation.