Reading the Bible

I intermittently read Slate. Not as much as I used to; about a year ago I decided I was tired of websnark (locus classicus: see any of Nick Denton's blogs), and since many of Slate's offerings are middle- to highbrow snark, I've decided I have enough of a tendency to pessimism and depression without the html-rendered help.

But it's in my Bloglines queue, so every once in a while I stumble on an interesting article. I enjoy the items on Slate that teach me something, or remain in "whimsical" territory. This seems like an interesting and instructive project: the writer plans to read through the Bible as more or less an "ignoramus," as he calls himself, and he'll write about what he sees there.

That got me thinking about my acquaintance with the Bible. After all, as a lifelong (if discontent) Baptist, I fall squarely into that oft-maligned "Evangelical Christian" group that according to many folks wants to take over the government of the United States and enact laws predicted by Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale. Thank goodness she set out a roadmap for the takeover!

Anyway, it struck me that Mr. Plotz's project is truly sola scriptura in the sense that I often describe Reformation Theology to my students. Scripture only. A cornerstone of Protestant thought and practice. I'm pretty sure, based on my reading and on conversations with friends, that the Catholic Church views Scripture as authoritative, along with various elements of Church practice and teaching. Yet don't Protestants, even those of us on the "radical right," do the same thing? I can't think of anyone who doesn't now read the Bible in the light of what he/she has been taught by (take your pick): John Stott, C. S. Lewis, Rick Warren, Oswald Chambers, Lifeway Christian Resources (motto: Biblical Solutions for Life! See IBM for business 'solutions,' Cisco Systems for networking 'solutions,' Lifeway for Bible 'solutions.'), Bart Ehrman, Joyce Meyers, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, or their pastor.

Just thoughts, really--but does anyone come to the Bible with a blank slate? I don't see how. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how Mr. Plotz fares once he gets to Leviticus.

UPDATE: Upon rereading the above, look who's being snarky now! See? I don't need the help.