William Thornton on George Washington

Monday was my anniversary, so I spent the day hanging out with Caroline, and we did all sorts of fun things, including a visit to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It was pretty neat, and one of the parts I enjoyed was an exhibit they had on George Washington which featured papers of his, letters written to him, portraits of him, etc. 

One which particularly caught my eye was written by William Thornton, a man who served as the architect of the Capitol and knew Washington quite well. Apparently, the notion had developed that Washington was a very grave and somber man, and so, about 25 years after his death, Thornton wrote to give a more detailed description of what the first US President was like:

“He was occasionally grave, when other men laughed, for he had much to think of…He was a man of genius, & wrote some beautiful little pieces of poetry. But above all he was a man of piety, a real Christian, and in the language of scripture, walked humbly before God.” 

–William Thornton of George Washington, August 16, 1823

That’s a tribute I would be proud of.

Why Don’t We All Read the Bible the Same Way?

If you at all pay attention to the world of Christendom, you are aware of the fact that a lot of people who claim to follow the teachings of the same book (the Bible) come to vastly different conclusions about what that book teaches. Why is that?

I think there are a lot of reasons: sometimes people read the Bible with less than pure intentions, and that can certainly affect the way it is interpreted. Other times people simply haven’t been trained very well, and this can warp their understandings as well.

But I think one of the biggest reasons that there is such a wide variety in the way the Bible is interpreted stems from the fact that people are very different from one another: we come from different ethnic, social, economic, and geographical backgrounds, and we also have significantly different personal experiences. All of these things combine to make us unique people who look at the world (and Scripture) in unique ways. It just makes sense that we would see some things differently. I recently read an example which illustrates this profound influence that our different backgrounds can have on the way we read and interpret Scripture.¹ 

Using the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15.11-32), one scholar had readers from different cultures read the story silently and then recount it to someone else. The results were surprising:

• Only 6 percent of American readers mentioned the famine that came upon the land while the prodigal was in the far country (15.14). In contrast, 100 percent of the recounted the way the prodigal wasted his estate (15.13).
• When the same exercise was used with residents of St. Petersburg, Russia, 84 percent mentioned the famine while only 34 percent mentioned the squandering.

So what’s the point?

In 1941, the army of Nazi Germany besieged St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) for about 2 1/2 years, leading to the death of 670,000 people (the picture above shows destitute citizens fetching water from a busted water line). The Russians polled in the exercise were survivors of the famine or descendants who had heard of the horrors of it throughout their lives, and thus it was only natural that they would be quick to hear of the problem of famine in the prodigal’s misadventures.

On the other hand, American readers had never experienced famine, but they definitely were familiar with wasteful and excessive lifestyles. It makes sense that they would seize upon these aspects of the parable.

While these differences don’t mean that the two groups would necessarily come to irreconcilably different interpretations of Jesus’ story, the example does illustrate how differences in our backgrounds and experiences can cause us to read the Bible differently, and can impact our interpretations accordingly.

To me, there are at least three implications of this point:

1. We need to be humble about our interpretations, realizing that they are at least in part influenced by our own personal experiences and backgrounds and thus, subject to bias. 
2. Since Scripture does not have an unlimited number of valid interpretations (if it did, it would be meaningless), it follows that the backgrounds and experiences of some people help them to arrive at valid interpretations, while those of others hinder them from doing so.
3. The solution is for us to study more and seek God’s guidance in understanding His word! This enables us to learn from each other, discovering the blind spots in our own perspectives and helping others to do the same. God doesn’t intend that His will for our lives be unintelligible, but that doesn’t mean that discerning it through Scripture won’t require time, effort, and practice.

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¹ Croy, N. Clayton. Prima Scriptura: An Introduction to New Testament Interpretation (Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, 2011), 5-6.

Half A Thousand

Today marks a milestone of sorts for The Doc File, as I noticed that I have now amassed 500 blog posts. I started this blog back in the summer of 2006, right before I got married and got into “real” youth ministry (i.e., youth ministry other than a summer internship). A lot has changed since then!

Looking back on some old posts, it is interesting how similar some things are and how much others have changed:

• I write more about ministry and theology than I used to, and less about sports and other things. Perhaps this is to be expected: when I first started the blog, I didn’t intend to be a long-term minister, and I wasn’t a theology grad student.
• I continue to write long, convoluted sentences which sometimes contain excessive commas and clauses.
• I think I come across as a little more humble and a little less arrogant than I used to. I sure hope so.
• My posts now aren’t as funny as they used to be. That’s too bad—I promise that I am still funny in person!

This blog has been a blessing to my life over the last (almost) seven years, and I want to thank all of those who read and comment. I hope it has been, in some small way, a blessing to you as well. Looking forward to the next 500 posts!

Dwight D. Eisenhower on D-Day

Today marks the 68th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied Armies’ invasion of Europe in World War II.

Giving the order to the troops on June 6, 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower said,

“You will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, your devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”

Today, I am thankful to all those who did not shrink from the difficult task that lay before them.

David McCullough on George Washington

From the book 1776 (which is quite good, by the way):

“He was not a brilliant strategist or tactician, not a gifted orator, not an intellectual. At several crucial moments he had shown marked indecisiveness. He had made serious mistakes in judgment. But experience had been his great teacher from boyhood, and in this his greatest test, he learned steadily from experience. Above all, Washington never forgot what was at stake and he never gave up.”

Clearly, there’s a lot to be said for never giving up.