Ask a Theologian: Why History
Dear Theologian,
I often find the Bible readings at the Sunday Eucharist hard to understand, especially those from the Old Testament. There seems to be an awful lot of specialized historical knowledge needed in order to make sense out of these ancient texts. My question is this: Why is there so much complicated history involved in our religion? Can’t we just worship God in the here and now, without having to learn so much about the past?
Don’t Know Much About History
Dear Don’t Know Much,
Your question touches upon an area of crucial importance for the life of the Church. We read aloud from the Sacred Scriptures of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament at every Sunday celebration. But what effect upon the spiritual life of our people does this have?
The fact is that many (or even most) of the people in our congregations really do not know very much about the origin, context, and nature of the readings that are proclaimed in the liturgy. Since most of the time no introduction to these texts is given before they are read aloud, the readings can “go by” almost meaninglessly. On the other hand, if there is a proper introduction before a reading that does give the information needed to understand the text, it can sometimes seem like a history lesson.
Then why do we keep reading and trying to understand these texts from the past? To answer this question, we have to consider the fundamental, paradoxical nature of Christian faith. This way of being religious is oriented permanently to certain unique events of the past, and particularly to the life, death, and resurrection of one particular human being, Jesus of Nazareth. Historical reality is intrinsic to Christian faith.
Jesus is not a myth, nor is he a merely legendary figure. He really lived in the region now called “Palestine” at a period about which a great deal is known. The oral traditions about his life found a permanent written form not more than about forty years after his death (Mark). Scholars today are agreed that Mark is the earliest of the four “gospels.” Other accounts were written some twenty to thirty years later (Luke, Matthew, John). It is from these gospels that we read every Sunday because we need always to orient ourselves toward Jesus’ unique human reality.
But Jesus did not appear out of a vacuum, nor did he come from some other world. He was born into a people with a long history, and we cannot begin to understand him without viewing him in the context of his people Israel. This is why we always take as our first reading each Sunday a selection from the sacred writings of the Hebrew Bible. We reverence these writings as the inspired record of God’s action in history, creating and choosing a people to bear witness to God throughout the centuries. We attend not only to the original meaning of these texts for Israel but also to the ways in which they point forward toward Christ.
In addition to the four gospels, the New Testament also contains a number of letters written by St. Paul and others to the early Christian communities around the eastern Mediterranean and to Rome. We take as our second reading each Sunday a selection from this material. Paul’s letters, written earlier than the gospels, are a precious witness to the essential themes of Christian faith and contain valuable teaching on how to live the Christian life.
As you point out, many if not all of these biblical readings are very hard to understand without some specialized historical knowledge. This is why serious study of the Bible is needed, as a major part of Christian formation. But it is sadly lacking in the lives of many of our people.
We do, of course, often use the term “Bible Study” to refer to any kind of gathering to read and talk about biblical passages, with a view to discovering their relevance for the people gathered. But this kind of sharing, valuable as it may be, is really not true “study” of the Bible unless it is guided by some serious intellectual effort of the participants.
As Peter Gomes observes,
“Bible study actually involves the study of the Bible. That involves a certain amount of work, a certain exchange of informed intelligence, a certain amount of discipline. Bible study is certainly not just the response of the uninformed reader to the uninterpreted text, but Bible study in most of the Churches has become just that—the blind leading the blind...” [1]
Attention to the past is inescapable for Christian believers, especially in their efforts to understand and live by the Sacred Scriptures. But it would be a mistake to think that Christian faith is oriented merely to the past.
In attending to the past, Christians are looking at the earlier stages of a great process of creation and redemption that still continues in the present. It began unimaginably long ago, took shape in the history of Israel, and culminated in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Now it goes forward into the future. Each new generation is touched and enlivened by the Holy Spirit, in order to participate in the further unfolding of God’s purposes (the coming of the Kingdom of God).
When we gather for worship we read from the ancient Scriptures in order to learn about the great “salvation history” that is continuing in our own lives of faith. We study the Scriptures that bear witness to what God has done, so that we can be conscious participants in what God is doing now. Remembering what has been enables us to be attentive to the grace of God in our own “here and now.”
Faithfully,
The Theologian
[1] Peter J. Gomes, The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart (New York: William Morrow & Company, 1996), pp. 11-12.)
The Rev. Wayne L. Fehr writes a monthly column for the diocesan newsletter called "Ask a Theologian," answering questions from ordinary Christians trying to make sense of their faith. You can find and purchase his book "Tracing the Contours of Faith: Christian Theology for Questioners" here.