© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Session 5The Bible – so what?
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Session 5Bible – so what?
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Roots of Faith
Looking at the main foundations of Christian Faith– The Bible– Tradition– Reason– Experience
Five sessions1. Encountering Jesus2. Encountering Passover3. Encountering God in the Bible4. The Bible in Conflict5. The Bible – so what?
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Keys
• Key Point
– The Bible has authority alongside tradition, reason and experience
• Key Skill
– Critical thinking
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Today
• Critical Thinking• Writing a reflection• Stool of understanding
Coffee break!
• Applying the three-legged stool - Creation or Evolution?
• Building the toolkit• Wrap-up
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Stool of Understanding
What weight would you give to each influence?
Do different denominations tend to give different weights?
Position
Holy Spirit
Tradition ReasonBible
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Critical Thinking
• What is critical thinking?
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Critical Thinking
• What is critical thinking?
• The ability to step outside of your own thought processes, and make critical judgements about them!– What bias have I introduced?– Have I taken all the factors into account?– Has my reasoning been rigorous?– How have I been swayed by emotion, a desire for the
‘right’ answer, or peer pressure?
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Writing a ReflectionReview your Choice
• Take another Bible book and subject it to a narrative criticism e.g. look for a number of ‘acts’ in the story.
• Choose a parable, and either re-write it for your contemporary culture or comment on the difficulties when applying the original story to today’s world.
• Give an example of an issue in contemporary society that is challenged by the bible. Explore how biblical principles involved and the difficulties of their application.
• What is your preferred approach/way of reading the Bible? What strengths do you now observe in this, as well as other approaches?
• How can we encounter Jesus in scripture today?
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Writing a Reflection
• Have I ever done a written reflection? If so, when?
• How do I feel about writing a reflection?
• How do I feel about these questions?
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Writing a Reflection on the Bible
Brainstorm the following questions to help your Reflection:
• How does your church use the Bible today?
• How else could your church use the Bible beneficially?
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Coffee Break
What do I think about the accounts of creation in Genesis?
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Applying the three-legged stoolCreation versus Evolution
• What does scripture say?– Use the critical approaches we have learned
during this module
• What does tradition say?
• What does reason (experience) say?
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Stool of Understanding
Do you want to revisit your weightings?
Position
Holy Spirit
Tradition ReasonBible
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Application
• In pairs apply the three legged stool approach to one of the following controversial issues
– The Virgin Birth: true or false?
– Slavery: justified or not?
– Infant baptism: right or wrong?
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Building the Toolkit
• Identify your biblical story or phrase
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Reflect
• Hold your passage up to God
• Be thankful
• Ask God to draw you into greater depths of comfort and wisdom
• Commit the passage to God
© Diocese of Guildford 2011The Bible - so what
Wrap-Up• Reflection Concluded
– How does this session influence my thoughts on the topic I have chosen?
– Write the Reflection and return it to the tutor
• Reflection Topics– ‘Criticise’ another Bible book– Re-write a parable– Bible and contemporary society– Bible reading, my approach– Encountering Jesus in the Bible
• Feedback on this session and the whole module
• Close