Putting Bible Problems on the Shelf

Here's a quote from The Rise and Fall of the Bible (2011), by Timothy Beal, a religion prof at Case Western Reserve (I didn't know they had religion profs there). It considers the question of how to deal with scriptural contradictions or problems, and it seems interesting because it is a conservative Christian context rather than an LDS context.

On one occasion I was talking about this book, then a work in progress, with an older woman who is a longtime lay leader in her Bible church. She reads the Bible several times a day and hosts weekly Bible studies in her home. She admitted that she often finds herself perplexed by ambiguities and seeming contradictions in the Bible. She wouldn't bring them up in Bible-study group, because she worries that they could be a stumbling block to faith for some less-experienced members. At the same time, she expects other members, less comfortable with such ambiguities, would quickly dismiss them with standard resolutions, familiar from a century of biblical fundamentalism, that she considers too easy. "So when questions like that come up for me while I'm reading, I just step back and pray, well, Lord, I'll just look forward to you explaining that one to me!"

For LDS, the teaching issue is whether to bring up such issues in Sunday School (given that the Church takes a very dim view of independent study groups). Both the stumbling block idea and the pat answer problem are observed in LDS settings and are reasons to avoid such issues in class. Personally, I avoid highlighting "ambiguities and seeming contradictions" when teaching, unless they are tied to an important point in the lesson.

A second question is the shelf issue. I think such problems should be confronted rather than evaded or just put on the shelf when studying for yourself, in study groups, or in college classes. Isn't that the point of study — to learn new things by working through tough questions? The shelf may be helpful as a short-term storage device (you can't think about all tough questions all the time), but not for long-term avoidance.

Comments

[Anthony E. Larson]

While raising questions of ambiguity and contradiction in the scriptures may not be proper in a Sunday School setting, it is the duty of all church members to sort them out on their own. As you suggest, "such problems should be confronted rather than evaded ...." Personally, I've found that most such questions vanish when one adopts the proper view of the restored gospel. (See my website for details.) That view is not the typical or popular view in the church. Thus, most members are left with ambiguity, dichotomy and contradition in their gospel study.

[Todd Wood]

Hmm . . . another passing shot at the fundamentalist.

I am in a Bible study with ladies who span from their sixties to nineties. When we come to the ambiguity or alleged discrepancy in the text, we talk about it.