Space Enough, and Time

‘STORY’ HAS BEEN A HOT TOPIC lately.  Has been for some time, honestly.  It’s also been a big topic for the folks over at Christianity Today, as well.  The concept, so true to human experience and history, has made its presence known in many venues: you see it in the Olympics, you hear it from the pulpit and on the radio, you get it in television, it’s even made its way into the language of corporate and educational culture.

Which makes Leslie Leyland Fields’ “The Gospel is More than a Story: Rethinking Narrative and Testimony” an important read.  In the article, Fields deals with the call for a more narrative theology that has struck like lightning these last five years.  Her fear, is that narrative has become a way of short-changing the full breadth of the Bible.  And it’s a fear well-noted.  A the same time, Fields applauds the rise in narrative (Fields is from a literary background).

Fields outlines the argument well.  First is a concern with “who will narrate the world.”  Every culture is made of multiple stories, and it is easy to lose the ones that are vital in the mix.  Second is the concern for the many genres of literature found within the Bible itself.  What happens to lament and parables and word choice in a world of the over-arching narrative?  Third is a concern that Christian leaders might tweak the narrative to fit their own style and theologies (the examples here are Rob Bell and Brian McLaren).  What happens if you remove strong notions of wrath and judgment?  Final is the concern over the rise of personal stories that preempt and overwrite basic biblical theology. What do we do with the stories found in books like The Shack and Heaven is For Real, stories that are more rooted in the minds of many Christians more than any real biblical theology?

Two names were absent from the article that have most articulated the importance of story for me: Donald Miller and N. T. Wright.  Miller, of course, would probably fall under concern numbers three or four.  Wright, I think, would fall under number three.  I’d like to think that both of them have healthy, biblical foundation for their views.

One of the things that I have done in my classes over these last two years is emphasize the importance of the biblical story.  And when I have had opportunity to preach I have tried to emphasize whatever text I have been tasked with using in light of the rest of the biblical story.  I think it’s vital because many Christians have no real working understanding of the story.

If you’ve got some time, check out the rest of Fields’ article here.

You can read a great introductory write-up of N. T. Wright’s view on the authority of Scripture and story here.

You can read a couple of Donald Miller’s more thought-provoking articles on reading the Bible here and here.

Feel free to leave some comments below.