Surrounded as we are by delicacies from all the cuisines of both hemispheres, we sometimes hear the lament ‘Let’s have roast beef and two veg for once.’ Yet we would not desert our moussaka or our many kinds of pasta. As usual we like to have it both ways – to have our cake and eat it.
We may find ourselves in something of a similar quandary. We may jib at hearing the Gospel ABC preached incessantly as though there were only one pillar to Christian belief. On the other hand we do not exult when we are served up the latest view from a Tom Tiddler theologian or successive heavyweight orations on how the theologians in Tubingen or other German universities changed our views on the origins of the Psalms, say, or the story about the big fish.
Those who like to hear ‘a simple Gospel’ every Sunday are fortified by the example set by Jesus. He told simple stories about everyday people. That, for some, may be enough to settle the matter. The rest of the New Testament (or selected pieces from the Old) is hardly required.
But uncomfortable though it may be, the New Testament – let alone the whole Bible – contains difficult material coming from Jesus himself and from Paul and others. We find something like a complaint in 2 Peter 3.14-16 about obscure passages in Paul’s writings. We have to recognise that Schleiermacher and his followers have had their say.
One commentator has said we should not go on our knees to German theology. ‘The Anglo-Saxon mind on the average has considerably less learning; but very often, I think, it exhibits a much sounder judgment.’
All this should not unsettle us. If we read about English history, we shall find events and opinions that we deplore. We have to do our best to understand what happened and what is good and bad about it. We may find ourselves having to ensure that the same thing does not happen again.
It is a mistake to simplify the New Testament and to assume that our simplified version is all that is required. There is always more enlightenment to gain from its pages. We should learn from the North Pole. It moves. If a navigator assumes otherwise, he may have a nasty shock.
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