Seeking Courage in Scripture
In his extraordinary book about Gentiles who rescued Jews during the Holocaust, Sir Martin Gilbert recounts the story of David Prital, who found refuge among a small Ukrainian Baptist sect. He had sought them out on advice from a friendly German coachman. On meeting the poor Baptist farmer in his field, Prital entered his modest home, each man knowing who the other was. Prital remembers:
“God brought an important guest to our house,” he said to his wife. “We should thank God for this blessing.” They kneeled down and I heard a wonderful prayer coming out of their pure and simple hearts, not written in a single prayer book. I heard a song addressed to God, thanking God for the opportunity to meet a son of Israel in these crazy days They stopped praying and we sat down at the table for a meal, which was enjoyable. The peasant’s wife gave us milk and potatoes. Before the meal, the master of the house read a chapter from the Bible. Here it is, I thought, this is the big secret. It is this eternal book that raised their morality to such unbelievable heights. It is this very book that filled their hearts with love for the Jews.1
A modest meal. A heartfelt prayer. Courage and honor. It’s an edifying story. Under extreme duress, at the risk of their lives, two people take to heart the message of Scripture and act on it.
Yet almost immediately doubts arise. What about those who read the Bible and did nothing, or worse, joined the killers? What about those like an Oskar Schindler, who could not be accused of excessive piety, but rescued hundreds of lives? Does the “big secret” really lurk in the best-selling book of all time? Or is something beyond the mere act of exposure needed? While the Bible can inspire spiritual courage, generosity, and love for enemies and strangers, it does not always do so. How do we make sense of the difference?
Challenges of Biblical Interpretation
The Bible was not created to validate human structures, ancient or modern. No true prophet ever celebrated what already existed. Quite the opposite. The Bible consistently disrupts easy confidence in all human structures, calling readers to imagine alternatives. In this world that the Bible evokes, all things human are provisional and contingent upon God’s mercy.
Navigating Christian Identity
Likewise, the facile identification of Christianity with nationalism has infected conservative churches especially, but the resulting moral embarrassment has tarred most Christians with the same brush. As a friend told us recently, when others ask her whether she is a Christian she always replies with, “You tell me what you mean by ‘Christian,’ and I’ll tell you if I am one.” There is a widespread sense, especially among young adults, even those whose parents and grandparents practiced Christian faith in depth, that an unbridgeable chasm stretches between the life and teachings of Jesus and the practices of the church. So there is deep unrest, even among those who answer the pollster’s question, “what religion are you?,” with the label “Christian.” We find ourselves in the eye of the perfect storm.
Excerpted from Story, Ritual, Prophecy, Wisdom: Reading and Teaching the Bible Today by Mark W. Hamilton and Samjung Kang-Hamilton ©2024 (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.). Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
