For the Master of Divinity students at Mars Hill Graduate School, the culmination of our three or four years of study comes in a senior thesis called the ‘Integrative Project.’ This project is roughly a 30-35 page research paper on some theological/ecclesiological/cultural issue that is of great importance to the student. Over the past few years the idea of community has become increasingly important to me, so I plan on exploring the relationship between community and scriptural interpretation for my Integrative Project.

Often postmodern Christians (whatever that really means anyway) get accused of not taking the Bible seriously, as sacred. I would strongly disagree though. My experience with the emerging church movement has been one of intense love and respect for the biblical text, just not for the traditional biblical inerrancy that is prevalent in modern Christianity. Marcus Borg says it this way:

“…the emerging paradigm sees the Bible’s status as sacred, as “Holy Bible,” as the result of a historical process, not as the consequence of its divine origin. The process is known as canonization. The documents that now make up the Bible were not sacred when they were written, but over time were declared to be sacred by ancient Israel and early Christianity…By declaring these writings to be sacred, our spiritual ancestors declared them to be the most important documents they knew” (Borg, The Heart of Christianity, 47).

After reading Borg’s thoughts, this seemed so obvious. If the sacred-ness of a text does not come from the communal affirmation of it through canonization, then any other ‘gospel’ or writing would need to be seen as sacred too, including the Gnostic Gospels and anything else someone has said “came from God” or “came from the Spirit.” This communal affirmation of a text’s importance seems to give it much more credence and respect.

It is for this reason that I plan on exploring an idea I am calling ‘relational hermeneutics’ for my integrative project in a few years. There is a growing movement in the church where communities are attempting to read the scriptures collectively, rather than simply as individuals. The Evangelical emphasis on personal ‘quiet time’ can easily lead to an onslaught of destructive readings that are not held accountable by the community. Relational hermeneutics takes seriously the idea that everyone has something to offer one another as we all approach the scriptural text, rather than simply hearing from the ‘expert’ on high and believing their (typically ‘his’) opinion. I desperately desire to see this healthier, holistic, communal way of reading the text take root in churches, and anxiously await the opportunity to explore this idea further.

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Jason Bowker is a 3rd year M.Div. student at Mars Hill Graduate Student. He is passionate about the church and preaching and plans on pastoring or church planting following graduation. In his free time, Jason enjoys rock climbing, camping, playing sports, and playing guitar. He and his wife live in Capitol Hill and serve as worship leaders at a small, Episcopal church in Maple Valley, WA.