The Gospel according to Outsiders

Last year, David Plotz (a writer for Slate) decided to read the Bible. He has a Jewish background and observes the customs he was raised in because they are part of his heritage. But he’s never read the book on which that heritage (and it’s close cousin, Christianity) is based.

So rather than keep this experience to himself, he’s decided to blog his way through the entire Bible from cover to cover. Here’s a snippet of his first post from early last year:

The founding fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel lie, breach a contract, encourage pagans to convert to Judaism only in order to incapacitate them for slaughter, murder some innocents and enslave others, pillage and profiteer, and then justify it all with an appeal to their sister [Dinah]’s defiled honor.
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So, the tale of Dinah unsettled me, to say the least. If this story was strutting cheerfully through the back half of Genesis, what else had I forgotten or never learned? I decided I would, for the first time as an adult, read the Bible. And I would blog about it as I went along. For the millions of Jews and Christians who know the Bible intimately, this may seem obscene: Why should an ignoramus write about the stories and lessons that you know by heart and understand well? I don’t intend any kind of insult. My goal is not to find contradictions, mock impossible events, or scoff at hypocrisy.

As of my post, he’s up to the book of Job. I would heartily recommend reading his work. Especially Christians who live in the USA. Most of us don’t know what we’re talking about.

Take the phrase “Bible Study”. What does that really mean? Here’s what it tends to look like:

If it’s a bunch of men, they gather around and talk about men things, read a book by some popular Christian author, go do something “rugged” like paintball and talk about how tough Jesus was. Oh, and food is always involved. If it’s a bunch of women, they sit around and talk about women things, read a book by some popular Christian author, share about each others problems and talk about how sensitive Jesus was. And food is always involved here, too.

(This stereotype is amazingly true. If you don’t believe me and you’re not involved in the American church culture, just go down to you local church community and ask to join a Bible Study. Let me know if I’m wrong.)

Now, nothing is wrong with this. It’s fun to chill with friends. But why do we call it “Bible Study”? There’s nothing uniquely “Bible” about it. You can have this same kind of interaction with a room full of Shakespeare buffs. I know from experience. In fact, I’ve had much deeper discussions with Shakespeare buffs!

Back to David’s article. I love his raw reaction to these scriptures. He is shocked, amused, relieved, pissed, and excited. He doesn’t want someone to relay the cliche, “God has a perfect plan for you”. He sees first hand that God’s story was messy from the start. He calls out messy people to help other messy people. He chooses spokespeople that no one would dare put on the cover of Time Magazine. He seems so patient with some, and angry from the start with others. He sets up patterns and festivals and then says they don’t matter as much any more. It’s a mess!

But isn’t that what’s being spoken in the back of our minds all the time? Life is messy. It isn’t linear or easily cleaned up. And we individually contribute to that mess much more than we realize. I’m anxious to see what David thinks when he gets to the new testament. I’ll be there to read it, and I would encourage you to read it, too.

Here’s the article.