I just read an awesome book: The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible by Scot McKnight. It is provocative, helpful, enjoyable, understandable, and I say that it belongs on everyone’s “must read” list.
What’s the deal with a the phrase “Blue Parakeet”? It is a metaphor for difficult, dangerous, misunderstood, or unwanted parts of the Bible. McKnight writes,
Blue parakeet passages are oddities in the Bible that we prefer to cage and silence rather than to permit into our sacred mental gardens. If we are honest, blue parakeet passages often threaten us, call into question our traditional way of reading the Bible, and summon us back to the Bible to rethink how we read the Bible.
So the book is about how one reads the Bible. McKnight begins by showing that people don’t ever read and apply the Bible literally and asks how we go about picking and choosing (and, like it or not, we all pick and choose). Then he moves to the basic outline of how to read the Bible well – how to pick and choose wisely: by reading it as a grand Story made up of many little stories, by listening to what it says, and by discerning what that means for us “in our day and in our way.” Finally, the methods and principles outlined are applied to a controversial topic (i.e. a blue parakeet) in the church right now: women in ministry.
I keep being tempted to write more specifically about the book, but I don’t want to give too much away. I have such high regard for this book that I hope you will rush out (beginning in November) and read a copy yourself. It has the potential to cause deep change in you – in how you read the Scriptures and how you deal with blue parakeets. It is that good. In many ways it is simple. But simple in a profound way. If we all read and apply what this book has to say…oh how the church would be a better place!
Perhaps in a few months I’ll say more about it – once you have had a chance to read it yourself and we can talk. For now, I highly (and enthusiastically!) recommend The Blue Parakeet.
Filed under: Bible, Church, Egalitarian Issues, Reviews, Theology
Assuming most of us read the Bible from the viewpoint of systematic theology, what changes if we now read from a narrative viewpoint?
Thanks for the tip, Matt. I check out the book. Another one you might want to look at is UnChristian, by David Kinnaman. Very instructive. Blessings, Rich Jacobs