How might Borg’s historical-metaphorical approach help you interpret a passage of scripture? How is it different than the way you have interpreted scripture in the past?
First, let's clarify what Borg means by historical-metaphorical approach to reading scripture. When taking a historical approach, we should ask the question, "What did this text mean in the ancient historical setting in which it was written?" When taking a metaphorical approach, we should ask the question, "What does this story mean as a story, independent of its historical factuality?"
When we are taking a historical-metaphorical approach to scripture, we ask both questions. This is very different than how I used to read the Bible. I used to read the Bible wondering, "What is God saying to me, today, through these words, about this particular situation in which I find myself...?"
And, yes, the Spirit may add understanding to our reading of scripture, but, we should not confuse cracking open our Bible with cracking open a fortune cookie. See, the problem with my old approach is that I was treating the Bible like one of those fortune telling machines you find in arcades. Furthermore, the Bible is not a Ouija Board - we can't ask a question, randomly open the book and expect to find an answer. (Actually, we shouldn't expect to be able to do that with a Ouija Board either...but that's another story for another blog entry.
The Bible is a relevant tool we can and should employ to navigate faithful lives. But, we must do so knowing what this tool will and won't do. Using the historical-metaphorical approach to reading scripture and avoiding reading the Bible like a our daily horoscope will help. Using this approach helps us utilize the Bible appropriately.
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