I'll begin by recounting what was for me a quite poignant moment. It occurred during one of the meetings the pastor of our church was directing on the Bible and how to read it. He approached the topic with an advanced knowledge of biblical languages and history, having taught at the seminary level. During this session his attention was focused on some intriguing textual configurations in passages from Isaiah. His interests were analytic and technical. When it came time toward the end of the session for feedback, a woman raised her hand and expressed uncertainty about her question's relevance to the pastor's presentation. Assured by him that any concern she had would be relevant, she asked, “Does this mean that the Bible is really only a collection of stories and other things that ancient people shared around their campfires?” Rather than address her question, he affirmed that the kind of thing he had been talking about greatly increased his regard for biblical texts. He seemed not to understand that the questioner's point was not about the intriguing intricacies of biblical texts but about the religious standing and role of biblical texts for her, about their relevance to her own needs and concerns.

The question was poignant because of what seemed the sense of loss, even grief, carried by its tone. The sense of her world bereft of something central to it was almost palpable. It reminded me of Mary's lament on finding that the body of Jesus had been taken away. While her question was off the mark, since one would not associate Isaiah texts with campfires as one might the stories in Judges, she revealed her sense of disconnection between what she expected and even needed and what the pastor had presented.

The exchange revealed a situation that, while familiar to me, had not until then been so painfully clear, namely, a disconnection between two good and earnest people and their contrary, though legitimate, interests. On the one side was contemporary biblical scholarship and on the other the need of people for the Bible to have a distinctive standing and role in and for their lives.