January 5 2020

The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts (2019)
By Karen Armstrong

While hesitating to post a book I have only skimmed through, I recently heard author Karen Armstrong speak about her new book at a talk sponsored by the Providence Atheneum in November.  A former nun, Armstrong has published over 20 scholarly titles (I am currently reading The Bible: A Biography and am pretty impressed by the breadth of her scholarship).

In the current title, Armstrong examines the texts of the world's major religions, insisting they are very relevant and important today.  First she looks at religion in general, and refers back to the earliest manifestations of mankind's search for God, including statuary and cave art.   She cites American scholar Frederick Streng's (1985) working definition of religion:

Religion is a means of ultimate transformation... An ultimate transformation is a fundamental change from being caught up in the troubles of common existence (sin, ignorance) to living in such a way that one can cope at the deepest level with these troubles.  That capacity for living allows one to experience the most authentic or deepest reality - the ultimate.

Armstrong sees the sacred texts (Bible, Koran, etc) as a plan of action "whereby people connect with that true and ultimate reality that will save them from the destructive forces of everyday existence."  Referring to the way our left and right brain functions, she says humans are 'wired' for transcendence, to attain to what the Greeks called kenosis (the emptying of self) to cultivate habits of empathy and compassion, not just toward one's own people, but to the stranger and even the enemy.  We must make the scriptures speak directly to our modern predicament - not to revive the Bronze Age legislation of the Hebrew Bible or the Muslim reformers' slavish attempt to return to the mores of 17th century Arabia - but to revisit the scriptures "and make them speak directly to the suffering, rage and hatred that is rife in today's world and imperils us all."  Scripture, then, is not only a tool for individuals to connect with the divine, but to engage the world to combat arrogance, intolerance, and violence, and to engage with compassion.

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In her talk in Providence, Armstrong likewise stressed that 1) Scripture does not mean us to look back at the original past.  It's a laudable idea to go back - but in reality you can't.  We are people of the 21st century.  First century people were Jews and had an entirely different take.  Instead, look at scripture and make it speak to your circumstances.  Look for Jesus in the rituals (like when he broke bread at Emmaus) and through the diverse community.  2) Scripture requires action and concern for today's environment.  In Koran, eg., verses about Jihad were thought to relate to specific events in Mohammed's life and not relevant to anything else - though that changed with the Crusades.

Listed in the New York Times' "100 Notable Books of 2019"