Both read the Bible day and night/But thou read’st black where I read white. –William Blake
The Wise and the Mystics caution us: Never say, “I Hate!” or “I Kill!” because your religion says so. They remind us that every text needs interpretation. They also remind us that every interpretation needs wisdom. Fundamentalism (it doesn’t mean just one tradition) reads texts as if God were as simple as we are. That, Gentle Reader, is unlikely to be true.
All Scriptural Traditions and Religions (especially the three Abrahamic Faiths – Jewish, Christian and Islamic) contain hard texts, verses, commands and narratives that if taken literally and applied directly would not simply offend our moral sense, they would also go against our deepest understanding of the Tradition and Religion itself.
The Hebrew texts, the Christian ‘New Testament,’ the Qur’an and the Hadith require a care-full interpretation if they are not to become the motivators for inflicting great harm. That is why every-text based Tradition and Religion develops its own commitment to interpretation. The Wise and the Mystics were/are clear: One who translates a verse literally is a liar and a deceiver!
Their point is clear: no text without interpretation, no interpretation without wisdom and no wisdom without tradition. 2 Corinthians remind Christians clearly and force-fully: ‘The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.’
For most of their history the Jews, Christians and Muslims have struggled with the meanings of their scriptures. For example: Medieval Christianity had its four levels of interpretation – literal, allegorical, moral and eschatological. Islam has its fiqh [deep understanding, full comprehension]; its four schools of jurisprudence; its principles of taqleed, ijtihad and qiyas [Gentle Reader, I invite you to do a bit of research and learn more about these concepts].
Hard Texts need interpreting. Without this discipline they lead to violence (physical, emotional and spiritual violence). God has given us a mandate and a responsibility to engage in this discipline. We are guardians and stewards of God’s Word for the sake of our World.
Consider, Gentle Reader, that fundamentalism refers to different things in different contexts. One of them is the tendency to read texts literally and apply them directly: to go directly from revelation to application without interpretation, without wisdom.
There are a number of negative consequences to literalism. One is that it is a tap root of schisms. Faith traditions become violently split. Consider that fundamentalism emerges when people feel that the world has been allowed to defeat the word. They, by contrast, become determined to defeat the world by means of their word.
The great religious traditions believe that the most powerful battles are the ones that take place in the mind and the soul. These battles change the world because they change us. This is a wisdom that the zealots of all ages did not (and do not today) understand. It takes wisdom to know how to translate the word of God into the world of human beings.
Living traditions constantly reinterpret their canonical texts. That is what makes fundamentalism – text without interpretation – an act of violence against tradition. Fundamentalists ignore a significant fact about a sacred text – that its meaning is not self-evident.
The sacred literatures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam all contain passages that, read literally, are capable of leading to violence and hate. We must interpret them. The great work of Jewish mysticism, the Zohar, reminds us that those who love the divine word penetrate beneath its outer garments to its soul.
Religion’s ‘Hard Texts’ are a challenge to our capacity to engage in covenantal listening to God’s word. God’s word is given to us in love and God invites us to interpret his word while we are rooted in love.
Searcher-Seeker 