I remember reading F W Dillistone's biography of the NT scholar C H Dodd, one of the luminaries of British biblical scholarship in the mid 20th Century. It is an affectionate if not uncritical account of a scholar gentleman who brought textual precision, historical alertness and intellectual faithfulness to his teaching and writing. His commentary on John's episteles is still a delight to read - yes, that's right, it is one of those commentaries that can be read as a running commentary on the text.
Dodd chaired the translation committee for the New English Bible in the 50's and 60's, and was known to begin each session with a prayer which included these words, which should be the prayer of each Christian scholar wrestling with the richly layered textures of Scripture:
"Give us keenness of understanding, subtlety of interpretation, and grace of expression."
That's not a bad one liner to be said each time we open our Bibles and ask, "What do these words mean, and how should I then live?"
It so happens after reading the article on C H Dodd ( in The Dictionary of Major Bible Interpreters - a treasure house of solid information, biographical interest and in house gossip) - anyway, after reading it, I was raking around in another book - this time on Benedictine Spirituality and Lectio Divina, and I came across Cranmer's Collect about reading the Bible -
Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience, and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ.
So the Congregationalist Dodd and the Anglican Cranmer remind us that when we life a Bible and read it, we are holding living words, to be read with mind and heart alive and alert, attentive and responsive, requiring obedience as well as illumination.
The photo is of a battered old pulpit Bible, lying in a pew in a rural country church in Aberdeenshire. Looks as if someone took Cranmer literally and chewed it up! It bears witness to the nature of words, whether printed, spoken, read or preached. And maybe, just maybe, all the cultural dismissiveness, complacency and non-awareness of the Christian rootedness and biblical echoes in the flux and confusion of contemporary philosophies of life, would be counter-balanced by Christians being faithful in their reading and feeding from the book of God.
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