Unleashing the Scripture – Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America
Unleashing the Scripture Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America
In this challenging, controversial volume, Stanley Hauerwas asserts that both liberal (historical-critical) and fundamentalist (literal) approaches to biblical scholarship have corrupted our use of the Bible–especially in preaching–in the American church.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars A book worth reading!
I have read one review that conveys the notion that not many solutions are provided by Stanley Hauerwas' writings. This kind of review only highlights the very things that Dr. Hauerwas is combating; somehow, "American values" are equated with Christian values to the point were the average person cannot discern between the two. One must try to eliminate this type of thinking before one can see that Stanley Hauerwas is offering feasible and necessary solutions.
This book will certainly challenge one's way of thinking. If one will remain open to Hauerwas' assertions, then one just might find that this book is not so "shocking."
2 Stars Easily digestible, not particularly filling.
The main idea of the book is that the average American Christian has no business reading and interpreting the Bible for himself, and that the corporate church body needs to do all the interpreting (e.g., a Magisterium).
There aren't many theological books I'd take to the beach, but one can do that with Hauerwas' books (and there are plenty from which to choose). Prof. Hauerwas, who seems committed to publishing every stray thought he ever had, continues in his tradition of making bold statements, as if he hopes to shock and offend. He has a point, however, that some Christians need to be shocked and offended.
It would seem that Hauerwas wrote this book to further confuse those who would pigeon-hole him. Here is a man who describes himself as a "high-church Mennonite," as if there could be such an animal. A Methodist layman, he states that a true church must be in communion with Rome. He declares abortion to be "something that Christians just don't do! ," but supports normalization of homosexuality. In short, don't think you know Stanley by reading a single book. Perhaps Stanley can never be completely known, and I think he likes it that way.
Daring and controversial ideas are great for getting books sold, but they don't make a particularly coherent theology. Hauerwas is a good author to get people talking about issues, but solutions will need to come from others.
1 Star Weird book. Goes On My List As One of Ten Worst Books of the 20th Century
This is the first book I've read by Prof. S. Hauerwas. If the cover didn't say he was a professor at Duke Univ. I would conclude that this book was written by someone who was biblically and theologically ignorant. S.H. is way over his head. I'm reminded of a sentence written by Bishop Fulton Sheen in a work entitled "Lift Up Your Heart" that noted that most of the intelligentsia are individuals educated beyond their intelligence. That describes S.H. to a tee. Another reviewer described the book as filled with "mumbo-jumbo." That's pretty accurate too.
Get this: to be a pacifist you have to hate your mother and your father. Not only does he say that, but also that Christ taught that.
It's funny nobody ever caught that except S.H.
He says sola scriptura can't be right because in years gone by most people couldn't read. Hey Duke — you really hired a great one! He notes that the Roman Catholic Church understands this in a way that fundamentalists and even the liberal historical-literary critics don't.
He says that the RC Church understands that there is no [sic] "real meaning" of the Bible outside of community. Thus, by an incredible lack of logic he concludes anything in the Scripture can mean anything. Can "Love the Lord your God with all your heart,and all your mind, and all your strength" mean "Love Ikea furniture with all your etc. etc."? He would seem to be implying (not really implying because he's only speaking out of his pomposity) that language is so drained of its meaning that we shouldn't even bother to explicate the meaning that we find. Words denote nothing. There can be no common understanding. Wow!
He includes a weird list on p. 139 of my edition that includes such items as repent of our unwillingness to be baptized. Who is he talking about? Fundamentalists? Roman Catholics? Also, "repent of our conceit of being happy to be American." Feeling oneself happy and believing oneself to be blessed to be an American is a "conceit"? That statement isn't just provocative–it's nuts.
One of the reviewers said this is a book to take to the beach. I would agree if it's your intent to bury it in the sand.
5 Stars An Antidote for American Nationalist "Christianity"
As one previously given to habitual conflations of American patriotism and Christian faith, and both of these in an Evangelical key, I found Stanley's "Unleashing the Scripture" a helpfully jarring counter-position (particularly in my previously begun theological transition out of American Evangelicalism). Given that Stanley's books are almost always comprised of occasion specific essays and sermons – an intentional feature of his theology and theological method, mind you – it would be less than useful to attempt a summary of this particular book in an Amazon review forum. I simply recommend it to your attention, especially if yours is an Evangelical and/or particularly patriotic background.
As to the critical reviews posted here to date, virtually all of the complaints stem from either misunderstandings as to what Stanley is variously up to and why or from simple theological/philosophical/methodological disagreement. At any rate, "The Hauerwas Reader", eds. John Berkman and Michael Cartwright (Durham: Duke University Press, 2001) and/or Hauerwas' "The Peaceable Kingdom", (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1983) are nice supplemental texts to the one listed here.
3 Stars Not Hauerwas' best work.
Sometimes one wonders whether or not Hauerwas is trying merely to shock his audience into hearing the truth of the gospel. Few proposals are more shocking than the one Hauerwas opens with in this book. In short, Hauerwas argues that the best thing to happen to the American church would be were the Bible to be taken out of the hands of the laity, people so corrupted by a lack of Christian virtue that they have lost the ability to read scripture rightly. If one can get beyond the hyperbole of Hauerwas' appeal, the substance of the opening essay is well worth reading. The American church needs to let go of the notion that church and state, cross and flag can go neatly hand in hand without God's kingdom being utterly distorted. Hauerwas also argues that Protestant churches need to reclaim the teaching office, taking a lesson from our Catholic brothers and sisters.
The opening essay is worth reading. The sermons that make up the last half of the book, however, are a mixed assortment of engaging gospel proclamations and weak, disembodied mumbo-jumbo. It is difficult to see how Hauerwas' intends (or does he even expect?)his sermonic form to fashion an alternative community that is living the life of virtue he rightly pleads for in church. But then perhaps this weakness is one reason why Hauerwas is behind a seminary desk, not a church pulpit. One hopes that Hauerwas will continue calling the church to remain true to God's kingdom.
Related posts:
- Unleashing the Scripture – Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America
- Scripture Twisting – Twenty Ways the Cults Misread the Bible
- Fruit Of The Spirit – A Bible Study Project For Womens Groups – Scripture Scrapbooks
- Free from All Error – Authorship, Inerrancy, Historicity of Scripture 10131
- Drama of Scripture – The Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story
- Taking the Leap – Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears
- After Christendom
- The Inerrancy of Scripture and Other Essays Bibal Collected Essays Vol 1
- Sharing Christ's Priesthood – A Bible Study for Catholics
- Conversations With Scripture – The Gospel of Mark Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars
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