Scripture Engagement

'The book of Romans wasn't written by Luther. The book of Romans wasn't even written by Calvin. The book of Romans was written by Paul, and Paul was a Jew, and we Jews, don't like Gentiles!' Martin Goldsmith, All Nations Christian College, 1991-92. We are so used to reading Romans through the eyes of Luther and Calvin that we forget that the reason it was written was quite different from the issues those venerable theologians faced. The problem, from a Jewish perspective, is that the Gentiles were considered to be so impure as to be beyond the bounds of God's saving grace. They were the uncircumcised, sexually immoral, idolatrous, unclean people who couldn't possibly by part of God's saving plan. But God's plan did include them (Gen 12:1-3), and Isaiah, amongst others, prophesied that 'all nations' would be included in temple worship (Isa 56:6-8). In this he was correct. Jesus' resurrection and ascension changed everything. No longer was ...

We often think we can leave Scripture engagement until our product is finished in its entirety. We translate the whole Bible or New Testament, then about six months before it is published we hit a large panic button, which connects us to the Scripture engagement department. 'Please come and make sure our Bible is used!' It's as if we still think there is a cavalry that might come over the hill any minute armed with magic Scripture engagement advice and techniques to rescue us! Instead it's better to plan SE into the project from the beginning: Make sure you are engaging with the whole community, or at least key members of it (church leaders, linguists, journalists, good speakers, elders, elder women, parents, the youth, children... ) Try to use participatory methods if possible. You can use appreciate enquiry ('What do you like about your community?') and also find out what the needs are. Involve a wide spectrum of community members Include arts in y...