Devotional Reading
| 1 |
We begin by reading the Bible text and reflecting on its meaning.
We ask questions and identify items that are unclear. We bring our unique background and experience
to the Bible, and the Bible meets us where we are. |
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Historical Reading
| 2 |
We seek to understand the world of the Bible and locate the setting of
the text. We explore who may have written the text and why. We seek to understand the particular social
and cultural contexts that influenced the content and the message. We wonder who the original audience
may have been. We think about how these things “translate” to our world today. |
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Literary Reading
| 3 |
We pay close attention to how the text is written. We notice what
kind of literature it is and how this type of literature may function or may be used. We look
at the characters, the story line, and the themes. We compare and contrast these with our own
understanding and experience of life. In this interchange, we discover meaning. |
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Lutheran Theological Reading
| 4 |
We consider the Lutheran principles that help ground our
interpretation of the Bible text. We ask questions that bring those principles and unique
Lutheran theological insights into conversation with the text. We discover how our Lutheran
insights can ground and focus our understanding and shape our faithful response to the text. |
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Devotional Reading
| 5 |
We return to where we started, but now we have
explored and experienced the Bible text from four different dimensions.
We are ready to move into the “for” dimension. We have opened Scripture
and joined in conversation for a purpose. We consider the meaning of the
text for faithful living. We wonder what God is calling us (individually
and as communities of faith) to do. We consider how God’s Word is calling
us to do God’s work in the world. |
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