Re-enchanting the Text: Discovering the Bible as Sacred, Dangerous, and Mysterious
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
In an age where the Bible has been stripped of its sacredness and functional biblical illiteracy reigns, this book makes the case that we must work to re-enchant the text in order to return the Bible to its rightful place in the lives of Christians. The author shows how the Enlightenment misshapes our interpretations of the Bible and explains that both “liberal” and “fundamentalist” interpretation are failed forms of disenchanted readings. We must rediscover the Bible as sacred, dangerous, and mysterious to counteract biblical illiteracy in an increasingly post-Christian landscape.
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- Shows how the Enlightenment misshapes our interpretations of the Bible
- Explains that both “liberal” and “fundamentalist” interpretation are failed forms of disenchanted readings
One can only voice a vigorous 'yes' to this wise and welcome book by Cheryl Bridges Johns. Johns sees clearly that the numbing impact of Enlightenment rationality on our view of the Bible has left us with the toxic options of progressive liberalism and reactionary fundamentalism, neither of which can allow the biblical text its proper work of wonder and deconstruction. Having identified these lamentable options of disenchantment, Johns applies her energy and courage to the work of re-enchantment of Scripture that defies both of these modernist options. Her rich Pentecostal legacy lets her see that it is the free, unfettered, unrestrained work of the Spirit that inhabits Scripture and that may also inhabit our reading of the text. Such a reading leads us into the holy mystery where the otherness of God may meet us and invite us to alternative living. Johns's work is at once breathtaking and breath-giving in its expansive hopefulness.
—Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary
We live in a world in which the taming and domestication of Scripture is prevalent. In response to this, Cheryl Bridges Johns--one of the leading Pentecostal scholars today--asserts in Re-enchanting the Text that 'we need a Bible that opens for us a world of real presence.' This world of real presence is an 'enchanted world' in which 'reason and imagination are joined together in creative harmony' and in which we are 'ravished with wonder by both the beauty and the terror' of Scripture. In this powerful and compelling analysis, Johns offers a way to 're-enchant' Scripture that refuses domestication; sees the text's power to disrupt, redescribe, and reorient; and embraces a pneumatic imagination. She extends to the reader an invitation to enter 'sacred scriptural space,' a space that is living, creating, and ultimately transforming. For those who want and yearn for more, this book is a must-read.
—Lisa Bowens, associate professor of New Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary
This book amounts to a bold Pentecostal intervention in current discussions about the theological interpretation of Scripture. With verve, rigor, and creativity, Cheryl Bridges Johns demonstrates how the Spirit's ongoing presence in the Bible-reading community makes the text come alive as a means of ongoing grace. Her vision for a Pentecostal ontology of Scripture is not just for Pentecostals--it is a gift to the church catholic, born at Pentecost.
—James K. A. Smith, Calvin University; author of How (Not) to Be Secular, Thinking in Tongues, and You Are What You Love
- Title: Re-Enchanting the Text: Discovering the Bible as Sacred, Dangerous, and Mysterious
- Author: Cheryl Bridges Johns
- Publisher: Baker Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Pages: 178
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
- Subjects: Bible; Christian life
- ISBNs: 9781540965134, 9781540965615, 9781493436675, 9781493436682, 1540965139, 1540965619, 1493436678, 1493436686
- Resource ID: LLS:RNCHNTNGTXT
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-05-16T17:29:19Z