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Jesus
entered into human history, reshaped it, and now invites us into his
own story, the
grand narrative of creation and redemption. In recent years, theologians and ethicists have
rediscovered how important
the narrative medium is for people grappling with
faith. Entering into stories is, in fact, how human beings process theology and ethics.
In order to avoid interpretive flights of fancy, Jesus'
story must be firmly grounded in its own historical and
geographical context. There is no doubt that the Gospels
artistically interpret the significance of the events they
narrate, but that does not nullify their rootedness in real
happenings at particular times and places, as the early church creeds
remind us: "... he suffered under Pontius Pilate
...."
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Click
to study some maps of the New
Testament world and places where significant events
occurred: Maps
for NT Background |
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While
the whole Bible can be called a drama or story, certain
portions of it lend themselves to narrative
approaches more than others. The
Gospels are the narrative par excellence for Christians,
but there are great stories in the OT, too. Click
to see two of my favorites: The stories of Judah
and Ruth.
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Worship
is conducive to the artful presentation of biblical
stories. Click to see some samples of brief communion
services that take a simple, creative approach:
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