Hauerwas's 'Unleashing The Scripture'
1. Identification
Hauerwas, Stanley. 1993. Unleashing The Scripture. Nashville: Abingdon Press.
2. Contents
The author makes some clear and concise points through out his text. The author points out that his main point for writing this book is to free preachers and those that hear them from thinking inside the box. The author made it clear that so many times people listen to information and they assume that is right and is the truth. Throughout the book the author conveys that we have allowed the Scripture to be separated from our practices. He launches out to "Unleash the Scripture" by taking some risk to free theology from its academic captivity.
3. Thesis
Hauerwas thesis is explicitly stated as follows: In this book I am trying to experiment by combining a discursive essay with …show more content…
sermonic exhibits. The Bible is not and should not be accessible to merely anyone, but rather it should only be made available to those who have undergone the hard discipline of existing as part of God's people.
4. Evaluation This book is a very straightforward. The author makes a lot of good points and backs them up well. But in the meantime he also makes some points that seem to be very blurry to its readers. Hauerwas demonstrates his point very successfully by stating how he feels and backing it up with information that comforts the reader, and makes it very persuasive. Very profoundly, the author states a point and that is that " Our problem is that we live in churches that have no practice of non-violence, of reconciliation, no sense of the significant of singleness; so we lack the resources to faithfully preach and hear God's Word." This statement that Hauerwas is so true and its catches the reader. We as church goers just go to church, but we are really lacking what it takes. We are not practicing really what we need to be practicing. We go to church and assume that everything is wonderful and leave. So many times we are at our churches two to three times a week being so involved, but have no clue how to treat our fellow man the "Christian" way. Not being able to do that is keeping our churches in America from captivity. Just by that statement from the author, the author is so persuasive in letting readers know that their is a problem in our churches and in our studies, and the problem needs to be solved. How does the problem get solved? The problem can be solved by doing the work of the church. We need to be able to practice non-violence, be able to reconcile with our brothers and sisters, be able to be unified; and by doing that we will have the resources needed to continually preach the Word of God; by doing that the "Church" will be able to understand the Word of God knowing that it is not just reading the word. On the other hand, the author made a very pausing point which caused me to stop and think. " On the contrary, we have been led to believe that Christianity is good for the nation because Christianity is good for the family. We therefore, fail to stand under the authority of the Word because the Word is captured by practices and narratives that are more constitutive of that entity called America than that community called Church." I totally agree with the author on that statement. Others may agree also or disagree it is all in the individuals interpretation of what is being read. Most of us know that the Word of God is a powerful tool, so I believe that if you use it appropriately it could really benefit our community called the "church. The Word is a tool that gives and shows us how to overcome obstacles and encouragement in the time of need. The author's attitude in the text to me is an attitude of boldness, courage, and assertiveness.
Hauerwas text comes off to be as being very bold. You don't find many author's that would come off bold as this offer has. In my opinion, in some situations he jumps out there in the middle of the lake and speaks his mind. I think that that is a major plus for any author. The reader then knows that you are an upfront writer. His courageousness is very powerful in the text because his purpose is to "Free those who preach and those who hear from thinking that we must rely on the latest biblical study if we are to proclaim the gospel." I know that his purpose has and will be fulfilled because, this text is very mind opening in a sense, being that I agree with a lot and disagree in some since as well. Hauerwas assertiveness is clearly noticed. He really defends what he states in his text with clarity and with plenty of background on why he feels the way that he does in certain areas of "Unleashing The Scripture". The author is clearly objective in his text. Hauerwas says what he means and mean what he says. He states his objective and follows
through with it. For example, his "Sermon on the Sermon on the Mount" is an attempt to help see how the practice of reconciliation is a crucial political practice for rightly hearing and living the sermon." In one of his objectives in the text he stated that the churches have no practice of reconciliation, and in return his sermon show how the process of reconciliation is vital. The author Randy-Michael Testa stated in the text that "Whether this book is provocative or outrageous I leave to the reader's judgment. I agree with Testa on that, it is all in all you interpret the text. It takes a controversial text like this of Hauerwas for people to "wake up and smell the coffee". All the author does is state his opinion. We as readers can take it or run with it. I personally have one major disagreement with the text of Hauerwas. My disagreement is with something that he said in Chapter 1 that startled me while I was reading. "Let us rather tell them and their parents that they are possessed by habits far too corrupt for them to be encouraged to read the Bible on their own". I disagree with that because to me he is saying that we shouldn't read the Bible unless we have a "knowledgeable" person reading it with us. Aren't we taught that the "Holy Spirit" will give us insight? The question came to my mind of "How corrupt and corrupt get?" In my opinion I feel that everyone should be able to read the Bible on their own. That is why I disagree with the author on that statement made in the text. The author really contributes to my understanding of the subject. I believe that this text is worth reading. I believe that it is worth reading because it makes you think and ask yourself the question " Where do I stand?" This text This book would really contribute to a scholarly debate being that it could be looked at as a "controversial" text. Stanley Hauerwas text " Unleashing Scripture", is a text that I would recommend to people interested in "Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America".
Hauerwas, Stanley. 1993. Unleashing The Scripture. Nashville: Abingdon Press.
2. Contents
The author makes some clear and concise points through out his text. The author points out that his main point for writing this book is to free preachers and those that hear them from thinking inside the box. The author made it clear that so many times people listen to information and they assume that is right and is the truth. Throughout the book the author conveys that we have allowed the Scripture to be separated from our practices. He launches out to "Unleash the Scripture" by taking some risk to free theology from its academic captivity.
3. Thesis
Hauerwas thesis is explicitly stated as follows: In this book I am trying to experiment by combining a discursive essay with …show more content…
sermonic exhibits. The Bible is not and should not be accessible to merely anyone, but rather it should only be made available to those who have undergone the hard discipline of existing as part of God's people.
4. Evaluation This book is a very straightforward. The author makes a lot of good points and backs them up well. But in the meantime he also makes some points that seem to be very blurry to its readers. Hauerwas demonstrates his point very successfully by stating how he feels and backing it up with information that comforts the reader, and makes it very persuasive. Very profoundly, the author states a point and that is that " Our problem is that we live in churches that have no practice of non-violence, of reconciliation, no sense of the significant of singleness; so we lack the resources to faithfully preach and hear God's Word." This statement that Hauerwas is so true and its catches the reader. We as church goers just go to church, but we are really lacking what it takes. We are not practicing really what we need to be practicing. We go to church and assume that everything is wonderful and leave. So many times we are at our churches two to three times a week being so involved, but have no clue how to treat our fellow man the "Christian" way. Not being able to do that is keeping our churches in America from captivity. Just by that statement from the author, the author is so persuasive in letting readers know that their is a problem in our churches and in our studies, and the problem needs to be solved. How does the problem get solved? The problem can be solved by doing the work of the church. We need to be able to practice non-violence, be able to reconcile with our brothers and sisters, be able to be unified; and by doing that we will have the resources needed to continually preach the Word of God; by doing that the "Church" will be able to understand the Word of God knowing that it is not just reading the word. On the other hand, the author made a very pausing point which caused me to stop and think. " On the contrary, we have been led to believe that Christianity is good for the nation because Christianity is good for the family. We therefore, fail to stand under the authority of the Word because the Word is captured by practices and narratives that are more constitutive of that entity called America than that community called Church." I totally agree with the author on that statement. Others may agree also or disagree it is all in the individuals interpretation of what is being read. Most of us know that the Word of God is a powerful tool, so I believe that if you use it appropriately it could really benefit our community called the "church. The Word is a tool that gives and shows us how to overcome obstacles and encouragement in the time of need. The author's attitude in the text to me is an attitude of boldness, courage, and assertiveness.
Hauerwas text comes off to be as being very bold. You don't find many author's that would come off bold as this offer has. In my opinion, in some situations he jumps out there in the middle of the lake and speaks his mind. I think that that is a major plus for any author. The reader then knows that you are an upfront writer. His courageousness is very powerful in the text because his purpose is to "Free those who preach and those who hear from thinking that we must rely on the latest biblical study if we are to proclaim the gospel." I know that his purpose has and will be fulfilled because, this text is very mind opening in a sense, being that I agree with a lot and disagree in some since as well. Hauerwas assertiveness is clearly noticed. He really defends what he states in his text with clarity and with plenty of background on why he feels the way that he does in certain areas of "Unleashing The Scripture". The author is clearly objective in his text. Hauerwas says what he means and mean what he says. He states his objective and follows
through with it. For example, his "Sermon on the Sermon on the Mount" is an attempt to help see how the practice of reconciliation is a crucial political practice for rightly hearing and living the sermon." In one of his objectives in the text he stated that the churches have no practice of reconciliation, and in return his sermon show how the process of reconciliation is vital. The author Randy-Michael Testa stated in the text that "Whether this book is provocative or outrageous I leave to the reader's judgment. I agree with Testa on that, it is all in all you interpret the text. It takes a controversial text like this of Hauerwas for people to "wake up and smell the coffee". All the author does is state his opinion. We as readers can take it or run with it. I personally have one major disagreement with the text of Hauerwas. My disagreement is with something that he said in Chapter 1 that startled me while I was reading. "Let us rather tell them and their parents that they are possessed by habits far too corrupt for them to be encouraged to read the Bible on their own". I disagree with that because to me he is saying that we shouldn't read the Bible unless we have a "knowledgeable" person reading it with us. Aren't we taught that the "Holy Spirit" will give us insight? The question came to my mind of "How corrupt and corrupt get?" In my opinion I feel that everyone should be able to read the Bible on their own. That is why I disagree with the author on that statement made in the text. The author really contributes to my understanding of the subject. I believe that this text is worth reading. I believe that it is worth reading because it makes you think and ask yourself the question " Where do I stand?" This text This book would really contribute to a scholarly debate being that it could be looked at as a "controversial" text. Stanley Hauerwas text " Unleashing Scripture", is a text that I would recommend to people interested in "Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America".