Abusing Scripture: The Consequences of Misreading the Bible

by Manfred T. Brauch

Virtually all Christians recognize the centrality of the Bible to their faith. Yet many Christians misquote and misapply Scripture regularly. Often those who are most passionate about the authority of the Bible are at the greatest loss when it comes to understanding its message clearly and applying it faithfully. Professor Manfred Brauch believes this kind of mistaken interpretation and application of Scripture is a detriment to the integrity of our Christian witness and contributes to profound misunderstandings in Christian belief and practice. In this practical book written with the non-specialist in mind, Brauch identifies and corrects a number of basic errors in the use of the Bible that interpret and apply biblical texts in ways that distort their meaning and message. Chapters explore issues of context, selectivity, consistency, author intent and other important considerations with an eye toward addressing not just the act of interpretation, but also the attitudes behind the ways we choose to apply Scripture.

Whether you lead a Bible study or small group, are a pastor or Sunday school teacher, are engaged in biblical study at a college or seminary, or are just an everyday Christian who wants to understand how to interpret God's Word well and recognize good interpretation (or the lack thereof) when you encounter it, this important book will be an invaluable guide.

Genres: Christianity

293 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2009

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: The author explores the different ways we misread the Bible and consequently interpret and apply it in ways that abuse both the intent of the text, and sadly, in some cases the people with whom we apply these texts.

I teach the Bible in my work, and on occasion, in the congregation of which I am a part. That is both an exciting and sobering opportunity for me. One one hand I believe that I am explaining what God has said through human beings, and that this can be powerfully transformative in lives. On the other hand, I am keenly aware that how I explain and apply a text can either lead people to such transformative encounters with the living God, or mislead them. I’m always mindful of James’ comment that “we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1, NIV).

Manfred Brauch is concerned that we might in fact abuse the scriptures in our mishandling of them. This is strong language which he defends in his opening chapter by the fact that we may well do violence to the intent of the text by our mishandling of it. And this violence in turn may warp the understanding of Christian truth by those who hear such teaching, and may, often unintentionally, result in causing others in the Christian community deep pain, or in misrepresenting the message of Christ.

He begins by focusing on the nature of scripture and argues that it is both intentional and incarnational and that abuse occurs when we ignore either the intent of the Bible or its incarnational character, both as the word of God and as given to particular people in a particular cultural context. In succeeding chapters Brauch six ways we mishandle scripture in our interpretation and application:

The abuse of the whole gospel. We may tend toward a focus on a gospel of personal salvation or a social gospel, focusing on the redemptive work of Jesus and its impact on overcoming injustice and setting right the structures of society. Neither alone are the whole message of scripture.

The abuse of selectivity. It is often observed that differing positions on an issue like gender roles can both cite scripture for their view. The issue often is selective use of scripture, ignoring passages that may not agree with one’s view. Often, we need to listen to all the relevant texts and look particularly for those that reflect the overarching redemptive trajectory of scripture.

The abuse of biblical balance. This differs from the abuse preceding it in overemphasis on a particular doctrine while under-emphasizing others. We may focus on certain sins while ignoring others. Again, we need to hear all these perspectives and consider a both/and rather than either/or approach.

The abuse of words. Most of us read, and certainly preach the Bible in translation. Care must be used to be certain that the words we use and meanings we attribute to a word accurately reflect what the author would have understood, as best as we can ascertain. Brauch uses as an example the word cephale and argues for how our translations as “head” may ignore the dimension of “headship” that has to do with “source” and instead uses the term hierarchically.

The abuse of context, both literary and theological. Literary context concerns the place of a particular passage in a larger narrative. Theological context has to do with relating a particular theological idea to the larger theological themes of a book, or even all the books of a particular writer, like Paul.

The abuse of context, relating to historical context and cultural reality. We may universalize what is particular to a historical context or assume that teaching in a context must be applied in the same way in very different cultural contexts–for example, how we understand Jesus healings on the sabbath and the implication for early Christians of whether and how to carry over Jewish sabbath practices.

He then concludes by considering what it could mean if those who differ over scripture and give weight to one part while ignoring others would simply begin to listen to the witness of each other. And he includes appendices going deeper on selective issues of interpretation. And most helpful throughout is that Brauch illustrates both abuses and the proper handling of scripture using contemporary issues.

This book is important for anyone who teaches the scriptures and seeks to be thoughtful of engaging the disparate views one encounters with others who may even claim a similar, evangelical faith. It advocates neither a culture war nor expulsion of those who differ, but the engagement that takes both the scriptures and our hearers seriously. Church leaders facing sharp doctrinal challenges might read this to think through how this might be approached both irenically and yet with doctrinal integrity.

[David Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for anyone concerned with biblical interpretation.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that a lot of people should read. Christians should read it to learn or be reminded in what was it is inappropriate to use or approach Scripture, and the nonChristian would gain from seeing that the message of Christianity and what the Bible actually has within it is often quite different from the abuses that come out of the mouths or behaviors of Christians.

Brauch takes a decidedly non 'political' approach to his critique of Scriptual abuse - that is of course unless one is vehemently anti-intellectual, anti-logical, or delusional. Which frankly, some of the abusers of the Bible seem to be to me. Brauch draws a clear line between where varied Biblical interpretations can hold logical and rational ground and a zone where it passes into errant abuse. These arguments, for most of the abuse 'classifications' he makes, are well argued and stated. He alternates between pages that are written in a broad manner and pages that get down into the academic details. For those just wanting to browse, each section ends with a nice summary and basic suggestions for avoiding the Scriptual abuses.

The abuses Brauch covers include various degrees of selectivity, particularly the broad selectivity of favoring a social Gospel or a redemptive Gospel over the other and investing a disproportionate energy into one side. He then goes into abuses of context, including historical, literary, cultural, etc. While most of the book was not 'new' to me in its revelations, the literary aspect was the most informative to me, with Brauch explaining the ancient Hebrew poetic styles that dominate the Old Testament and have led to some really poor interpretations of what some Psalms, Proverbs, etc really were saying.

The book closes with my favorite chapter as Brauch brilliantly argues that the Scriptures are not the literal word of God and that a discernment of what in the Scriptures is true and relevant for any given time and culture is necessary. He nicely shows that this discernment is quite distinct from a 'picking and choosing' mentality that some critics have labeled it, and that the discernment happens throughout the Bible we have - most liberally by Jesus himself.

My only major critique with this book is that Brauch ignores the abuse of treating the Bible as if it were a single book. It is a collection of many works. Even individual 'books' are collections. He alludes to this, but never addresses the fact that some Christians fail to take this into account. Moreover, there are different books in different Bibles. Some books are lost - but were considered 'canonical' by the writers of the books we do have. Finally there are many many translations, several that are extremely poor and misleading. He does address the issue of language and its role in potential abuse, but stops short of making this point directly.

It is outside the scope of this book, but I am curious what his opinions are theologically as to why the "God-inspired', Scriptures are ever-evolving and imperfect rather than a cut and dry literal "Word of God" instructional manual. It is a topic of interest I believe to non-Christians who realize the Bible is inconsistent and 'flawed' in details, but think such a literal interpretation and approach to scripture is the only possible reality for a divine Scripture - thereby concluding that the divine is false. The abuse of scripture thus not only severely deludes and limits the believer, but also falsely convinces the non-Christian in the impossibility of Grace.

[Cheryl Durham]

This is an interesting volume. It approaches a topic often overlooked in Christian circles due to a view that “education’ is somehow morally corrupt and that there is an unspoken dichotomy between the work of educators and the work of the Holy Spirit. I have often wondered how people can think this way, but apparently they do. Go figure!

I read this book while researching a paper, and while it is listed as an ‘academic’ book, its content is readable by anyone with a high school education. It addresses many issues in the Christian community (but could be applied to any community) that are often resolved with ‘proof texting’ or out of context interpretation of the text. This methodology (proof texting) often misses the mark because we cannot reinterpret the text and then say that it ‘comes’ from the Bible.

The author states that he has a “deep concern about the integrity and viability of the Christian witness” due primarily to the “abuse of Scripture” which he defines as “interpreting and applying the Bible in questionable or irresponsible ways”. (Brauch, 15) He further indicates that this often happens as a result of ignoring contextual meaning of the text and anachronistically applying current cultural trends back onto an ancient text.

In the following seven chapters, Brauch covers first his definition of the nature of Scripture and then the categories of abuse often used by those who claim to exegete Scripture but who actually use eisegesis to interpret the text. The abuse categories he covers are The Whole Gospel, Selectivity, Biblical Balance, Words, Literary and Theological Context and the abuse of Context within Historical Situation and Cultural Reality.

The author’s primary goals are to make sure the Scripture is interpreted properly and to let the reader know that misusing or abusing Scripture has consequences. He has several appendices that cover other theological aspects that are affected by the misuse and abuse of the text.

The Bible student must be aware of their responsibility to handle the text appropriately regardless of what their denominational biases are. They should be aware of the text itself and be able to set aside theological preferences (as they were taught) to see the text as clearly as possible from the eyes of the first audience or the author.

I would recommend this book to students who are interested in proper exegesis but who do not want to venture into the deeper theological works that tend to bog down the mind in detail. It is a great read with easy to understand concepts and it is applicable to any practitioner of the Word.

[Lee Bertsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems a negative approach - establish a good methodology of interpretation by detailing all the ways that scripture is abused. But he always concludes each chapter with a good summary of the better way to interpret. He gives a lot of helpful examples though in every chapter he invariably ends up making a case for an egalitarian view of gender. I have no problem with the view but it seems to be a second agenda in writing this book which I found annoying at times. But I guess we all have our axes to grind. This book makes a fine pairing with a standard textbook on hermeneutical method.

[Paul Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good walk through of many of the disturbing ways in which evangelicals pick and choose, ultimately becoming Pharisaical about the Bible. Well researched and a good entry text. The chapters feel a bit long at times.