Back in Durham again and Blogging Again

I am back again in Durham – a space I left a little over two years ago. I am also back again to blogging – an intended discipline that was very quickly abandoned a little under five years ago. So why am blogging and in Durham again?

Durham and blogging are not unrelated. Blogging for me started as preparation was made to move to Durham for at least three years. Blogging was intended to be a means through which I ponder and articulate my journey to and through Durham. The passage to and through Durham was negotiated but blogging did not follow through. So here and now I will scribble down some initial reflections on what has transpired since I last blogged five years ago.

I  suppose a significant milestone in that time is my PhD dissertation, ponderously entitled Scripture and Its Readers: Readings of Israel’s Story in Nehemiah 9:6 – 37, Ezekiel 20:5 – 31 and Acts 7:2 – 60. This was a result of my research which focused on the following question: How may a reader who wishes to read the Christian Bible as scripture well today be formed; and how may interpretations of scripture inform such concern? This is an under-considered question in contemporary biblical scholarship; and I explored it via hermeneutical consideration and exegetical engagement with three biblical texts, namely Nehemiah 9:6 – 37, Ezekiel 20:5 – 32 and Acts 7:2 – 60.

Why did I undertake this line of enquiry? First, while much has been written about biblical interpretation, work on biblical interpretation that seeks to be informed by biblical interpretation itself is rare. My work is a response to this lacuna. Secondly, I felt that it is important for someone like me whose vocation is to live, teach and preach the Bible in the church to set aside some concentrated time to reflect widely, deeply, theologically and scripturally not only about the discipline of biblical interpretation but also about what it means to be wise biblical interpreters and how such interpreters could be formed. Thirdly, I was struck by how often academic biblical studies and Christian spirituality do not engage each other constructively, and I was keen to explore how the rigour of the former and the concern for cruciform living and witness of the latter could be brought together so that they could be mutually transformative and enriching. 

I said earlier that the PhD dissertation was a result my research. I said this hoping that is it not the result of my research. If it was the latter, the journey to and through Durham would have been in vain. Why? Here’s a little passage from my dissertation: “a Christian construal of reading scripture seems to presume that understanding scripture and way of life are linked dynamically and inextricably in what can be described as a spiral relationship where progress in one area potentially enables growth in the other. So just as scripture is read as a means to nurture the moral and spiritual formation of a reader, the moral and spiritual formation of a reader is nurtured as a means to read scripture. In other words, within a Christian practice, the reading of scripture and the formation of a reader are mutually instructive and constructive.”

Therefore, I hope that the dissertation is a, and not, the result of my research because I hope that the journey was also formative for me. I hope that the dissertation is a, and not the, result of my research because the task of reading scripture is never ending – I read scripture so that I may faithfully embody Christ and I press on to embody Christ faithfully so that I may read scripture better. I hope that the dissertation is a, and not the, result of my research because I hope that my understanding of the mutually of reading scripture and forming readers of scripture as a student and teacher of scripture is deepening. And I hope that the dissertation is a, and not the, result of my research because I am back in Durham to work on it further with the hope that it will be published as a monograph!