Is a story really that powerful?

I got a peek at a quote from Brian McLarens soon-to-be-released book, A New Kind of Christianity, which shed some light on my last post regarding our treatment of the Bible as an object, like a scientist with a scalpel and a microscope.  (No, Brian didn't send me his manuscript to read, I just jacked it off his blogsite).

In this quote I am imagining McLaren, who is not a seminarian but an English professor turned pastor/author/activist is explaining why he is able to see the Bible in this manner, as opppossed to the typical systematic format:


My training [in literature] taught me to read for scenes and plots, not doctrines; for protagonists and antagonists, not absolute and objective truths; for character development and conflict resolution, not raw material to be processed into a system of beliefs; for resonances and common patterns among many texts and traditions, not merely for uniqueness or superiority of one text or tradition; for multiple layers of interpretation, not merely one sanctioned one.

Scenes and plots, protagonists and antagonists, character development, conflict resolution.  Not necessarily the stuff of seminary classes.  The skeptic of this approach might argue that this reduces the Bible to a mere story, kind of like the college class "The Bible as Literature."  They might argue that you must first prove to people that the Bible is "authoritative" and then force it upon you and make it shape you (Not!). 

I would push backthe first problem with this logic is that it needs to be in a place of power and authority (as opposed to relationship) in order to influence.  Secondly, a story that is about someone else doesn't really matter to me, but a story that the God of creation invites me into is quite compelling, life changing, and may, if you're not careful, end up living inside of you.  You just might find yourself as one of the characters in the plot with the living Jesus playing His life out inside of you...Just a thought.

Or maybe the whole thing will be alot safer if I just keep my perspective of the Bible as systematic religious code in which I can pick and choose which parts I agree with, especially the parts about God blessing me, my family and my political party, then taking me to heaven when I die.  How boring.

As NT Wright says, the Bible is like a four act play and we are now in act five.

May you become a character in this amazing story.