Scripture Only Makes Sense on Sundays

a critique of literal-mindedness

According to Christian tradition, our relationship with God is, as Fr John Behr has put it, “in a broad sense, literary.”¹ For that reason, to read the Scriptures literally—that is, unimaginatively, expecting the only meaning that matters to be unmistakable, to present itself to us unearned, without effort—is to refuse to read it on its own terms, the te…