The Bible and the Emerging Paradigm

Historical: For the emerging paradigm, the Bible is the historical product of two ancient communities, ancient Israel and the early Christian movement. The Bible was not written to us or for us, but for the ancient communities that produced it. A historical approach emphasizes the illuminating power of interpreting these ancient documents in their ancient historical context.

Metaphorical: The emerging paradigm sees the Bible metaphorically, by which I mean its "more than literal," "more than factual," meaning. It is not very much concerned with the historical factuality of the bible's stories, but much more with their meanings.  It is not bothered by the possibility that the stories of Jesus' birth and resurrection are metaphorical rather than literally factual accounts.  It asks, "Whether it happened this way or not, what is the story saying?  What meaning does it have for us?"

Sacramental: The emerging paradigm sees the Bible sacramentally, by which I mean the bible's ability to mediate the sacred.  A sacrament is something visible and physical whereby the Spirit becomes present to us.  A sacrament is a means of grace, a vehicle or vessel for the Spirit.

...the emerging paradigm sees the Bible as sacred scripture, but not because it is a divine product.  It is sacred in its status and function, but not in its origin.

...the emerging paradigm sees the Christian life as a life of relationship and transformation.  Being Christian is not about meeting requirements for a future reward in an afterlife, and not very much about believing.  Rather, the Christian life is about a relationship with God that transforms life in the present.

-Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity, pgs. 13-14.

Frances Lee Menlove - On the Limitation of Revelation

Any revelation must be filtered down through the mind and intellect of the receiver, pressed and squeezed into language inadequate to handle it, and altered and changed by the boundaries of human understanding and experience.  Both the fact that the Church exists and expresses itself in a particular cultural and historical context an the realization that we have only finite and limited understanding about infinite matters must be made explicit.  Failure to make these distinctions accounts for some of the most acute abuses of individual conscience.

-Frances Lee Menlove, "The Challenge of Honesty" Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol.1 No. 1 (1966): 49