Five Questions With: AUTHOR, Josh Scott
In his new book, "Context," Josh Scott puts Scripture in its place.
Welcome to my series, “Five Questions With,” where I introduce you to people from various industries and walks of life by asking them five questions about their work.
The month of April will be, Five Questions With: AUTHORS.
I hope you enjoy getting to know these incredible authors, and please consider supporting them by checking out their books.
Josh is the Lead Pastor at Gracepointe Church in Nashville, TN, one of the country’s premiere faith communities for progressive and post-evangelical Christians (my words, not his 😉).
His first book, Bible Stories for Grown-ups, was a massive hit last year and established Josh as a trustworthy guide for approaching the Bible in fresh, authentic, and earnest way.
His newest book, Context: Putting Scripture in Its Place, expands on Josh’s desire to see followers of Jesus be thoughtful engagers of the Bible.
Oh… AND IT RELEASES TODAY!! 🥳
I love Josh. Love his work, his heart, and his brain.
I asked him these five questions about Context.
Enjoy.
QUESTION 1: If someone reads Context, how might they be different as a result?
I tend to think of people who might read Context as falling in a few different groups.
First, there are people who will read this book and no doubt be frustrated by it. In each chapter I offer a reading of some well-known, even beloved, text that cut against the grain of how many people have heard them taught and interpreted. That being the case, I would imagine some readers will find that frustrating, maybe even infuriating, and down right heretical. Even if that’s the case, I hope it introduces the idea, even if it just plants the seed, that the Bible is far more complex than many of us have been lead to believe, and that some of our interpretations aren’t grounded in a good study of the text, but really in our assumptions and even our biases.
Another group would be those who love the Bible and love learning the “behind the scenes” background of stories and texts. There is plenty of that for them in this book. What I try to do as I walk through each text is show that
there’s more going on in these passages than we might have imaged, and
that this work of engaging context is something we can all do by paying attention and asking good questions.
I hope these readers feel excited and empowered to continue the kind of work I introduce with the Bible.
Finally, I imagine some readers will come to Context with mixed feelings. I keep meeting people who are rightly conflicted about the Bible. Their experiences of having the Bible weaponized and used to harm and shame them have left them wounded and wondering if they can or should even attempt to engage the Bible again.
I fully support people taking a break from the Bible—temporarily or permanently—for their own wellbeing. Yet, in my work as a pastor I keep meeting people who’ve had this experience and when they share it with me what comes across is a deep grief. The Bible was taken from them because of how it was used against them, and, for many, they feel that as a significant loss. For those readers I hope Context will offer them an opportunity to dip their toes back in the biblical waters, to be an on ramp for those that want to come back to the Bible.
QUESTION 2: What motivated you to write this book, and why now?
I’ve been doing the work of Context for years now, helping the congregations I’ve lead take seriously, not only the text, but the world that shaped and gave birth to the text.
With each passing year it has felt more and more urgent. So many readings of the Bible are problematic, and become the legitimation for all sorts of bigotry and dehumanization. The Bible isn’t going anywhere, either. It’s always a bestseller. We can’t ignore it and hope the problems will go away.
If much of our problem is grounded in readings of scripture,
then one solution is to read scripture better.
My hope is that people will be empowered to challenge those problematic readings, and offer perspectives that call us to love our neighbors, and enemies, more generously.
QUESTION 3: What’s one of the Bible verses most often misunderstood because people fail to account for the context?
Philippians 4:13, because “I can do all things through a verse taken out of context.”
Jokes aside, that passage has so many translation problems. What I mean is that the way most translations render this verse, something like “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength,” actually ends up obscuring the message Paul was trying to share. Further, when we don’t end up doing “all things,” if we fail and it just doesn’t go like we hoped, needed, or planned, the end result is more shame and guilt.
But what if that isn’t Paul’s claim in Philippians 4?
What if he’s saying something else?
That’s what I talk about in the chapter that explores that oft misunderstood passage.
QUESTION 4: How did it feel writing this book?
I love writing! The challenge is finding regular time while parenting, pastoring a church, and trying to do things like sleep.
Fortunately, this being my second book, I learned a lot from the first go round that helped this one be a more sustainable process. As a result I think I wrote a better book this time, and had even more fun writing it. I also really felt a sense of urgency with this book. So many of these texts are used to inflict harm and to shame people. That’s always a bad use of the Bible.
I hope in the pages of Context readers are empowered to see the Bible and the art of interpreting it differently.
QUESTION 5: What’s your favorite chapter and why?
That’s a hard question, and there are several candidates. However, if pressed, I would pick chapter two, which focuses on the story of Ruth. This story is far more complex and interesting than many of us have been taught, and far more relevant to our current cultural moment than we could imagine. Ruth is a form of protest literature, and I think it offers a challenge to the rising xenophobia we are experiencing in sections of American culture today. It’s a beautiful story, and one that calls us to think differently about those with who we have difference.
Ruth, for me, is emblematic of how we often miss the message of a text because we didn’t understand the broader Context in which the author lived.
Thanks for sharing Josh!!
Now, go get yourself a copy of Context today!
ONE MORE THING…
For the entire month of April I’m giving away my Mini-Course on the Genesis 19 clobber passage for free.
You just need to go here… enter your name and email address…
and you’ll get instant access to the full course on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
And learn how these ancient cities were NOT destroyed because of homosexuality… despite what you may have been told.