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DESCRIPTOR TO PRESCRIBER:

SCRIPTURE, THEOLOGY AND PRAXISIN A SUBMERGENT WORLD

Vctor M. Armenteros

INTRODUCTION

There is no doubt that the vision of reality presented by the biblicalrecord does not always correspond with the valuations of the neighboringsocieties. What, in some occasions, is considered as decadent and a bad modelin the Bible is contrasted with positive and respectful evaluations of thecontemporaries. An example will be enough to prove it. On one hand, Omridid evil in the eyes of the L and sinned more than all those before him.Hefollowed completely the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, commiing the samesin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit, so that they aroused the anger ofthe L, the God of Israel, by their worthless idols (1 Kings 16: 25-26); on theother hand, Omri was king of Israel and he oppressed Moab for many days

because Kemosh was angry with his land (Mesha Stele, lines 4-6).For decades, the omridas will describe the House of Israel to allies

and enemies with the connotation of governments of commercial success

and armed forces. Their diplomacy practices are among the most prominentof their time. As Grabbe indicates commenting Liverani:

The main contribution of Omri was the new capital at Samaria which was not just

a simple royal residence but a true administrative centre of the kingdom. Under

Omri and Ahab Israel experienced a notable growth in economics and culture

After the Israel of the house of Omri - censured for Baal worship by the prophets

and later historiographers but politically strong and culturally ourishing -

came the house of Jehu - lauded as Yahwistic but politically subordinate and

territorially reduced to a minimum experienced a notable growth in economics

and culture.1

1L. Grabbe, "Ahab Agonistes: The Rise and Fall of the Omri Dynasty",Journal for the Study ofthe Old Testament Supplement21 (Londres: T&T Clark, 2007), 4.


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And, however, in the eyes of the Bible writer, and even in the eyes ofthe YHWH himself, there is no positive assessment.

Such conceptualization of reality, if we consider the biblical materialas a generator of worldviews comes to us, since centuries, forcing us to reecton the usual understandings compared to those impreGenated by the biblicalvision. It impels us to continue asking honestly: what perception of realityI incorporate into my life as an intellectual and religious believer? Whichapproach do I conduct to Scripture, Theology and ecclesiastical praxis? Howfar does my position before the text aect each one of these dimensions?

The objective of this study is framed in these demands with the desireto move closer to the biblical writers eyes and in addition, bold yearning, to

catch a glimpse YHWH himself.

TURNINGPOINTS INSUBMERGENTSOCIETIES

A posteriori, things look dierent. Did Plato perceive the scope of histhoughts? Did Leonardo da Vinci intuit the implications of his works? Was

Kaa aware of the impact of his comings and goings? Possibly, a lile. Itis certain that they diDant have the retrospective view, but they captureda portion of that moment of change they were generating. And is thatvariations in paradigms are noticed from the insecurity of the faint-heartedtill the openness of the bold.

Today, we live in times of changes and, curiously, we can interpretthem beer by looking toward other turning points to capture from theirparadigm variations, the intuitions of ours. How much more in a submergentsociety like ours. And I understand as submergent that social structure inwhich values are replaced by elements alien to the sense of people, elementswhich create dissonance in the development of the fullness of the human

being. As Zizek says:

En los tiempos que corren, las cosas no pintan bien para las grandes Causas,

en una poca en la que, aunque la escena ideolgica est fragmentada en

una panoplia de posiciones que luchan por la hegemona, hay un concepto

subyacente: la poca de las grandes explicaciones ha terminado, necesitamos

un pensamiento dbil, opuesto a todo fundacionalismo, un pensamiento

atento a la estructura rizomtica de la realidad; tampoco en el mbito de la

poltica debemos aspirar ya a sistemas que lo expliquen todo y a proyectos de

emancipacin mundial; la imposicin violenta de grandes soluciones debe dar


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paso a formas de intervencin y resistencias especcas2

LUTHER ANDTHELATEMIDDLEAGES

There is no inaccuracy whatsoever to state that the Europe of the latefteenth century was a submergent world. The widespread illiteracy, thereduction of the society into castes, the monopoly of the wealth, culture andreligion transformed the countries into an amalgam of wars, mystical andpolarizing movements, a space of submission of the earthly and the unearthly.The academic world had distanced the message of the biblical text of themajority of the population, and was based on Greco-Roman philosophies.

The relationship of that society with the Bible clearly established thediaGenostic of a submergent structure. The availability of copies for readingor studying was scant. The Bible was a minority text and of dicult access.Obscured by the Scholastic and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church,the reading of the biblical materials was foreign to the reality of most ofthe Christians. The autos sacramentales barely passed on to the people themessage of the Gospel itself.

The variety of texts was restricted to Latin, the language outsidethe usual communication of the nations of Christian Western empires.The Vulgate was globalized, although with variants and inclusions of theVetus Latina, in the various territories and, in turn, became a sacred andincomprehensible language.

The conguration of the canon, away from the composition of theTanak, had expanded to the deuterocanonical books (nomenclature of Sixtusof Siena). The inclusion of the texts of the LXX was performed by doctrinaland political interests (e.g., the inclusion of the doctrine of purgatoryor the immortality of the soul). With this process the Hebrew worldview

hybridizes with Greek (a mixing practice which had been seling since thetime of Origen). The interpretative approach, remember Origen again, is

allegorical. The signal and the sign elude the concrete implementation of thebiblical message. The allegory, in its tangentiality, generates in the receiveran environment of ambiguity that results in confusion3.

2S. Zizek, En defensa de causas perdidas(Madrid: Akal, 2011), 7.3See J. Whitman, Interpretation and Allegory: Antiquity to the Modern Period (Leiden: Brill; Bar-

nard, 2000); Leslie W. Barnard. "To Allegorize or not to Allegorize", Studia Theologica 36, no. 1, (1982):1-10; G. Bostock, "Allegory and the Interpretation of the Bible in Origen", Literature and Theology 1, no. 1

(1987): 39-53; R. Hanson,Allegory and Event: A Study of the Sources and Signicance of Origens Interpreta-tion of Scripture (Richmond: John Knox, 1959); R. Newhauser y J. Alford, Literature and Religion in the LaterMiddle Ages: Philological Studies in Honor of Siegfried Wenzel(BinghaMaton, NY: State University of New


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The biblical text is considered as Sacred Scripture and the adjectivehas a signicant implication in the concept of relevance. It is a magical

material that has implicit negativity. It is, therefore sacred in Antunezsdenition referring to Andr Frossard:

En primer lugar hay que hacer una distincin entre lo sagrado y lo santo. Lo

sagrado ha sido creado por el instinto humano para contener la violencia. Lo

sagrado debe inspirar cierto terror, conteniendo y manteniendo a distancia. Hay

ciertas cosas que no se deben tocar, sin decir el porqu. Si a uno le dieran una

explicacin, comenzara una discusin losca y lo sagrado desaparecera.4

The axis of action is developed in the world of symbology, of thesigns, of the relic, of the mystery. The totemization and sacramentalizationof the instruments leads the believer to a theocentric world that is alien tohis or her way of life. The object (be it work, merit or indulgence) acquires agreater signicance than the person who is alienated from sense.

The authority of the Bible is shared with the Magisterium of theChurch and this blurs its principal role as guide of values. The fact thatthe pontical magisterium lled itself with infallibility and together with

the schism of occident added mutability by political or, simply, economic

interests.Generalized translation into Latin in space and time liturgizes the

Bible limiting it to the moments of rites or admonitions. The impact of setphrases without a full understanding of their meaning reaches us today.Expressions like vade retro, inri, Ecce Homo, vanitas vanitatum stilladorn some of our conversations.

Both the lack of availability and the lack of variety of the Scripture,the expanding of the canon due to political interests, the allegory that

shapes a symbolic thought, shared authority with the value of EcclesiasticalMagisterium or a liturgized translation generate in the Middle Agesperson three clearly submergent values: loyalty, hierarchy and honor.5The delity which was associated with castes of the feudal structure inwhich the multitude of subjects complied with the wishes of their masters.Irregularities that would have their realization in practices such as the ius

York, 1995). D. Aers, Medieval Literature: Criticism, Ideology and History(New York: St Martins, 1986); Ch.Kannengiesser, y W. Petersen, Origen of Alexandria: his world and his legacy(Notre Dame, Ind: Universityof Notre Dame, 1988); R. Schwartz, The Book and the Text: The Bible and Literary Theory(Oxford: Basil

Blackwell, 1990).4J. Antnez, Crnica de las ideas. En busca del rumbo perdido(Madrid: Encuentro, 2001), 196.5J. Le Go, Una larga Edad Media(Barcelona: Paids Ibrica, 2008).


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primae noctis or droit de seigneur. The hierarchy that divides the worldin bellatores (military aristocracy that rules their domains), oratores(all those

who dedicate themselves to prayer and that have a remarkable religiousinuence) and laboratores (usually farmers who maintain society with theirwork). Le Go argues6that this ternary structure will be the ideal environmentfor the appearance of the theology of purgatory. Honor was associated withnobility and constantly reminded the sinful condition of common people. AsCarrasco indicated:

As, el punto de arranque radicaba en los motivos de la desigualdad jerrquica

en la estructura social, y se plante desde pticas diversas. Una de ellas situaba

la base de partida en una concepcin segn la cual, siendo todos nobles porvoluntad divina Dios zo omes e no zo linajes. A todos zo nobles en su

nacimiento- la prdida de dicha condicin haba sido responsabilidad de los

errores o pecados de los individuos; despus, a lo largo del proceso histrico, en

razn de su comportamiento a todos se dio eleccin de costumbres quando

viven-, slo algunos haban sabido recuperar dicha condicin, y mantenerla,

transmitindola por la sangre.7

The inappropriate use of Scripture and Theology led in the praxis,

to a submergent world that was geing away from the biblical principles ofequality, opportunity and grace for all creatures. In this environment, MartinLuther arises and generates a turning point in history because of his visionof the biblical text. The approach he makes to Scripture alters Theologycompletely and, hence, its expression in everyday life. We are facing a returnto the transcendent values that increase a person as such. As Juan Belddaobserves:

Su deseo de profundizar en el conocimiento de la Biblia se funda en que a Palabra

de Dios se le aparece como encadenada (oscurecida) por la Teologa Escolstica y

por la Autoridad Eclesistica. De ah que sus estudios escritursticos le lleven no

slo a una labor de investigacin de los textos bblicos, sino al cambio de toda la

Teologa y aun de la Iglesia misma.

Para empezar, Lutero reduce las fuentes de la Teologa a la Sola Scriptura,

rechazando la Tradicin divino-apostlica. Igualmente rechaza el Magisterio

eclesistico como fuente interpretativa de la Revelacin, quedndose slo con el

juicio personal: Libre examen, para determinar el sentido de la Palabra de Dios.

6J. Le Go, El nacimiento del purgatorio(Madrid: Taurus, 1985).7A. Carrasco, and M. Rbade, Pecar en la Edad Media(Madrid: Slex, 2008), 155.


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Todo ello supone una actitud reduccionista del mtodo teolgico tradicional.8

In a brief comparison (see Table I) we can see how important ishis contribution and how this considerably changes the management ofparadigms. The availability of the Scripture increases substantially. The

invention and use of the printing press, together with the translation of theBible in the vernacular languages presents an outlook of accessibility quitedierent to the previous period. Luthers proposal that there should bereading without intermediaries removes the religion from its gregariousformat and places it in the space of the individual. The variety of translationsof the Bible becomes a true communicational approach and progressive

breakdown in the ternary medieval structure. In the words of Rentera:

El mayor aporte de la Reforma no es la separacin entre los poderes poltico

y religioso sino la libertad de conciencia. Lutero es el iniciador de la Reforma,

pero lo que realmente inicia con Lutero es una guerra de libros, que tiene

como nalidad la conquista de la libertad de conciencia: la emancipacin del

hombre de sus tutores medievales. En 1517 Martn Lutero clava sus tesis en

las puertas de la Catedral de Wienberg, tales tesis estaban impresas en una

traduccin alemana y en el trmino de 15 das haban sido vistas en todo el pas.

En los aos siguientes se publicarn ms de 400 ediciones de sus traduccionesbblicas. Lutero fue excomulgado en 1520 por el Papa Len X, sus libros fueron

prohibidos, pero nadie poda detener ya esta contienda. Tal fue el pnico que

desencaden en los prncipes catlicos que Francisco I, rey de Francia, prohibi

en 1535 la impresin de cualquier libro en su reino. Bajo pena de la horca! La

guerra entre catlicos y protestantes se desplazaba al campo de las letras, era

una batalla por la conquista de la conciencia de los hombres y al mismo tiempo

de la conquista de la libertad de conciencia.9

The value that he gives to the original Canon (Hebrew canon) andits association with the principle of Sola Scriptura is similar to other turningpoints generated at their time by Jerome of Stridon or by the Karaites. Itis a return to the reading of Scripture in its plain meaning without theinterference of auctoritas. The practice of hermeneutics in Luther empowerstwo essential components for a beer understanding of Scripture: thehistorical-grammatical method and individuality. The personal approach to

8J. Belda, Historia de la Teologa (Madrid: Palabra, 2010), 152.9J. Len y Ramrez and S. Mora, Ciudadana, democracia y polticas pblicas (Mxico, D.F.: UNAM,2006), 102.


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the Bible strengthens the religious and ecclesiastical identity. The historical-grammatical hermeneutic (heir to Jewish and Antiochene traditions) is

strengthened by the studies of the humanists, especially Erasmus, thatcontribute method to the analysis of the materials in Hebrew, Aramaic,and specically in Greek. The Word becomes, once again, verb, enginegenerator of sense and actions.

The Bible changes adjectives; from being sacred it turned to beholy. We are not dealing with a magic object, a totem pole per se, butan element of sanctication, an instrument per relatio. That perception ofthe biblical material strengthens comprehension by giving to the wordfaith a dimension far more concrete not only in the salvation level but in

the understanding of everyday religious life. Faith is also the worldviewof the reformed person and his same culture. Bible verses are part of theindoctrination and the teachings of professions, community events and theregulation of the domestic, from the farthest depths of theology to the mostcommon praxis. Needless to say, therefore, that the authority given to theBible is normative. It is a Word that should generate transformation andaction.

There is, however, a factor that blurs the proposals of Luther, it is a

preeminence of the New Testament over the materials of the OT. His conceptof inspiration, induced by the emphasis on justication by faith, moves himaway from an understanding of Tota Scriptura.

One of the supports of this inection is due to the translations of thebiblical texts. Delisle and Voodsworth state:

La calidad lingstica de la Biblia de Lutero obedece a la aplicacin de un cierto

nmero de principios de traduccin. Primero que todo, Lutero predicaba el

retorno de las lenguas originales de la Biblia, el hebreo para el AT y el griego

para el NT, sin por ello desechar por completo la Vulgata Tambin le dabamucha importancia al medio cultural de los destinatarios de una traduccin.

Al traducir Las Sagradas Escrituras se esforzaba por darles un giro tpicamente

alemn, modicando el texto para adaptarlo a la mentalidad y el espritu de

la gente de su tiempo Lutero arm tambin haber empleado un lenguaje

simple para que sus traducciones fueran fciles de entender. Trat de alcanzar

un justo equilibrio entre el registro formal y el familiar, entre la lengua litrgica

y la cotidiana. En su epstola (Sendbrief) arm que se debera hablar alemn

como las personas en la plaza del mercado Pero su aporte ms importante

se sita en el plano estilstico. Claridad, facilidad de comprensin, simplicidad y

vigor son las grandes cualidades del estilo de sus traducciones, cualidades que


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an en nuestro das sirven de modelos de escritura. El mismo Lutero dijo de su

estilo que tocando cada uno de los cinco sentidos, penetra en el corazn y lo

hace vibrar (das also dringe und klinge ynns Hert, durch alle Sinne).

10

We owe it to these factors a period of sense in humanity, a time ofstrengthening the values because the Scripture was located on a platform ofinuence.

Table 1

Scripture Late Middle Ages Reform

Availability Low (the Bible is aminority text and of dicultaccess)

Growing (the invention of the printingpress and the translation into thevernacular languages makes it moreaccessible)

Variety A single text in latin An ocial translation into thevernacular language

Conguration Canon expanded (canonical anddeuterocanonical)

Sola Scriptura (Hebrew canon)

Interpretativeapproach

Allegorical hermeneutic Historical grammatical hermeneutic

Relevance Sacred Bible (magic text) Holy Bible (inspired text)

Axis of action Symbology Faith

Authority Shared (with the Magisterium) NormativeUnderstanding ofthe division

Old and New Testament Old Testament decreased andamplied New Testament

Translation Liturgized latin translation Literal translations

Source: Own source

FROMEARLY TOLATEMODERNAGES

Touraines vision11 of the social evolution of recent centuries isremarkably clear. He argues that with the Illustration comes what he calledthe Early Modern Age. He identies it as a period that revolves arounda principle of order and development of the scientic mind. The IndustrialRevolution proposes new nuances to modernity (called Middle ModernAge ) which are identied with the association of industrialization and theconguration of the concept of nation. Today, we live in the Late ModernAge. As he puts it, it gives a position of the subject that is at the same time

10J. Delisle, and J. Voodsworth, Los traductores en la historia(Antioqua: Universidad de An-tioqua, 2005), 39-42.

11A. Touraine, Pourrons-nous vivre ensemble? Egaux et dirents(Paris: Fayard, 1997), 159-92.


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central and weak between the two opposing universes of the markets andcommunities.12Mallimaci describes from a similar horizon this period we

are experiencing:

Al comienzo del s. XXI, fruto de la globalizacin nanciera, el derrumbe del

bloque socialista, la disminucin de los estados nacionales (mundializacin) y

el avance de la mercantilizacin en el planeta, hay autores que hablan de una

aceleracin de la modernidad capitalista. Hipermodernidad o modernidad

avanzada o individualidad en una sociedad de riesgo personal y mundial, con

categoras zombies, que han muerto y siguen vivas donde hay una nueva

concepcin del tiempo, el riesgo y las oportunidades junto a modernidades

mltiples y plurales y propuestas de otra modernizacin como la planteada porel Forum Social Mundial son diferentes conceptos que tratan de dar cuenta de

una pluralidad en lo que hoy vivimos.

La amenaza y cercana al desempleo, a la pobreza, al riesgo y a la incertidumbre

en el futuro produce una angustia generalizada a nivel planetario. Si ayer

esto llevaba a crear organizaciones, hoy la individualidad acelerada produce la

disolucin de los vnculos entre las elecciones individuales y los proyectos y

acciones colectivas.13

How did we come to another stage of submergent worn down values?In response, I propose, again, a reading of society from its relationship withthe Bible. We will compare the identifying elements of the Early Modern Age(EMA) with those of the Late Modern Age (LMA) to detect the evolution thathas been done in these centuries (see Table 2).

The EMA generalizes the access of the biblical texts developinga strong interest in the study of the manuscripts, their relationships andvariants (Textual Critique). This dynamic increases exponentially, generatingin the LMA an excess of materials and a remarkable infoxication.

Esta es una de las paradojas culturales ms representativas de nuestra poca:

disponemos de los recursos y medios para la accesibilidad a la informacin, pero

la limitada capacidad del proceso de la mente humana provoca que el umbral

12See the chapter Haute, moyenne et basse modernits in A. Touraine, Pourrons-nous vivreensemble? Egaux et dirents (Paris: Fayard, 1997), 159-92. A. Touraine, La sociedad post-industrial(Barcelona: Ariel, 1969); A. Touraine, La n des socits(Paris: d. du Seuil, 2013); A. Touraine, andA. Bixio, Crtica de la modernidad (Mxico: Fondo de Cultura Econmica, 2000); A. Touraine, F.Khosrokhavar and V. Gmez, A la bsqueda de s mismo: dilogo sobre el sujeto(Barcelona: Paids,

2002); A. Touraine and T. Mercado, Las sociedades dependientes(Mxico: S. Veintiuno Editores, 1978);A. Touraine, Sociologa de la accin(Barcelona: Ariel, 1969).

13F. Mallimaci, Modernidad, religin y memoria(Buenos Aires: Colihue, 2008), 80.


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de comprensibilidad de los acontecimientos se vea sobrepasado por la excesiva

cantidad de informacin que recibimos. Por ello, distintos autores arman que

la sociedad de la informacin no signica necesariamente una sociedad demayor conocimiento. Una cosa son los datos y otra bien distinta la capacidad de

interpretarlos, darles sentido y signicado til para ciertos propsitos.14

The EMA enhanced national versions compared to the LMA thatmultiplies, obviously by editorial interests, the most varied versions.The eect of not identifying a version with a denomination or a culturalidentication that might, at rst sight, seem positive (it ends that descriptionof catholic or protestant Bible) ends up aecting common language (on

many occasions liturgized) from the communities of believers. In addition,such a quantity of versions causes in the most radical sectors a return toancient texts which were archaic or dicult to understand.

Although the defragmentation of the canon was worrying in the EMA

because it created some discredit of the biblical texts, the uncanonization of theLMA is much more alarming. The inclusion in the bureau of interpretationsof non canonical, pseudepigraphic or esoteric texts causes, without a doubt,an appalling superciality in the hermeneutic approach. There is no canon

because there are no limits.

The historical-critical hermeneutic method of the EMA had givenmethod to the biblical sciences but established positivists axioms that are

being called into question from the methodological (Popper, Lakatos, Kuhn,Feyerabend) to the linguistic (James Barr). It seemed that the canonicalhermeneutics (Brevard Childs) was going to provide some means ofescape but it was eeting and the LMA was plunged into the labyrinthof synchronous approaches. We are, at this time, before a descriptive andemotional hermeneutic that moves between the Discourse Analysis and

narratology. The story of the Bible seems to be abandoning its nature ofhistory and deepen in the format of story.In the EMA, the Bible is not an inspired text, it is barely considered as

literature, as much the product of great geniuses of spirituality. In the LMAit is simply an inspiring text; it adapts to dierent realities in an exercise ofcontextualization. The receivers redene the process of transformation, and

sometimes generating unavoidable dissonances.

14Fundacin Telefnica,Alfabetizacin digital y competencias informacionales(Madrid: Ariel,

2012), 22.


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The axis of action of the EMA was history. The explanation ofthe evolution of thought was found in the diachrony and its artifacts

(archaeology, Literary Criticism, textual criticism, Comparative Religion,etc.). Such a process placed the reader in the climax of knowledge. The LMA,in its radical relativizing activity, set the axis in subjectivity and emotion.The content does not aect so much as the container; the personal spiritualexperience replaces the search for truth. The artifacts from this period arethe opinion and taste. The Metastory is abandoned and only remains theindividualizing and atomizing Microstory.

For the EMA the Bible was not authority, for the LMA the Biblerepresents a worn and faded authority. Worn because it responds to the

image of the churches with their scandals and frauds. Faded because it iscoated with the sienna of the old and it is considered outdated. It is a familyphotograph that awakens astonishment by the customs of other times.

The EMA conceived the biblical texts from two distinct platforms: theJewish Bible and the Christian Bible. One of the factors may lie in the factthat many theologians of this period agreed with anti-semitic assumptions.The LMA prefers a more neutral and tolerant taxonomic expression: First

and Second Testaments.

Although the EMA took into account the literary genre for translationprocesses, the result was often quite literal, demystifying and academizing.The LMA ows in the premises of the dynamic translation. But, what are thelimits of such dynamism? Lopez Garcia helps us to reect on this subject:

En realidad, el principio de la equivalencia dinmica es un ltimo recurso, al que

hay que acudir cuando ha fallado todo otro intento de traducir el trmino que

gura en el texto de la LD [Lengua Destino]. Es un principio que, mal aplicado,

puede conducir a resultados anlogos a los del literalismo. La equivalencia

dinmica deja en manos del traductor una responsabilidad que a la largalo conducir a situaciones sin salida o a una labor en la que ese principio de

equivalencia dominar todos los aspectos de la traduccin. Si lo nico que se

puede pedir a un traductor es que sea consecuente con sus principios, qu clase

de traduccin de la Biblia se obtendr si hay que hallar un equivalente dinmico

para las instituciones sociales, formas de vida, trminos del dominio afectivo,

ora y fauna, campo simblico, etc.?... La traduccin funcional aplicada sin unos

criterios de correccin puede conducirnos a excesos tan indeseados como los de

la traduccin palabra por palabra.15

15D. Lpez Garca, Sobre la imposibilidad de la traduccin (Cuenca: Ediciones de la Univer-sidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 1991), 92, 93.


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Table 2

Scripture Early Modern Age Late Modern Age(Liquid modernity or postmodernity)

Availability Widespread access Excess (infoxication)

Variety National versions Multiple versions

Conguration Fragmented canon Uncanonization (inclusion of noncanonical, pseudepigraphical andesoteric texts)

Interpretativeapproach

Historical-critical hermeneutic Synchronous hermeneutics (descriptiveand emotional)

Relevance Bible (text not inspired) New Bible (inspiring text)

Axis of action History Emotion

Authority No authority Worn authority

Understanding of thedivision

Jewish Bible and ChristianBible

First Testament and second Testament

Translation Translation from the literarygenre

Dynamic translation

Source: Own source

The situation in the LMA is not so dierent from the lived in the LateMiddle Age. This submergent world has installed itself in the relativity, inaesthetics with their symbols, in the ambiguity and confusion. As a result,the person becomes a homo consumericus. As Lipovetsky suggests,16there arecertain traits in the man of today that are approaching the turbo-consumer:provisional participation, free community incorporation, behaviors ondemand, the primacy of the greater subjective welfare and the emotionalexperience. Religiousness is dissolved in consumerism due to the lack of

models or because those we have appear to us like a supermarket of sense

where you can take or leave whatever you want.How to position ourselves as believers and intellectuals? How to

provide a turning point that proposes models of fullness to people ratherthan consumer oers? Maybe we should do an exercise of coherence andtranscendence.

16G. Lipovetsky, La felicidad paradjica: ensayo sobre la sociedad de hiperconsumo(Barcelona:Anagrama, 2013).


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THEPRESCRIBER OFMETASTORY ANDHYPERTEXT

The Christian intellectual cannot allow the Bible to stop beingthe essential framework for the Metastory. Away from fundamentalist orreductive premises, he has the task to bring coherence to the human beingthrough the worldview proposed by the biblical text. His gure is not as a

simple descriptor but has the challenge to prescribe.The role of the academic believers has been self-limiting to spaces that

surf in the biblical message, standing in the security zones of the description:

1. Method. Postmodernity considers objectivity as impossible and

focuses the meaning of any text in the reader. Inuenced by theseconcepts, Christian descriptors circulate on the ambiguity of themultiple views. The thus says YHWH has been turned to I believethat.

2. Subjectivity. To place the axis of any sense in subjectivity is to createa fragmentation of the Whole that nullies that same sense. God andthe Truth are changed for countless disoriented lile gods with localtruths. The descriptor becomes a simple notary of the multiplicity of

views.3. Story. The narration does not cease to be story and the descriptora storyteller that wanders between ction and myth in front of acommunity of believers that suspect, consciously or unconsciously,of the reality of the text. The Bible is a record of more or less made upcompositions that are barely over the skill of a literary outline.

4. Tolerance. The desire to please is confused with the practice of

tolerance. The descriptor simply describes because this does notexceed the space of privacy. The fear of intruding binds the descriptor

who tends to confuse to look good with doing it right.5. Visualization. The natural expression of the descriptor is the

verbalization of the visualization. The Bible that pleases is a Bibledisplayed, narrated and illustrated. There is a certain mysticism inthe contemplation of the images, scenes or drawings of the biblicalnarratives that are presented in hiatus with the everyday reality.

6. Recognition. The objective of the descriptor, particularly in theacademic products, does not exceed the recognition of the literaryforms, the theological structures, the list of semantic elds, themultiple opinions of the authorities. After the collage of arguments


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or thinking a relationship with the everyday life is hardly perceived.

If there is consistency in the speech of the Christian intellectual, if youhave the guts to continue supporting that the Scripture is the Word of God,we cannot conne ourselves to the role of descriptors. It is a simple exerciseof coherence.

The Bible is the Hypertext par excellence. There is no other book thatcan establish links like this. Some would dare to claim that it is the hypotextof western culture but it reaches far beyond. It exceeds the signier-signied,leer-idea, sender-receiver bidimensionality to achieve the sense of theperson with the time (explains the yesterday, means the today and claries

the future), with the space (complete the here and brings closer the beyond)with the being (positions the self, discovers the other, reveals Him). The Bibleis the Hypertext because it generates transcendence.

If that is the nature of the Bible, if we live in a submergent world, wehave no other option but to be prescribers. We have, therefore, to revise ourfunctions:

1. The Way vs. the method. The Bible presents with clarity that themethod for a prescription process does not respond to what but to

who. Jesus is the way, Jesus is the method. It does not consist of aprotocol or a list of actions, but in understanding that transcendenceemerges and becomes one person. That person, in addition, is theChrist, which implies a participation of the divine in the process ofinuence and improvement.

2. The Truth vs. subjectivity. If something distinguishes neotestamentarychristianity of tannaitic Judaism is its linearity. The biblical text can

be linear because there is certainty that the truth is not an exercise ofapproximation but the conrmation by means of faith that right and

wrong exist. The Christian intellectual, as prescriber, seeks the Truth notto possess or instrumentalise it but to live it and help others to live it too.

3. Life vs. the narration. Bible is not a compilation of stories but acollection of experiences. The text is expressed literarily but it reectsthe life. There is no dispute about the historicity or the narrative butlife is empowered. The prescriber detects the greatness of the humanexperience before the divine and proposes it as an example of life.The lived Bible is an agent of vitalization.

4. Respect vs. tolerance. The foundation of every biblical principle is love.Respect arises from that foundation and, as such, it is active. Respect


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empathizes to such an extent that it longs for and seeks to improvethe other. To do good and share the good news is essential in the task

of the prescriber. The intrusion is abandoned by the complicity, theimposition by the oer, dogmatism by the relationship.

5. Vivifcation vs. visualization. We have to get away from the stage,even from the stands of the religious theater to go to the streets ofexistence. The Bible cannot be left in the images, carvings or autossacramentales of post-modernity. It must be more than an imaginary,it must incorporate each corner of life. It is urgent to leave thisecclesiastical and theological Platonism, both in sermons and articles,and enliven the biblical text.

6. Transformation vs. recognition. It is not enough to recognize the life inthe Bible, it is necessary to mend lives with the Bible. Transformation isone of the most transcendent objectives of the Scripture. This should bethe priority in the practice of Theology and praxis. God intervenes inhistory so that the Metastory becomes our story, so we do not convert

before the Storyteller of storytellers and Prescriber of prescribers.

No one will say the task is easy, but was it once? I imagine Luther

contemplating our submergent world and proposing with intensity aturning point. He would possibly suggest some changes in our relationshipwith Scripture (see Table 3). First, the availability of the Bible present amongthe believers and, also, away from the interests of the market. Versions ofthe text that would establish, in addition to contextualization, relationshipswith the truth of the content and with the needs of recipients. A return tothe original canon because there is a lack of a model and an original one. Ahistorical-linguistic hermeneutic that should be prescriptive and sentimental(emotion owing through reason). The Holy Bible conceived as an inspired

and inspiring text, that space where the revelation meets with light and life.A return to faith as axis of action, as the spiritual and material engine. A

biblical text that would impact in life as a guide for growth, as authoritythat arises from a leadership that transforms. An understanding of theBible as the fullness of communication where Sola Scripturais connected toTota Scriptura. A material that is translated in a comprehensive and unitingmanner where an eort should be made to transmission of containers andcontent alike.

Changes, I am sure, that would bring us closer to new realities, to alook of this world closer to YHWH.


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Table 3

Scripture Hypertext in a coherent and transcendent Christianity

Availability Present and freed from the market

Variety Related versions

Conguration Original canon

Interpretative approach Historical-linguistic hermeneutic (prescriptive andsentimental)

Relevance Holy Bible (inspired and inspiring text)

Axis of action Faith

Authority Authority of life

Understanding of the division Bible

Translation Comprehensive and uniting translation

Source: Own source

Del descriptor al prescriptor

Documents

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