Ever watch one of those news reels from the early part of the 20th century? You know, the kind of thing where a newscaster is giving reports on the war over black and white footage, all while some scratchy band music is playing? I’m not from that generation, and when I watch that kind of thing, and it’s amazing how distant it feels. It’s like it took place on a different planet. Scripture’s kind of like that, except a billion times worse.
It can be hard to get the feel for it. It’s ancient stuff, written to folks without electricity and no concept of cell phones, the internet, or cars. Nobody in ancient Corinth had played football or frogger, and nobody in David’s time had even dreamed of a hot dog, kosher or otherwise. I’ve been around the scriptures all my life, and I have trouble getting it in my head that the people that composed and first read these texts weren’t cavemen just because they didn’t have light bulbs or laptops. It’s like it took place in a different universe.
That distance between me and the communities that produced these texts makes things tough when I read them. It makes it hard to pick out the voices, to really get what those communities were testifying to about the God they knew, how that God had walked with them. Sometimes I still wonder if I get it at all. I definitely wonder if they would get me. The more I study scripture, the more questions like these and others come to the surface.
That’s not the whole story, though. It is also true (thankfully, fantastically true!) that the more I train my ear to hear the voices within the text, the better at it I get. With practice in listening, the differences between those communities and mine begin to blur and fade. The distance is real, it is substantial, but it isn’t a deal killer. I just need to learn to listen.
If you’re on that path of trying to learn how to listen to scripture, I’m glad you’ve come here so that we can do that together a bit. Whether you’re an individual trying to just hear things a little clearer or somebody who teaches in a community of God’s people, I hope that what you find here helps you learn to listen to scripture more perceptively, accurately, and faithfully.
You'll notice from the navigation links at the top of the page that the site is divided into three sections. The first is full of Textual Studies, organized around a particular book of the Bible. The second is Thematic Studies, which begin with some sort of topic or theme. Finally, there is a section called Teacher's Corner, which is intended to help you become a better teacher of the word, providing advice, ideas, and tips. If you have any ideas about other studies you'd like to see added, or if you notice corrections that need to be made along the way, please feel free to forward those to me through the feedback page. If you're interested in learning a little bit more about me, my family, or my ministry, I keep a blog and post sermons and pictures at www.stevenhovater.com.
Again, I sincerely hope that whatever you find here is useful to you, and that your study of the Bible challenges you to become the person God intends you to be.
Grace and Peace,
-Steven