re-imagining the bible

"a really big book with lots of tiny words"

Her answer cut through all of our other responses.

The question being discussed was: "What is the Bible?"

In some quarters it's a pretty controversial question - even in some of the answers among these teachers who desperately want to help young people "re-imagine the bible" - there were a variety of responses.

"God's Word"

"The Rule for Life"

"The Standard"

"God's Love Letter"

"A History of Life"

"The Manual For Living"

"A Theological Handbook"

Then, a pre-school teacher piped up: "I think of how my children might think of the Bible, and to them it's 'a really big book with lots of tiny words.'"

I wonder whether that might be a good reflection on how most school students might view the Bible (whatever their age!), and it might be helpful for us to assume that that is ALWAYS the starting place when we invite others into this Story.

If you're keen to grab a copy of the slides from my workshop "re-imagining the bible", you can find them here.