"These young adults do indeed wrestle
with the biblical text in the context of their own lives, which is
better than benignly neglecting it or uttering pious platitudes about
it. Painful as it may be for some, this is a must-read for church
leaders and parents of youth and young adults." "Wrestling with the Text presents the honest and sometimes raw reflections of 16 young adults on the importance of scripture in their lives. Does scripture matter? What authority does/should/can it hold in a post-ecclesial age? The writers share stories of how encounters with Scripture have shaped their relationships with family, friends and the church, and their entire worldview." "Many of the writers
grew up with Scripture and eventually faced with the decision of
holding it as something sacred or discarding it as something
unnecessary. The reader of these texts will easily be similarly
confronted by their own journeys and stories of wrestling. This is an
important book for all who care about the church and its primary
identity document." "In our congregation’s Exploring Baptism class we introduce our youth to Walter Brueggemann’s language about the Bible: the biblical text is endlessly 'strange and new.' Sometimes the 17- and 18-year-olds look at their pastors blankly as we speak about the marvelous challenges encountered in and with the written Word. In contrast, the writers of these essays know what Brueggemann is talking about. Each essay probes the strange and new realities of the Bible with honesty, creativity and, in many cases, no small struggle. In language rich with metaphor (wrestling match, clay on a potter’s wheel, long-distance car-trip, for starters) each writer describes the difficult journey of moving from a childhood understanding of the bible to the more expansive vision required by an adult faith. "I was saddened by the pain
in some of these essays; I was
amazed at the persistence and determination of the writers to engage
their questions. I was challenged in my own reading of the text; I was
encouraged by the affirmations of community as the place where the text
can be best understood and lived out. This book serves well either to
open a conversation or to deepen one about the ways our stories
intersect with the God story." "This
is a
generous book. The younger writers are generous with their experience;
the older commentators are generous with their nurture of that
experience. It is a book that gives me heart for the rest of my journey
as a Scripture teacher in the church."
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