So, I am reading On Christian Doctrine by Augustine (a fourth century Bishop of Hippo in North Africa). The first aim in his book is to speak of properly interpreting Scripture. He begins by discussing the Law and Prophets being summed up in the love of God and the love of our neighbor.

Then he goes on for 35 (short) chapters on the character of God, and the nature of the Trinity. Then he goes on about the purpose of man to love and enjoy Him along with our purpose to love others. He speaks of the shape this love takes and how it can go astray. All this is very theological ... seemingly out of order.

Chapter 36 finally comes back to his central point, how can we properly interpret Scripture? Augustine's central answer? By loving God. Any interpretation of the Bible that aims toward the love of God and the love of our neighbor will not be far off the ultimate mark. There may be mistakes in readings and meanings of individual authors and texts, but if the central point of love is maintained, though an interpreter must be corrected, he can be trusted.

Our straying understanding of texts can lead us far afield, making us trust our own opinions over Scripture. If we are mistaken we will undoubtedly find inconsistencies. If we support our own theories over the purpose of the biblical author we will wander further and further from the mark of loving God, because we will understand Him less. So we must be corrected.

This is a profound challenge. If we are to interpret the Bible, we must do so out of a love for God and a love for others. Many mistakes will be made, they are unavoidable, but mistakes made in the name of love can be reclaimed, because "love never fails." We are forgiven and restored.

So oddly enough, in what could degenerate into a purely academic pursuit, we must draw back to the relational. Our reading of the Scripture should not be merely technically accurate, but full of love for God and love for others. How do I do something so individual as reading with a mind to something so communal as love? This is a challenge, to find our interpretive center not in history, culture, geography, rhetoric, grammar, or literary genre, but in love.

I love teaching STEP, Lancaster Conference's pastoral training program. It is always a challenge to do an entire Survey of the First Testament in 2 hours. I never do it, at least not as well as I would like. Always fun though.

I collect portrait busts. I once bought one of Christopher Columbus on Ebay (paying way too much shipping). When I got it I also noted that it was absolutely huge, about 3 feet tall. Much more portrait than I bargained for. The only place it fits is the basement. An impressive giant with unexpected complications.

I just finished reading a book about Christopher Columbus. It was good. He was a strange hero. Contemporary judgment tends to condemn him for introducing hardship from Europe into the unsuspecting tribal societies of the Americas. It is hard, in light of today's mission's philosophy to reconcile his mix of materialism, politics and evangelization. It is also hard to reconcile his political savvy with the monarchs of Spain and his command at sea with his political ineptitude in establishing colonies, delegating to unscrupulous despots, who eventually were his undoing. There is much, from our perspective to dislike about him. But it is still true that without him, our world would not exist. Likely, many of us would not exist either.

We are all Columbus. We have good things to recommend us to the world, but they are complicated by our mistakes and incompetency. But, like Columbus, I can only hope my foibles are the source of debate about me, rather than the sole reason I am considered at all.