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Formational Study of Scripture Series

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Formational Reading of Scripture: The Luther Bible Study Method

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Last week, Rhoda concluded the blog citing words from Luther, “Luther’s words are a warning to those teachers of the faith (like me!) who are tempted to impart a plethora of knowledge about a given text and its context. The African study method sees Scripture as the swaddling cloths and manger that hold what is “dear … the treasure, Christ,” and aims to lead participants to encounter that most priceless treasure, Jesus.” So it is most appropriate this week that we turn to a method derived from Luther’s own work, a method that also leads the catechumen to the most priceless treasure, Jesus: the Luther Four-Strand Garland method. Derived from Luther’s description to Peter, his barber, of a simple way to pray, this method takes Luther’s advocacy for a pattern for pray and applies it to reflection on the Scriptures in a corporate context. The outline of the method that follows comes (nearly) verbatim from Go Make Disciples: An Invitation to Baptismal Living (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2012, 142-43).

               Luther’s Four-Stranded Garland[1]

  • Preparation
    • The biblical text is the Gospel reading for the “current” Sunday (that is, if the group gathers on Sunday, they will use the text from that day). The same reading is used throughout the week, Monday through Saturday, on whatever day the group meets.
    • Allow the group members to sit quietly and take a few minutes to relax and prepare themselves for reflection and prayer.
  • The First Strand: Instruction
    • The catechist reads the text aloud slowly.
    • Group members listen silently for the instruction they each hear from the text.
      • What is God saying to you?
      • Is there a word, phrase, image, or feeling that captures you?
      • Focus on the word, phrase, image, or feeling for a while before each person mentions it to the group in turn.
    • The Second Strand: Thanksgiving
      • Another person in the group reads the passage slowly.
      • Group members listen silently for something about which they would like to give God thanks.
      • Group members allow feelings of thanksgiving to fill themselves.
      • Group members each speak aloud something for which they give thanks.
    • The Third Strand: Wholeness/Confession
      • Another person in the group reads the passage slowly.
      • Group members listen silently for how the text is speaking to their dis-ease, woundedness, and sinfulness.
      • Then group members speak aloud about how the text is speaking to their pain.
    • The Fourth Strand: Presence
      • Another person in the group reads the passage slowly.
      • Group members silently recall the word, phrase, image, or feeling from the first strand, resting in it and letting it lead them to rest in God.
    • Closing: Close with a group prayer of thanksgiving, which may conclude with the Lord’s Prayer
    • Optional addition before the closing prayer: The catechist may offer a voice from tradition which illuminates the passage in some way (i.e., scriptural teaching and/or catechesis); this “voice from tradition” should be prepared in consultation with the pastor or may be one or two points from the Sunday’s sermon.

Like the African study method, the Luther method structures an encounter with the written Word and the proclaimed Word, and through them the personal Word, Christ Jesus himself. In contrast with the African method, this method begins to expand more fully into the life of prayer and into the discipled life of the Christian. The first strand focuses on a primary image or Word that leads to the initial encounter with the living Lord. The second and third strands expand into attending to thanksgiving—the primary evocation of faith—and dealing with human sin, brokenness, suffering, and evil. The last strand then returns to the encounter with God in Christ through this text. Throughout all of it there is an implicit thrust toward the implications of the experience of Christ Jesus through this text: Life should be a life of thanksgiving and of trust of God in the presence of sin and evil. And all of my relationships and actions should be shaped by this encounter and bear witness to it. The Luther method forms the catechumen toward lifelong a discipleship of faith.

[1] See also Matthew C. Harrison, Why Am I Joy:Fully Lutheran? (St. Louis: CPH, 2018), 228-30.

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African Method of Scripture Study: Encountering the Word

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As with the other two methods, the African study method meets the inquirer where they are at, not where the church wants them to be. In other words, the focus is not on discursive, propositional study of the Scriptures. It is not the downloading of all the catechetical and doctrinal knowledge that we believe the catechumen needs to have. With these methods we … have to let the Spirit lead through the Word in this encounter. But that doesn’t mean this approach isn’t catechetical. The catechesis arises from and out of the encounter with the Word.

Quote from last week’s post by Kent Burreson

Kent’s words are a challenge to our readers. Embracing the role of the Spirit in these methods of Scripture study can be difficult for church leaders trained in traditional forms of pedagogy that focus on delivering content about a subject. The lack of biblical literacy among inquirers also drives those of us who teach to address that lack with lesson plans about content. But, as Kent points out, the goal is not mastery of content but an “encounter” that comes “through the Word.” The Spirit not only leads “through the Word” (Scripture) but also leads to “the Word”—that is, to an encounter with the “Word made flesh,” Jesus Christ, full of grace and truth.

As a former skeptic of these methods of Scripture study, I offer this testimony from a woman who was part of the faith formation process at St. Mary’s Lutheran Church, one of our research congregations.[1] Betty, who was eager to start the process because she “had so many questions,” was surprised that rather than asking questions, the members of the group were directed to answer questions! At one point in our conversation, she said, “I don’t think I found St. Mary’s; I think St. Mary’s found me.” With these words, she is implicitly acknowledging the work of the Spirit in the congregation’s faith formation process; one that, by posing questions for reflection, drew her more deeply into a relationship with Christ.

As the sample questions provided by Kent in last week’s post show, the African study method meets the inquirers where they are at, asking what “word, phrase, or image” captured their attention; how “God is speaking to you in this story”; and, if possible, a question based on the particular text, such as “What burdens are you carrying now?” in response to Jesus’s words about his “yoke” that is “easy” and “burden is light” (Matt 11:25-30). The goal is to lead the participants to “ponder in their hearts” the words of Scripture; to hear God speaking to them through Scripture; and to see Jesus in light of their daily concerns and needs. As Martin Luther wrote in his Preface to the Old Testament (1523),

… think of the Scriptures as the loftiest and noblest of holy things, as the richest of mines which can never be sufficiently explored, in order that you may find that divine wisdom which God here lays before in such simple guise as to quench all pride. Here you will find the swaddling cloths and the manger in which Christ lies, and to which the angel points the shepherds [Luke 2:12]. Simple and lowly are these swaddling cloths, but dear is the treasure, Christ, who lies in them. (Luther’s Works, vol. 35, p. 236).

Luther’s words are a warning to those teachers of the faith (like me!) who are tempted to impart a plethora of knowledge about a given text and its context. The African study method sees Scripture as the swaddling cloths and manger that hold what is “dear … the treasure, Christ,” and aims to lead participants to encounter that most priceless treasure, Jesus.

[1] Both the person’s and congregation’s names are pseudonyms.

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Formational Reading of Scripture: The African Bible Study Method

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Likely the most utilized Bible study method in the catechumenate is the African Bible Study method (also called collation). As Go Make Disciples describes “it refers to the process of ‘collecting’ or gathering thoughts, reflections, and prayers through the hearing of a passage of Scripture read multiple times” (140). It bears marked similarity to the ancient devotional practice of Lectio Divina. New Christian communities in South Africa employed it in the 1960’s and 1970’s as a way of evangelizing and building the church. All three primary methods of Bible study can be utilized throughout any of the stages of the catechumenate. However, I think this method works particularly well in the first two stages of Inquiry and the Catechumenate stage. It exposes inquirers and catechumens to the Word of God in a non-threatening and inviting way. It facilitates an encounter with the Word in which becoming familiar with God’s self-revelation in Christ Jesus is at the center. That encounter takes place through this method in the context of where the inquirer and catechumen are in the specificity of their lived experience. (This would be true of all three methods.) As with the other two methods, the African study method meets the inquirer where they are at, not where the church wants them to be. In other words, the focus is not on discursive, propositional study of the Scriptures. It is not the downloading of all the catechetical and doctrinal knowledge that we believe the catechumen needs to have. With these methods we have to release for controlling the movement toward right belief. We have to let the Spirit lead through the Word in this encounter. But that doesn’t mean this approach isn’t catechetical. The catechesis arises from and out of the encounter with the Word.

So what is the pattern of reading, reflection, and sharing in this method?

  • Typically, the biblical text is the Gospel reading for the “current” Sunday (that is, if the group gathers on Sunday, they will use the text from that day). The same reading is used throughout the week, Monday through Saturday, on whatever day the group meets. [Other texts, including liturgical texts or rituals, can also be used].
  • The Gospel text is read three times, each time with a different prompt for individual reflection. There are different kinds of prompts that can be used.
    • First reading, reflection, and sharing.
      • The catechist gives the first prompt, “Listen for a word, phrase, or image that captures your attention,” pauses for a brief time of silence, and then reads the text slowly.
      • After the reading and a short silence, each person shares their word, phrase, or image; no one comments on what others have said.
    • Second reading, reflection, and sharing.
      • The catechist gives the second prompt, followed by silence, before the text is read slowly a second time by someone else.
      • Second prompt (here are two options)
        • How is God speaking to you in this story? Or
        • What theme or concerns do you hear in this text?
      • After the reading and a short silence, each person shares briefly; no one comments on what others have said.
    • Third reading, reflection, and sharing.
      • The catechist gives the third prompt, followed by silence, before the text is read slowly the third time by someone else.
      • Third prompt (here are two options)
        • Where does this passage touch my life today? Or
        • A question crafted by the catechumenal team specific to the Gospel reading. These questions were written for Matthew 11:25-30.
          • What burdens are you carrying now?
          • What is the Son revealing to you at this point in your life?
        • Optional addition after the second reading: The catechist may offer a voice from tradition which illuminates the passage in some way (i.e. scriptural teaching and/or catechesis); this “voice from tradition” should be prepared in consultation with the pastor or may be one or two points from the Sunday’s sermon.

 

This provides the basic pattern, but there are numerous other structural options. Central to this experience is each individual inquirer’s or catechumen’s encounter with the Word. That is why the silence and the prohibition against speaking until all who want to express their response to the prompts have done so. The catechist catechizes in this method by the kinds of prompts they provide, by their guiding of the process, and by their initial teaching that flows from the time together in the Word. This method decidedly expresses the conviction that the agent of conversion and strengthening of faith is the Holy Spirit through the living and breathing Word of God.

 

              

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Formational Reading of Scripture: Methods of Studying the Word

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In previous posts we gave attention to the role that the study of the Scriptures plays in the various stages of the catechumenate. It entails less focus on information and learning what Christians believe and a much greater focus on hearing and reflecting on the Word of God and exploring the questions about Jesus, faith, and the church that seekers and catechumens pose. This type of reading and exploration of Scripture is often called formational reading of Scripture. As the book Understanding Faith Formation indicates, formational reading transforms the reader by the influence of the Word of God mediated through the lived encounter with the text by the power of the Holy Spirit (94).

As part of the general approach of the catechumenate for forming disciples who live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, formational reading aims to transform the lives of those encountering Christ in the church’s life. Formational reading is described by Understanding Faith Formation in the following ways:

  • The objective is not to cover as much material as possible
  • Formational reading is deep
  • Allows the text to master the reader
  • The reader is shaped by the text
  • Forms a humble, receptive approach to the Scriptures
  • Expects an openness to mystery (especially of God) as encountered in the text (95-96)

Since the reintroduction of the catechumenate with the RCIA in the 20th century, three primary approaches to study of the Scriptures have proven effective among Lutherans (and other Christians) as methods of formational reading: The African study method, the Luther method, and the Visualization method. All three forms are easily adaptable and can be contextualized to any given congregation. For example, instead of focusing on the lectionary readings, especially in the early stages of the catechumenate, some congregations focus on the Word as it is encountered in the worship experience of the church, through the liturgy.  Liturgical texts and actions become the primary encounter with the Word upon which these study methods focus. Over the next 8 weeks we will consider these three primary study methods and how they can be used to shape a formational reading of Scripture in a congregation’s catechumenate and in its life together.

One of the results of the catechumenate is that it builds community and incorporates newcomers into that community. Establishing such a formational reading approach to encountering the Word of God will form the community around the Word, with the Word at the center. It will lead the explorers and catechumens to fall “in love with the Scriptures” and to make it a daily part of their contemplation of and encounter with Christ (Macalintal, Your Parish is the Curriculum, 75) through their corporate life together in Jesus.