Walter Cronkite Interviews Gentlefootprint on Scripture

Picture the Bible as a big mansion where God lives. There are all kinds of different rooms in that mansion. Rooms with different decor. Rooms for different purposes. But one house. Now we want to get to know the One who lives inside. Mr. or Mrs. Exegesis enter through the front door and take in all of the different things you learn about the owner as they pass from room to room. They would consider what they found in the context of the room in which they discovered it. They would consider when what they found was acquired, what other choices may have been available and why a particular choice may have been made. Now, on the other hand, Mr. or Mrs. Isegesis slip in through the back door with an agenda. They already claim to know who the occupant is. They'll look around and snatch anything they can find in support of what they already believe. Now which one is going to be able to tell you more about who the occupant living in the mansion?

CRONKITE: Hello again everyone. This is Walter Cronkite. Here with me today is a pilgrim on the spiritual path, Gentlefootprint. Welcome.
GENTLEFOOTPRINT: Thank you, Walter. It's good to be here.
CRONKITE: You recently started your second xanga, Five Minutes for GOD: A Spiritual Journey through the Bible. Why?
GENTLEFOOTPRINT: I didn't see anything like it on xanga. There are a lot of xangas out there that offer reflections on all aspects of spirituality from every possible angle. You'll also find a bunch of xangas that apply the scriptures to every discussion, debate or conversation. When these two come together you'll find a battlefield that many find a turnoff and will run the other way. My goal with 5 Minutes was to show that there is another way, a spiritual way to walk through the passages of the Bible. God's Word is always a living word that continues to create. It isn't imprisoned by the printed pages of a book.
CRONKITE: How do you find God's Word in the Bible?
GENTLEFOOTPRINT: You begin by realizing that the Bible isn't a book at all. It's many different books covering a multiplicity of genres. Each arose from the pen of a particular writer set in a particular place and time and circumstance. That writer belonged to a people who reflected on their particular relationship with God within that context. All this needs to be taken into consideration if you're going to fully understand God's Word. This is the work of exegesis.
CRONKITE: So how do you find and select scripture passages that address our particular questions or issues?
GENTLEFOOTPRINT: A more legitimate question might be should we be doing so in the first place? To take our present beliefs and concerns to the Bible to find vindication for them is isegesis. The true meaning of God's Word in scripture rests with exegesis, not isegesis. Now with good exegesis we unlock the full power of that Word and the truth it contains may well speak to today's dilemmas.
CRONKITE: All this sounds so scholarly.
GENTLEFOOTPRINT: To an extent, yes. When someone sites a scripture passage as the authority on a particular question or issue, it would be good to first question their authority. Are they entering into the conversation from the perspective of exegesis or isegesis?
CRONKITE: Can you make the difference between exegesis and isegesis simpler for us to understand?
GENTLEFOOTPRINT: Sure. Picture the Bible as a big mansion where God lives. There are all kinds of different rooms in that mansion. Rooms with different decor. Rooms for different purposes. But one house. Now we want to get to know the One who lives inside. Mr. or Mrs. Exegesis enter through the front door and take in all of the different things you learn about the owner as they pass from room to room. They would consider what they found in the context of the room in which they discovered it. They would consider when what they found was acquired, what other choices may have been available and why a particular choice may have been made. Now, on the other hand, Mr. or Mrs. Isegesis slip in through the back door with an agenda. They already claim to know who the occupant is. They'll look around and snatch anything they can find in support of what they already believe. Now which one is going to be able to tell you more about who the occupant living in the mansion?
CRONKITE: I like that!
GENTLEFOOTPRINT: And keep in mind that the owner of the mansion isn't stuck in that house 24/7! God gets out every once in a while and visits other places too!
CRONKITE: Let's get back now to 5 Minutes. Is 5 Minutes exegesis or isegesis?
GENTLEFOOTPRINT: It's not intended to be either. It is spiritual. Everytime I reread a verse from the Bible, it speaks something different to me. One of the things that always amazed me as a Pastor was listening after Church to how many different ways your homily or sermon spoke to folks other than the way it had spoken to me. 5 Minutes is just one journey where I share what the passage has spoken to me and invite those joining me for the journey to share something of what the passage speaks to them.
CRONKITE: You do this in 5 Minutes and just a short passage! It'll be a long journey!
GENTLEFOOTPRINT: As a pastor I followed an unwritten rule. If I couldn't say what I wanted to say in 5 minutes, it probably wasn't anything worth sharing in the first place. And as a blogger here on xanga, I start to get uncomfortable when my post exceeds what will appear in the browser window without having to scroll down. You know, Walter, more isn't always better! The value of 5 Minutes is that it shows people how much we can get from just a little bit.
CRONKITE: Truely words to the wise. Thanks for being with us, Gentlefootprint. And that's the way it is, Monday December 5th, 2005. This is Walter Cronkite. Goodnight.

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