MIDRASH AND ME by Liz Manning

 I'm in the middle of Rachel Held Evans's Inspired, a creative account of her relationship with the Bible, having been brought up in a very literal approach to it but developing into to a more complex, contextual, interactive attitude. She wrestles with all the 'difficult stuff' with honesty and integrity.  I'd really recommend it, not a dull theological tome at all.

One thing she talks about is Midrash, the Jewish mode of scriptural interpretation prominent in the Talmud. Hebrew scholar, Wilda C Gaffney describes it well:

It "discern[s] value in texts, words, and letters, as potential revelatory spaces...reimagine[s] dominant narratival readings while crafting new ones to stand alongside—not replace—former readings. Midrash also asks questions of the text; sometimes it provides answers, sometimes it leaves the reader to answer the questions."

Isn't that what we do too as Christian writers when we come up with modern day versions of Bible stories? Or poetry in response to a Biblical passage? Or our own version of a Psalm? Isn't it what we do when we write a Nativity play? Or wrestle with with finding meaning in Scripture about our suffering? Aren't our Advent and Lent anthologies as examples of exactly this? 

Then there's the Ignation habit of Bible study where we picture ourselves in a Bible scene and let it speak to us. And this can be the basis of the reinterpretations that we write.

When I was young mum, I was very taken with the words "And Mary treasured these things in her heart". It led me to write several pieces considering my experience of pregnancy and birth alongside hers - 'compare and contrast' as they used to say in English exam questions. I didn't know I was doing theology at the time!

Now I wonder more about my older namesake in the Nativity story and ponder how I feel, what would be the modern equivalent of finding myself pregnant at my age and a husband struck dumb for nine months. 

But isn't it great that we have been blessed with creative minds so that we can engage with God's word like this? That we can reimagine Scripture, wrestle with texts and stories, reinterpret them for our own times?

It's not always easy. There are lots of ancient practises, unwritten assumptions, and frankly shocking stories in the Bible to understand. But this isn't a dusty script to read; it's a dynamic relationships.

And what a gift we have to be able to bring it alive for ourselves and the world!