North London Interfaith Events

Introduction to Scriptural Reasoning

Summary of a workshop led by Karsten van Sander from Camden Scriptural Reasoning Group

The purpose of the evening was to introduce us to the practice of Scriptural Reasoning. We used texts on the subject of Hospitality to the stranger.

Normally one person from each of the three Abrahamic faiths prepares in advance a text from their own tradition, all those present having had an opportunity to see the texts in advance. Two members, one Muslim and one Christian, had prepared a text but everyone had not seen these in advance.

Karsten van Sander explained that SR started as an academic practice at the University of Virginia in US where initially scholars of Jewish texts found themselves unable to communicate with other Jewish scholars who came from the social sciences and other disciplines such as sociology because they were using such different language. They decided, therefore, to read the scriptures together. It is partly modelled on an old Jewish method for reading the scriptures together in small groups and then taking it to a bigger forum for further discussion. It is an interactive method. Jewish academics started in this way and then it was expanded to include scholars from a Christian background, then Moslems were also included. It came to Cambridge University and for 10 to 12 years it was a purely academic discipline. Then there was a move to take it into a civic setting. Groups began to discuss texts that were common to the city in which they were living, texts that were relevant to them. SR came to London about 2 years ago. It can be a way of debating civic issues; a way of discussing things that pertain to people of faith and public life. The idea is to look at the scriptures and see how we can make them relevant to our life and the society we live in and share.

There is a critical element also. It’s not about finding a pure, authentic version but how we as people of faith understand these issues. A purely subjective interpretation is not always seen as legitimate but it is about bringing the texts to life within the framework of our traditions so it’s good that this evening two people have chosen texts themselves and are making a contribution to the debate based on their own tradition.

What I find fascinating is that SR opens up someone else’s tradition so you see the differences that people have; that a faith isn’t monolithic. People might wrestle with the text and come up with all sorts of different interpretations. They aren’t all completely divergent yet there are subtle differences. When we do this in schools it’s often quite an eye-opener for young people to see that this textbook model of different religions they hear about is so much more divergent and complex than they have understood and that very often the fiercest arguments about interpretation are not between people of different religions but between people from different branches of the same religion. This way it really comes to life.

Something I find beautiful about SR is that it’s not just about finding common ground; it is not just about reading the similar bits and glossing over the embarrassing bits. There is no taboo. It’s about explaining to one another what we really believe and getting to know one another rather than finding a common ground somewhere in the middle.

A friend of mine said that a good religion always has something embarrassing about it. I don’t want to reduce it to that but it’s like a family. I love my family but I know all their flaws and so it’s important to get to know each other – we need to get to know others in all their fullness. The group I’m involved in see that this is a long term process so it’s not that we come up with all the disagreements in one session but share together, we read the scriptures together. The Camden group I’m involved in has been meeting for about half a year. We come up with some of the hairy bits. For instance, we discussed land, which is something we couldn’t have done initially but we have grown together and come to know one another so we can now discuss difficult things.

After reading the texts and dividing into small groups for discussion, we came together for general discussion.

Karsten:

We shared from our traditions. We found we have a lot in common, and that’s what SR is about. We don’t want to have a conclusion. We come from a tradition and we go home to that tradition. SR is not an end in itself. We don’t look for a conclusion to the discussion; I think that would be dangerous. The idea is to make friends, to grow in our own tradition, to be partners.

For more information on scriptural reasoning, check the website, www.scripturalreasoning.org.uk.

The Camden SR group meets twice a month. They hope soon to have meetings at the Town Hall, to emphasise that it’s a matter of concern to civil society.