Unleashing the Scripture

1. Identification

Hauerwas, Stanley. 1993. Unleashing The Scripture. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

2. Contents

The author makes some clear and concise points through out his text. The author points out that his main point for writing this book is to free preachers and those that hear them from thinking inside the box. The author made it clear that so many times people listen to information and they assume that is right and is the truth. Throughout the book the author conveys that we have allowed the Scripture to be separated from our practices. He launches out to “Unleash the Scripture” by taking some risk to free theology from its academic captivity.

3. Thesis

Hauerwas thesis is explicitly stated as follows:

In this book I am trying to experiment by combining a discursive essay with sermonic exhibits. The Bible is not and should not be accessible to merely anyone, but rather it should only be made available to those who have undergone the hard discipline of existing as part of God’s people.

4. Evaluation

This book is a very straightforward. The author makes a lot of good points and backs them up well. But in the meantime he also makes some points that seem to be very blurry to its readers. Hauerwas demonstrates his point very successfully by stating how he feels and backing it up with information that comforts the reader, and makes it very persuasive. Very profoundly, the author states a point and that is that “ Our problem is that we live in churches that have no practice of non-violence, of reconciliation, no sense of the significant of singleness; so we lack the resources to faithfully preach and hear God’s Word.” This statement that Hauerwas is so true and its catches the reader. We as church goers just go to church, but we are really lacking what it takes. We are not practicing really what we need to be practicing. We go to church and assume that everything is wonderful and leave. So many times we are at our churches two to three times a week being so involved, but have no clue how to treat our fellow man the “Christian” way. Not being able to do that is keeping our churches in America from captivity. Just by that statement from the author, the author is so persuasive in letting readers know that their is a problem in our churches and in our studies, and the problem needs to be solved. How does the problem get solved? The problem can be solved by doing the work of the church. We need to be able to practice non-violence, be able to reconcile with our brothers and sisters, be able to be unified; and by doing that we will have the resources needed to continually preach the Word of God; by doing that the “Church” will be able to understand the Word of God knowing that it is not just reading the word.

On the other hand, the author made a very pausing point which caused me to stop and think. “ On the contrary, we have been led to believe that Christianity is good for the nation because Christianity is good for the family. We therefore, fail to stand under the authority of the Word because the Word is captured by practices and narratives that are more constitutive of that entity called America than that community called Church.” I totally agree with the author on that statement. Others may agree also or disagree it is all in the individuals interpretation of what is being read. Most of us know that the Word of God is a powerful tool, so I believe that if you use it appropriately it could really benefit our community called the “church. The Word is a tool that gives and shows us how to overcome obstacles and encouragement in the time of need.

The author’s attitude in the text to me is an attitude of boldness, courage, and assertiveness. Hauerwas text comes off to be as being very bold. You don’t find many author’s that would come off bold as this offer has. In my opinion, in some situations he jumps out there in the middle of the lake and speaks his mind. I think that that is a major plus for any author. The reader