Deconstructing Duplo
My son Ezra recently turned 3 years old. There are 3 things he is obsessed with - Spider-Man, The Wiggles, and Duplo. He got a lot of Duplo for his birthday.
He understands the basics of how to use the Duplo blocks and how to click them together and construct shapes but doesn’t really understand that there is an intended design behind the blocks to create certain things.
At this stage of his basic comprehension, he puts blocks together to complete an imaginary shape, but there isn’t really a cohesive structure that can be understood by others as the Duplo blocks aren’t really being used to create their intended design.
Observing how Ezra interacts with Duplo reminds me of my journey of understanding the Bible - I knew about elements of it but didn’t realise the significance of the intended design from the authors and from God. Since the start of 2020, I’ve been on a journey of “deconstructing” (or “going deeper in the word”) my own immature understanding of the Bible, but also reconstructing my Biblical comprehension with the intention of understanding and living out the principles and doctrine I’ve chosen to live by.
One big element I’ve learnt about Biblical theology is that the design from the authors can be discovered from a healthy amount of textual criticism, and the design from God can be revealed from a healthy amount of faith and trust.
The recent podcast series from the BibleProject called “The Paradigm” articulates so well some key ideas they’ve been implementing into a lot of their teaching - what are some paradigms we have when it comes to reading the Bible that should be matured?
They discuss 7 “pillars” across 11 episodes - I believe that this could be one of the most significant podcast series you’ll listen to if you want to mature in your Biblical literacy.
We may be aware of the Bible building blocks and how to put them together, but are you immature in your understanding of the intended design to uncover something unique? I want to discuss each of the paradigms, and how they’ve influenced me.
1) The Bible is human and divine
Many of us know in our heads that the Bible didn’t just fall from the sky, but we don’t embrace the full notion of human authors. This often means that when we encounter aspects of the Bible that have clear human influences, it can be very uncomfortable as we assumed that the whole book was a supernatural truth from the heavens.
And suddenly when we’re questioning the validity of the Scriptures as we no longer perceive them as completely divine, we’re questioning other aspects of our faith too.
This is something I went through when I started learning more theology at Bible college. Very often students are introduced to how the human authors of the Bible were influenced by their own worldview, and this can make you feel uncertain about how much of the Bible you can take for the truth.
Thankfully there are many theologians and teachers who don’t just stop there but discuss the evidence of the divine nature of the Bible and how trusting the story can be very fruitful.
2) The Bible is unified literature
The more you look at how the Bible was structured, you realised that there have been people that have “edited” and put it all together. The Bible isn’t a live stream of events that we witness as they happened. Instead, I like to think of it as a carefully crafted documentary influenced by various events, themes, and characters to get a point across.
The amazing part is that even over all the centuries and the vast number of authors that wrote the books of the Bible, the themes and patterns throughout the Bible are consistent. This level of continuity is amazing - this can’t even be achieved by major entertainment studios with a near-infinite budget and access to some of the best writers in the world!
3) The Bible is messianic literature
We all know that Jesus is a big deal, but the reality and importance of Jesus is intertwined throughout the whole Bible. If you can understand this then you’ll start looking for it throughout the texts. This is a core element of the overall story of the Bible - the need for Jesus for humans to live out their fulfilment of unity with God.
My personal challenge recently has been to always attempt to link the themes I’m learning about to Jesus. This is a big part of my Bible roadmap - how can the roads of my understanding lead to Jesus?
4) The Bible is wisdom literature
The idea of wisdom literature is really interesting. It doesn’t just mean being wise and smart, but having an understanding of certain parameters and lifestyle choices to abide by according to how God prefers. It isn’t a list of rules, but ideas to lean into so that you can apply principles in all areas of life.
The unique thing with the Bible is that it could all be considered wisdom literature, not just the traditional books of Job, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and Song of Songs.
It seems that more and more of the wisdom from the Bible runs counter-culture to the non-Christian worldview - this is yet another reason to really take in as much as you can.
5) The Bible is meditation literature
This is a fun one, and a big part of what the Bibleroadmaps blog is all about.
The Bible isn’t something to be read once with the intention of trying to understand it all. It has been designed for multiple readings with a deepening understanding building on top of each reading.
The example used in the specific podcast episode is the recent Christopher Nolan movie Tent. Your first viewing of Tenet will be interesting - the action scenes are exciting but the overall story can be hard to follow. Your second view will make more sense as you start to put together the basics from your initial viewing. Your third view will really pull things together, and you’ll likely spot some of the more hidden details that were put there to pull the story together.
The Bible should be treated this way - a text to spend your life re-reading and meditating on. Not a puzzle to figure out, but a reflection material.
6) The Bible is contextually rooted literature
The theologian Richard B. Hays discusses the concepts of communication in a lot of his books.
One idea that changed how I understood the culture of the authors was that the words the authors used shouldn’t be interpreted as a dictionary entry, but an encyclopedic entry. The difference is that a dictionary entry gives me specific meanings behind a word, whereas an encyclopedia entry gives me a cultural meaning behind the words used.
So when we’re reading these ancient texts, we need to also consider the ancient euphemisms and the context’s behind them. This takes a bit of work to do, but there is more and more material being produced to help with this.
7) The Bible is communal literature
For the majority of human history, the Bible wasn’t a personal book that you’re read by yourself in your quiet time at home. It was something read and discussed aloud and in groups. A lot of the recipients of the Scriptures would’ve been illiterate, so required someone else to vocally share them.
We are in a unique time in history where the Scriptures are a very personal text that we engage with - this isn’t a bad thing but something to be considered.
One of the goals of this blog is to help people to engage with their Bible more often and in different ways, and one of those ways is to discuss it in a group. Share what you’re learning, what you don’t understand, help someone else with their journey.
I don’t have an exact format for how to do this yet, but that is ok. I think the best thing to do is just start discussing it more.
The journey of deconstructing misunderstandings of how to read the Bible and then reconstructing those paradigms with some great tools and insights is a delicate balance but done very well by the BibleProject team.
Eventually, Ezra will be at a point of maturity where he’ll be able to understand the intended usage of his Duplo sets. And he may even understand how some of the shapes, colours, and structures can work together to form something new entirely that is solidly grounded in a cohesive design. It will be a journey of deconstructing an immature comprehension of how to use the blocks and reconstruction of interpreting manuals and intended design and a more mature usage of his imagination to create more complex designs.
But it would be wrong of me to belittle him at this stage of childhood for just immersing himself in the toys and having fun. He may get frustrated when his designs don’t work out, he may even give up - but it is up to me to help him start again and keep going so that he learns from his lessons and becomes more familiar with how to use Duplo.
If you’re a mature Christian who wants to understand the Bible more, a new Christian who’s trying to figure this all out, or a non-Christian who just wants to see what all the fuss over the Bible is, this is essential content to consume.
Have the faith to stick to it, and the trust that God is using the Bible and His people to help you get closer to Him. Don’t do it alone! Share your journey in personal face-to-face discussion with others! Too many people are going on a journey of relearning what they believe with no one there to help them reconstruct the healthy elements of their faith.
You will likely be challenged and some sacred idols you have about the Bible may be knocked down if you allow them to. But this could also be the beginning of a great journey of going deeper in the word if you do it with faith and trust in God.