There's a weekly programme on Radio 4 at certain times of the year, called the News Quiz. Chaired by Sandi Toksvig, an irripressible Dane, it is a great source of examples of the RB. It happens quite often that RB comes up in the group's discussions of obscure news items. This week it was Leviticus and whether the bible was funny. Now we could get sidetracked by that but I suggest you just download the podcast from www.bbc.co.uk/radio4
The subject of todays blog is remembering the Hebrew scriptures, another challenge from Jane, who has been remembering Bable with a multilingual group in Switzerland. In the 15 years of so of working on the RB method it is true to say that I have been selective about which bits of the bible I've remembered with people. There are many reasons for this
1. RB is not about remembering the whole bible - a rote pedagogy - but about the bits that matter to you at the time and how remembering them challenges the status quo;
2. RB is a contextual method - it is about remembering the bits that seem relevant for that context - and in the context of 21st century Britain and the margins of urban living that is the core of Word of Mouth, the 'bit' of choice was the gospel - the central Jesus story;
3. RB is a personal method - as Jane notes in her blog about Babel, our own stories are essential to our rememberings. So Babel was great with multilingual bridge builders. But I am a gospel woman. I am passionate about the story of the Tomb Quitter, the Name Caller, the Life Giver. So that this the core of my RB.
It is not the case that I have never used the Hebrew scriptures for RB. There's some illustration using the book of Ruth as a basis for RB in Word of Mouth, and that's a story I have often used in multicultural Britain. I have sometimes used other bits depending on the context. It's great to hear about more people doing RB. Please share the stories of your rememberings.
Word of Mouth is still available from www.ionabooks.com
6 comments:
Thanks for taking up the Hebrew scriptures. One of the reasons I think that remembered Bible works so well for the "old" testament as well as the new is that it has brilliant stories which are just as much about liberation and resurrection as the later tomb quitter's stories are.
Joseph - the dream weaver, coat wearer, little brother, big boaster, vision interpreter, harvest stewarder, economy organiser, pharaoh adviser - for instance is a fabulous story of life triumphing over death, being pulled out of the pit, and it is also a story which weaves so many stories into it. I'd be happy to make the case for Jeremiah or Elijah too.
I suppose I'm a Jesus follower who believes that resurrection precedes Christ's resurrection and doesn't just follow it.
Any I'm glad our blogging is encouraging both of us to blog. What I really hope is that maybe WSCF will invite you to do a seminar for some of their local leaders - a weekend to multiply RB. Let's see what I can organise.
Was also thinking about Huldah as the torah reader, interpretation setter, norm maker, law giver
Yes, I agree with all those things about the stories of the Hebrew Scriptures. Stories like Joseph's family, forebears and successors can also be good places to start. Like I said it depends on context. RB as I developped it and used it in Sheffield was consistently built around the unfolding of the Jesus story and our story side by side. It was as much an antidote to what had gone before as a herald to what might be. Undoubtedly the Hebrew Scriptures could, in some contexts, be that too but for lots of reasons, in building a consistent pedagogy of liberation, I used the gospel. We didn't just do RB once, we did it together for more than five years. It completely changed the way I think of the story myself and use it whether alone or with others. But of course there are other stories. It's great to hear the, it's good to tell them. It would be good to come over and do more RB with other people.
What about starting from the very beginning (a very good place to start) with Genesis 1?
Chaos-brooder
Light-bringer
Land-former
Sea-restrainer
Sun-shaper
Moon-moulder
Star-patterner
Calendar-establisher
Ostrich-featherer
Parrot-painter
Shark-finner
Whale-watcher
Seed-sprouter
Tree-cultivator
Flower-blossomer
Fruit-juicer
Bee-swarmer
Worm-wriggler
Crab-scuttler
Snake-slitherer
Lion-tamer
Lamb-raiser
Man-creator
Woman-imager
Goodness-maker
All-maker
Sabbath-rester
You'll note if you go back to the original that I have some days in the wrong order, but the principle holds...
Sarah - you are a poet
BRILLIANT
Love it
All any of this means if that RB is really getting us going - when I have a chance I'll have to see whetehr kennings can work somehow in Frenhc - german is easy but not French ...
You are both brilliant.
Yes, let's doo multi-lingual Kennings.
Sarah you should post that one yourself.
By the way, this is the most comments on my blog so far so thanks for that (I'm not sure if you're supossed to count your own comments though).
Post a Comment