“How Scripture is Weaponized, and What We Can Do About It”
Grace Lutheran Church, Boone, N.C. (project site)
Plans for this study were delayed by a couple months due to the coronavirus. It ended up taking the form of a three-week Sunday school series conducted over Zoom with adult participants at my internship site. The first session addressed the question “How is it possible that the Bible can be so badly misused?” by stepping back and taking a “big picture view” of Scripture—how it came about, the different authors, intended hearers, perspectives and genres. The second session discussed specific ways that the Bible can be (and has been) used to hurt people, and we analyzed historical and current examples. The third session explored specific methods that we can use to de-weaponize scripture, and we tried putting those methods into practice with several examples. It’s my hope that the class participants will now be more aware when people are using Scripture to hurt others, and that they will be prepared to counter such misuse.
Christopher Shealy, MDiv., Senior
Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary of Lenoir-Rhyne University, Columbia, S.C.
Christopher is from Newberry, S.C. He is a graduate of Furman University in Greenville, S.C., where he majored in music education. After several years, at the nudging of the Holy Spirit, he decided to attend seminary and begin the process of becoming an ordained minister in the ELCA. Christopher just completed his internship at Grace Lutheran Church in Boone, N.C., and is excited to be in his final year of classes. Christopher enjoys reading sci-fi/fantasy/horror novels, drinking coffee, keeping his Greek and Hebrew sharp, and playing piano.
