"Reading Existentially"

        So Abraham rose early in the mor,ing and saddled his donkey,

          and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; 

               and hr split the wood  for the burnt offering and arose 

                       And went to the place of God had told him

                                             Genesis 22 : 3

       One major corrective for the Bible's perceived irrelevance is to read and study it existentially. In many circles, particularly those of conservative Protestants, the word existential is frowed upon because of its association with the philosophical school of existentialism. But to read the Bible existentially is not to read it in accordance with the tenets of this philosophical moment. Rather, it is simply to read it as people who are personally, passionately, and intimately involved with its contents. We should never come to Bible while holding ourselves aloof fro' message. We must step into its pages and read it as if, in a sense, it was  written directly to us . As we learn to do this, the drama of the Bible will come alive, helping us bridge the cultural gap between the time the scriptures were written and our own day.

       Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher and theeologian, provides an example of this technique in his book fear and Trembling.

       After reading of Abraham's test of faith in Genesis 22, Kierkegaard began to reflect on the story particularly the seemingly insignificant detail, related in verse 3, that Abraham rose early in the morning. Why?, Kierkegaard asked himself, did he rise early? Was it because Abraham was so eager to carry out the duty God had given him? Perhaps. But as Kierkegaard began to personalize the passage, putting himself in Abraham's shoes, another possibility presented itself. Abraham was an old man who had waited years for a son. That son had finally come, according to God's promise, and Abraham loved him dearly. Kierkegaard realized that if he had been in Abraham's position, he would have risen early because the night following God's stunning command to sacrifice Isaac would have been spent in fitful, sleepless tossing and turning! Suddenly, Abraham was no longer a super saint, able to cheerfully carry out duties that would make others tremble. Rather, he was an old, sad, troubled man--a real man, with biblical texts. But we need to strive to feel what the character feel. We need to see the humanity of the people on the Bible's  pages and let their existence touch our own. They are not fictional but real, and  their lives are recorded to teach us very real lessons.