OFB, 190–205
Overview of chapter twelve
This chapter concludes the book by looking to the future, and seeking to imagine how we might use the Bible with confidence in our kind of world. It is divided into several brief sections:
Our kind of world (pp. 190–93).
What kind of churches? (pp. 193–95).
What kind of Bible? (pp. 195–201), which has several short sub-sections:
Technology and the Bible (pp. 195–97)
The Canon (pp. 197–98)
Biblical authority (pp. 198–99)
Participation in Bible reading (p. 199)
Cultural impact (pp. 199–200)
Access, Justice, and Subversion (pp. 200-201)
A possible "progressive reclaiming of the Bible" is sketched on pp. 201–03.
The concluding cameo (pp. 204–05) looks at the YouVersion internet project.
Some of the issues discussed in this chapter are also covered in this DVD from the Progressive Christian Network of Victoria:
Exploring the Future of the Bible - #5 in the Exploring Open Christianity DVD series.
You can also download this free Discussion Guide (PDF).
The brief film clip from the Eureka St interview recorded at the end of the Common Dreams 2 event in Melbourne, is also relevant to this final chapter.
Web links with particular relevance to this chapter include:
Digital Natives Project (updated URL from the details published in the book)
Marc Prensky (creator of the term, "digital natives")
Accordance Bible - software designed for Mac, with iPad and iPhone apps
BibleWorks - Bible software designed for the PC environment
Logos Bible Software - large electronic library, originally designed for PC but now with a Mac version
YouVersion - a huge social networking project based round the Bible
FAITHFUTURES@youversion - a colony of religious progressives on the YouVersion site (call by for a visit, if you wish!)
Work is already underway on a second volume, with the working title The Once and Future Scriptures. This is a collection of essays written by colleagues from the faculty at St Francis Theological College in Brisbane, Australia. These essays explore how a critical approach to the Bible, such as outlined in The Once and Future Bible, is expressed in contemporary theological thinking about God, revelation, Jesus, Anglican identity, worship, and the troubled interface with science.
"Re-imagining the Bible: Talking the Bible seriously but not literally." (Opening address for The Once and Future Bible workshop at the inauguration of the Bible Seminar, Westar Institute, San Francisco, 19 November 2011. [This lecture is adapted from the opening chapter of The once and future Scriptures.]