The poems the Holy Spirit creates (cont'd)...

[For Fred...]

I was thinking more about how the Transactional Theory of Reading applies to readers of the Bible.  With Rosenblatt's stance that meaning lies not solely with the text nor with the reader, but meaning is made in the transaction, or interaction, between text and reader might be in conflict with the Lutheran stance that the Scriptures are literal and are not dependent upon man's thinking.  After all, the Christian Book of Concord, our beloved Confessions, were created because of a need to make clear what we believe the Scriptures teach, what God has set forth, not man's theories and suppositions.  So, clearly, the meaning is not open to interpretation (no Lutheran bible study or Sunday school class would ever be having people go around the room and sharing what the Bible verses meant to them).  Or better put: "The true rule is this: God's Word shall establish the articles of faith, and no one else, not even an angel can do so" (BOC, SA, II, 15).

We also believe that the Bible is the Living Word.  As I have been savoring of late, John teaches us: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:1-5).  Jesus is the Word of God.  The Scriptures are the visual representation, the words that teach and speak of the Word of God.  They are living and dynamic.

One of my favorite bits of the Book of Concord (okay, roll your eyes over favorites, I will wait) is found in the Large Catechism.  Luther teaches that the Living Word "has and is able to do all that God is and has done" (LC, IV, 17).  Our faith is created and sustained by the hearing of the Living Word creates and sustains faith, by receiving it.  The Living Word sanctifies us.  The Living Word offends and repels our foe.  The Living Word is a sanctuary above all sanctuaries.  All of these things are not because of man, not because of the reader, but because of the text.  

[Not incidentally, all of this, as I have written before, is why I believe all throughout my beloved Psalter we are admonish, encouraged, advised to have the Living Word in our mouths, on our tongues, falling from our lips, and in our ears.]

Our Confessions also teach that man cannot fear or know or trust God apart from receiving faith, as we are taught: "All of these things are the reason why we made mention of concupiscense in our description of original sin, and why we deny to human nature the ability to fear and trust in God.  We wanted to show that original sin contains these diseases: ignorance of God, not having fear and trust in God, the inability to love God. These are the chief faults of human nature because they conflict with the First Table of the Ten Commandments" [AP, II, (I), 14].  

We further learn:  "The knowledge of original sin is absolutely necessary. The magnitude of Christ's grace cannot be understood unless our diseases are recognized" [AP, II, (I), 33].  However, the Formula of the Solid Declaration underscores the depth of the corruption:  "On the other hand, we believe, teach, and confess that original sin is not a minor corruption.  It is so deep a corruption of human nature that nothing healthy or uncorrupt remains in man's body or soul, in his inward or outward powers....This damage cannot be fully described. It cannot be understood by reason, but only from God's Word" (FSD, I, 14).  Thus, Original Sin underscores that the meaning lies in the text, that man cannot in and of himself make meaning or bring meaning to the text.  

Therefore, the truth, the power, the meaning of the Living Word lies in Jesus Christ, not man.  No matter how many transactions between reader and text, the meaning will always remain the same.  Would that not negate the application of this theory of reading engagement?

But wait.  Consider that the meaning of the Living Word is the salvation of mankind.  In order give faith so that salvation can take place, there has to be a receiver.  After all, God did not cause man to pen the Living Word for Him because He wanted a book for Himself.  The Bible is not for God.  The Bible, the Word of God, the spoken and written Word, is how, is the means, God uses to give the gift of Faith.

"Therefore we constantly maintain this point:  God does not want to deal with us in any other way that through the spoken Word and through the Sacraments  Whatever is praised as from the Spirit--without the Word and Sacraments--is the devil himself.  God wanted to appear even to Moses through the bush and spoken Word. No prophet, neither Elijah nor Elisha, received the Spirit without the Ten Commandments or the spoken Word.  John the Baptist was not conceived without the word of Gabriel coming first, nor did he leap in his mother's womb without Mary's voice.  Peter says, 'For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit' (2 Peter 1:21).  Without the outward Word, however, they were not holy.  Much less would the Holy Spirit have moved them to speak when they were still unholy.  They were holy, says he, since the Holy Spirit spoke through them" (BOC, SA, III, IX, 10-13). 

As referenced above, the Holy Spirit comes to us through the Living Word and Sacraments--which are themselves created through the joining of the Word--and creates faith.   More clearly:  "Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given. He works faith, when and where it pleases God, in those who hear the good news that God justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ's sake. This happens not through our own merits, but for Christ's sake" (AC, V, 2-4).

Therefore, I would argue that there still remains a transaction between the reader and the text.  I would argue that the fruition of meaning of the Bible is made through the creation of Rosenblatt's poem, the poems the Holy Spirit creates in the hearts of mankind as we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, Jesus Christ who is the Living Word.

Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!