So I now have the first day of my first class of my M.Div. degree under my belt! Three hours of wondering if I’ll ever master all the terminology, the mental gymnastics of academia and the spiritual challenge of intense study of a book that has inspired the most courageous acts of love as well as having been used as a cowardly defense for the most despicable crimes against humanity.

The first half of the class was spent with mutual introductions of the instructor and the students and then going over in detail the format and expectations of the class as well as the assignments and grading. How wonderful to have my laptop with me and access to wireless internet right there in the classroom! (I got caught up on my e-mails while listening to all this information, thanks to the ability to “multi-task”!)

However, as the second half of the class began, we dived straight into the heart and soul of academic life. This lecturer is one who has taught this subject (Biblical Interpretation: Interpreting and Applying the Biblical Text) for many years and is passionate about it! Fortunately she is an excellent lecturer – animated and well-spoken – but as her understanding of the “lingo” is so-well entrenched, the words flowed fast and furious, and I was left daunted as I tried to capture electronically the wealth of wisdom pouring forth while also trying to process the concepts and applications. (There is NO time for e-mail or web-surfing now!)

It is envigorating as one of the deepest parts of my brain that has laid dormant for so long has begun to once again stir with activity and (neural) excitement. The last hour was one of a delicate dance between vigilance in taking in as much as possible of what was said and a myriad of springboards to other ideas and concepts in my head.

Yesterday I learned about “hermeneutics”, “appropriation theory”, “the post-modern interpretive situation”, “intrinsic textual constraints vs extrinsic contextual constraints”, and much more.

But the key word that I came away with for the day was tension. No, not in my mind or in my heart – but we learned about the dynamic tension that intrinsically exists between the reader and the text. To some extent such tension exists as one reads any work of literature. But in the case of the Bible – the God-breathed, God-soaked, living Word of our Creator – its existence is rooted not so much in the concrete, physical inscription upon paper, or even in the original conception and creation by its earthly authors. But its true existence lies in its tension between the reader and the text – in God’s transformation of the reader by engaging him or her in a metaphysical interaction of interpretation, absorption and re-creation of soul – the true meaning of the text, though conceived and inscribed centuries ago, is actually created through its interaction with the reader in the present.

And further, it was heartening to hear this long-time scholar acknowledge that such tension must continue daily as we read and re-read scripture, meditate and pray through it – meeting God in it and through it. She pointed out that studying and interpreting scripture is not solely a science – i.e., deconstructing it to arrive at an absolute meaning of its text – but is an art in its lifelong upward spiral of expanding one’s boundaries into ever-deeping and dynamic understanding of God’s intent in any passage.

And so the word for the day was tension. It is the one time I’ve ever felt joy in in this word, as I began to look forward to actively seeking this tension in my life!