There is rawness to creation that becomes the context for the revelation of scripture. The geography, animals, agriculture are not simply by standers in God’s story but they are very much the hermeneutical context for which the story gets played out. The intertwining of relationships that are all longing for shalom but cant seem to find it.
Margaret Feinberg just wrote a new book, Scouting the Divine: My search for God in Wine, Wool and Wild Honey.
I like what she is doing here. It takes on this very point that scripture is in a very real way connected to reality in raw creation. The insights that she gains from spending time with a wine maker, shepherdess, and beekeeper give us insight to a broader framework of what God was doing when he gave us holy scripture in holy creation. Our removal from creation actually leaves us at a deficit to interpret simple things.
For instance a land flowing with milk and honey, according to the beekeeper is essentially a description of creation working on all cylinders. Everything showing up on time, just the rights amount of heat, cold, rain, and wind. Essentially people would have understood the description of the Promised Land as a depiction of shalom. Harmony that was embedded within the faith of Israel and is still a longing in us.
Just one example of some of Margaret’s discoveries as she turned a creative journey into a helpful book.
