Brotherly Wisdom

"History does not belong to us, we belong to it." -Hans-Georg Gadamer in Truth and Method

Gadamer is speaking against an attitude toward history that sees it as an external object of research similar to scientific data. He suggests that only as a participant in history are we able to understand history. Imagine the implications this has for a view of Scripture. What if we forget an approach to Scripture that says, "read it like any other book" or "collect the facts, find out their meanings, and determine their significance," and instead view ourselves as living participants in the story itself?