Číst Bibli jako Ježíš – Rohr Richard (2022)

Despite all its inspiration, all its beautiful sayings, and all the lives it has forever changed, the Bible still poses great difficulties for many people. It almost always leads to disaster in the hands of egocentric, unloving, or power-hungry individuals, or those who have yet to learn how to read spiritually inspired literature. History proves this time and again, century after century, so it is not an unfounded, disrespectful, or biased conclusion. The burning of heretics, the Crusades, slavery, apartheid, and the expulsion and oppression of indigenous peoples have all been justified using selected quotes from Scripture. So right from the start, you know where I'm heading. My general approach is to change the reader and not the text. Only converted individuals can be entrusted with inspired text. Only they will operate in a symbiotic relationship with the words and stories (symbiosis = 'shared life'). Only among them is it unlikely that they would use the Bible as a source of personal power, as a hammer, or as a justification for their bad behavior. Stay in a prayerful dialogue with almost any spiritual text – even a problematic one – and it will almost always bear fruit. (excerpt from the book)