After reading "How to Read the Bible" and the first two books of On Christian Teaching I found that both take a very similar approach to how the Bible should be read, used and interpreted by Christians in the faith. In the article J. Todd Billings even makes many references to Augustine's book On Christian Teaching to support his position on the topic. The sub-heading of the article itself seems to say it all, "
[n]ew strategies for interpreting Scripture turn out to be not so new..." It appears as though Billings is calling for a return to the same strategies proposed by Augustine over 1,500 years ago.
For starters, both authors argue that some prior knowledge is required for properly understanding and using the scriptures, readers need a sort of "theological map" of assumptions about the Bible that guide them in their reading. Augustine states in the first lines of his book that "there are two things on which all interpretations of scripture depends: the process of discovering what we need to learn, and the process of presenting what we have learnt" (8). Saint Augustine develops a way to look at the scriptures, his entire aim is to teach people how to properly read and interpret the Bible. As part of that theological map both authors stress that we don't just see the Bible as a historical document but as God speaking through the authors of the Bible. There is also an emphasis on loving God and our neighbor in both texts.
Both the article and the book stresses the fact that ordinary people, given the proper tools can properly interpret and enjoy the Bible in the way that it is meant to be read and enjoyed. However it is also important to have someone with a knowledge of biblical languages to help properly interpret what is meant in some cases where the language is confusing or the meaning of the imagery is unclear.This idea is shared by Augustine and Billings. For me there didn't seem to be many differences in the positions held by Billings and Augustine other than the historical context in which they were written; the challenges to Billings convictions on the proper way to read the Bible are fairly different from the ones faced by Augustine. Billings saw that today people use the Bible as a how-to guide for diets, relationships and more and these particular fads were probably not quite as common in Augustine's time.
In the context of the religion of Christianity I can see this philosophy of reading the Bible to be positive in that it is beneficial to the followers of the religion. It creates a structure and instructions on how to properly use the text of the religion. It is quite beneficial for unity of the followers if everyone interprets the text in the same way. By giving the followers of a religion tools, or a guide for interpreting what they read, they can insure that every one is on the same page (figuratively) and getting what they should out of the scripture. If everyone in the religion is interpreting the text of their religion without any guidance they may come to various conclusion about the meaning of the text and how it should be utilized which could lead to different factions within the religion or could ultimately lead to the collapse of the religion because of the lack of unity of belief.
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