An African-American Perspective

Over the years I have given priority to the faith story undergirding the Christian faith when formulating an understanding of the Bible as pastor. Such an approach is confessional rather than apologetic in the sense that philosophical and behavioural science theories play a role, but they do not play the dominant role. Apologetic theology draws on the method of correlation, and it gives the Christian faith story an equal role with philosophy and the behavioural sciences. This is done to make sure that theology is formulated in categories and a language that speak to modern people. Confessional theological approaches, however, are not preoccupied with speaking to the contemporary world using the language of the contemporary world. Rather, confessional narrative approaches recognize that Scripture within Christian communities functions to bring meaning to the lives of people. For example, Scripture provides its own interpretation of reality as the text provides its own interpretive framework to faith communities. In fact, in the narrative approach to Scripture, persons are drawn into the biblical world; that is, the Scriptures enable contemporary people to frame their situations, and their circumstances in the same way that the original audience hearing the text framed similar concerns (EIIingsen 1990: 22-9). More precisely, people frame their lives in light of the plot that lay underneath Bible stories, and it is this plot that links our contemporary lives with the lives of those in the ancient past. Therefore, there is no need to impose modern-language categories on the text. In short, Scripture will provide its own categories and language for understanding our contemporary experience, and this language is plot language. The plot behind the stories in the Bible is the key to understanding how the Bible functions pastorally. Scripture frames contemporary meaning in faith communities through drawing people into the faith-oriented plot embodied in the story of salvation. More precisely, the eschatological plot undergirds the biblical story of salvation. In African American Pastoral Care I define the eschatological plot: