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READING IN COMMUNITY
 A
group of lay people and pastors, men and women, gather in a classroom
in Limon, Costa Rica. They are reading the Book of Amos, about the
unlettered prophet, a shepherd who comes from lowly Tekoa to speak
the word of God to the privileged of Israel, who calls for justice
to “roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing
stream.”
The students understand how difficult it would be for such a person
to bring God’s word to the king. They know the trouble one would
face, the threats, the humiliation. Amos, they tell each other,
is a “campesino,” a poor peasant who is oppressed, looked down upon.
A theme familiar to this community of readers.
“It was so easy for them to understand the text because many of
them are campesinos,” says Dr. LeAnn Flesher, ABSW’s professor of
Old Testament, who spent 12 weeks in Costa Rica earlier this year
teaching biblical studies at the Caribbean Theological Center.
Flesher says she expected the group to make this connection. She
knew the word “campesino,” and she figured the students would use
it. But, she says, “as I listened to the people I gained a whole
new understanding of what it means to be a campesino.”
Flesher could have lectured the students on the meaning of this
text—a method preferred by some teachers and preachers. But
instead she gave them the opportunity to read and interpret it themselves,
and in the process she made a discovery.
“That’s the beauty of reading in community,” she says.
Such an approach to Scripture uncovers how diverse communities
are in the biblical context and how interpretation is shaped by
cultural experiences.
“A fundamental premise for reading in community is to understand
[the Bible] was never monolithic and therefore it won’t be today,”
Flesher says.
By reading in community rather than dictating meaning, she says
“you will hear and see the needs and the essence of that community.
It will just come out as they read the text.”
That process can be “tremendously informative,” she adds.
“If we’re open to it, we’ll be amazed at what we learn from each
other about how God is at work in our world.”
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