How Should We Read
the Bible Today?

7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15

Gilfillan Auditorium

Speakers are Dr. Martin Emmrich and Dr. Susan Shaw

How should we approach the Bible today? Is it God's definitive and unique revelation to humans, as mediated by prophets and apostles, or is it the culturally-conditioned product of early man's search for meaning? Does it present a once-and-for-all statement of how we should come to God, or is it a collection of ancient Hebrew books that, while containing much that is still valuable, is dated (and often simply mistaken) in its understanding of religion and ethics? Martin Emmrich will argue that the Bible is the written word of God that tells us how to find meaning in life through fellowship with God as well as how we ought to live. Susan Shaw will argue that the Bible, while a valuable collection of wisdom and prophetic literature, must be reinterpreted in the light of a modern understanding of the world if it is to have any relevance to modern people.

Martin Emmrich is Minister of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Corvallis. A native of Germany, he holds the B.A. from Frankfurt University in Germany and the Ph.D. in biblical hermeneutics from Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. Susan Shaw received her Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville. She is Director of Women Studies at OSU and a co-author of Girls Rock! Fifty Years of Women in Music.

Part 1:

Part 2: