“Practice safer texts”

Joseph Marchal has an interesting essay up at the Society of Biblical Literature forum in which he argues, citing Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza’s work, that we need to develop a rhetoric of inquiry that is fully conscious of Krister Stendhal’s admonition:

"I would guess that the last racists in this country, if there ever be an end to such, will be the ones with Bible in hand. There never has been an evil cause in the world that has not become more evil if it has been possible to argue it on biblical grounds."

All of which is then tied up with yet one more citation, this time to Ken Stone's book Practicing Safer Texts: Food, Sex and Bible in Queer Perspective (London: T and T Clark International, 2005).

I like the Stone title best of all, but I suspect all of the ideas bound up in this thick, nested set of references are important as well -- particularly in a world in which people all too regularly take biblical narratives and turn them into weapons.