Talking Back to Scripture

One of the skills we learn from the Womanist* tradition is talking back to scripture. It’s the idea that we don’t need to take scripture at face value, we don’t have to like it, and we don’t have to agree with it. We get to push back, ask questions, and lean into our imaginations when it comes to figuring out how to meet God in scripture and to follow the God we meet there.

The prophets were particularly strong at this skill. Over and over God would speak to them and they would push back. In this short passage from Jeremiah, God has been laying out plans for justice and Jeremiah will have none of it. Sit with the tension in this passage, of Jeremiah pushing back on God’s word to him:

You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice! Why does the way of the wicked prosper? - Jeremiah 12:1

Do you relate to Jeremiah? Are there parts of scripture you would question, push back on, or disagree with? Most likely you’ve been taught not to do those things - but what if it were the very act of discipleship to talk back to scripture? How might this change how you connect with the Bible and with God?

*Womanist theology is the leveraging of the experience and wisdom of Black women in the work of uncovering God’s liberation in the text.