[July 2005 journal entry] This past Sunday morning, I completed a seven-week ‘Bible Reading 101’ series of discussions (each 35-40 minutes in length) for a small gathering in Memphis. Each discussion probed the striking disclosure in the Synoptic Gospels that the individuals who had the greatest difficulty using ‘language of caring’ attributed to ‘Jesus’ were the individuals most fluent in the ‘language of religion’. I laced each discussion with narratives about life experiences, leading the participants to see the contrast between these two ‘languages’. We began by identifying languages in Bible times, illustrating translation efforts/challenges ancient and modern, and tracing canon decisions. We then worked with the ideas of starting with ‘the Exodus’ or with the Davidic monarchy, distinguishing ‘the gospel of Jesus’ from ‘the gospel about Jesus’, and facing the chasm separating us from antiquity’s pre-modern/pre-scientific thought. The last discussion in the series pressed the proposition that the Bible, if it is to be significant for conversations using the ‘language of caring’, must be read as a critique on political, economic, and religious power.