‘Lens of Love’ takes critical look at Bible interpretations
Jonathan L. Walton, the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church of Harvard University, offers a fresh perspective on the Bible’s overarching message of justice in his new book “A Lens of Love: Reading the Bible in Its World for Our World.” In a time when some use the Bible as a weapon to reinforce outdated views on topics such as sex and gender, Walton reads the Hebrew Bible and New Testaments in the context of the ancient world, and in the process, finds affirming meaning for society today. He also takes a critical look at how, in malevolent hands, selective Bible interpretations have been used throughout history to justify slavery, genocide, racism, the suppression of women, and other injustices. Walton instead interprets the stories through the eyes of each narrative’s most vulnerable and marginalized people. Q&A Jonathan Walton blackwell: I know the book was several years in the making,...