The Great Intermission

The Great Intermission is a study of the shape of the Bible. It introduces a new perspectiveon the structure of the narrative, especially regarding the Old Testament. The governing idea isthat the Canon of the Old Testament, then the Hebrew Scriptures, was completed in and aroundthe dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls and that the order of placement of large sections of thenarrative is intentional and revealing.This interpretive device can be called "postmodern" or even "neo-deconstructive" in the sensethat it rejects the conventional point A-to-Point B historical point of view that takes the readerdirectly from the moment of creation to the exile in a linear fashion. Instead, the radical breaks inthe narrative, i.e., the Flood, the Exodus, the Exile, and then the destruction of Jerusalem itselfwhich is a part of historical facticity, are considered essential to any discernment of the spiritual, philosophical, and pastoral meaning and sense of the completed narrative and teachings.For this approach to a reading of the Old Testament, the discontinuities in the narrative are themost important evidence regarding what the text is intended to reveal to us about God and HisPeople and the profound relationship between the two. The thread that holds this approachtogether is the developing Apocalyptic Tradition, a literary and declaratory tradition that beginsin the time of the divided Kingdom and courses through to its climax in the Book of Revelation.It is in this beginning-and-end vision of life in the Spirit as a community conveys theprofound meaning for the individual and the nation that it does. This means that such events ascrossing rivers, dealing with floods, and crossing or being stymied in a journey by seas areessential to an understanding of the broader apocalyptic intent of the Holy Scriptures. It alsoembraces the lived continuities of family, clan, and tribe and their significance in the creation ofa Holy Nation.