I recently heard a sermon that I thought had an amazing social-justice-oriented message, but I got caught up in what I thought was the preacher’s poor exegetical method. It made me remember when I was in college and went to concerts with my music major friends. I would experience what I believed to be beautiful music, but they would assess and analyze the method and skill of delivery. They would notice the slightly off notes and the occasional out of sync rhythm, while I would simply be inspired and moved.

The preacher that I heard delivered a powerful and accessible message about our responsibility to development work with the world’s poor and hungry people. I have this feeling that I was the only person in the room thinking about how he inappropriately allegorized details from one of Jesus’ miracles, referred to Luke’s account of the story as including “medical” details, and generally imposed his understanding of present day development work to the biblical text.

I feel so conflicted here. This preacher was inspiring. But here I am picking apart his exegesis! I don’t want to be some academic elitist who views the biblical texts as untouchable and incomprehensible to those who have not studied them in depth. Going beyond just the preacher’s message, I don’t want to be an intimidating presence for the people around me who have not studied the Bible. I don’t want people to be afraid of talking to me about their thoughts, for fear that I will tear it to shreds. Indeed, I want to be an accessible teacher of how one should approach the biblical text.

One time, I tried to be in a men’s quartet where I was clearly the least musically-trained person. I felt so intimidated and inadequate that I just gave up the group. I didn’t think I belonged there. I don’t want to be that guy that makes people feel that way about the Bible.

At the same time, I guess I pay attention to methodological details because if you don’t use proper exegesis and you are trying to find meaning in the biblical text (or any text), you can make it say whatever you’d like. It just so happened that I agreed with the preacher’s message, but someone could have used the same technique and made the text be about something that I would find abhorrent. I suppose I feel I have to be fair. If I’m going to tear apart a fundamentalist preacher’s argument, I ought to be prepared to tear apart an Anabaptist preacher’s argument.

So, if you are an academic in biblical studies, how do you reconcile your “elite” knowledge with a desire not to be “elitist”?