Lingering Questions

I've been reading Philemon a lot lately. I know it's a short book, but I've been reading it over and over and over, and thinking a lot about how we read scripture. I'm developing my thinking, my understanding on how it is we are to read the New Testament - individually and in a community of faith - but still struggling to understand exactly how to do this. Not that there's necessarily just one way, but I'm sure there are some ways that are better than others... When the Apostle Paul was writing, he treated each situation as unique and important. His letters do not so much forge religious dogma as convey his understanding of how Christianity (read: the Gospel) might be structured in concrete situations. While the letters function today in the canon of scripture as the “Word of God,” we must consider what this means. If Paul was knowingly writing different letters with different styles, based on different contexts, might we not also consider the necessity of contextualizing the gospel to our own cultural, social, and economic situation?  Is it not, then, dangerous to absolutise these scriptural passages and superimpose solutions addressing issues of the first century church upon our own world without contextual nuance? How then are we to read Paul's letters today? Technorati Tags: Bible, Christianity, Church, Faith, Scripture