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Midrash
Midrash is a name given to an interpretive method used by Jewish rabbis for speculating upon hidden meanings in their ancient Scriptures. In explaining that the early Christians used this same method to find meaning in events in and surrounding the life of Jesus, Episcopalian bishop, Sheldon Spong, (author of Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism) spoke to a church gathering in New Jersey about Luke's account of events at Pentecost. The early Christians, he said, likened Jesus to a new and greater Elijah. So when the power of the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples at Pentecost, they described it as a mighty rushing wind because the Hebrew word for spirit, ruach, is also the name for wind--which was thought to be nothing less than the breath of God. It also came as a tongue of fire which lighted upon the disciples' heads because Elijah was renowned for his power to call down fire from Heaven.
As he sought to explain this use of "midrash" to his incredulous flock, one of them exclaimed, "You mean that maybe these things did not actually happen?" "No." he said "What we have in the Gospels is an interpretive narrative based on an earlier part of the tradition and designed to enable the reader to see the reality of God in Jesus and to be drawn to the reality in faith."
"This means," his questioner replied, "that you are saying that Luke was lying. He told these things as if they were true when he knew they were not!"
"To force the Gospel narratives into the straight jacket of literal historicity is to violate their intention," says Spong. "To see them as expressions of the genre called midrash with a Christian twist is to enter Scripture in a new and perhaps life-giving way."
The revelators of The Urantia Book also use midrash, for example, in describing ultimate origins. We must beware of any trend towards becoming Urantia Book literalists.
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