Performing the Faith

From Alastair comes this excellent post called "How Gutenberg Took the Bible from Us: Some thoughts on the Ontology of the Scriptures." A choice snippet:

The ubiquity of the printed text makes it very difficult for us to recover a more Christian engagement with the Scripture. Even within the gathered worship of the people of God, people are incessantly reading their printed Bibles. This is akin to someone attending a production of Hamlet and paying little attention to what is taking place on the stage because he is too busy reading along in the text.

Here's the rest, which is highly recommended.

For more on this topic by Alastair:

• The Authority of Scripture: From Priests to Prophets


• The Authority of Scripture: The Authorizing Text

For more on this topic by others:

• At ReformedCatholicism on January 2, 2006: I wonder what history you have been reading…


• Another at ReformedCatholicism on March 21, 2006: On Inerrancy


• And yet again ReformedCatholicism on March 23, 2006: Outside the Three-Ringed Circus


• At Gower Street on November 15, 2005: Hermeneutics, Authority, and Canon


• At The Phaith of St. Phransus on October 25, 2005: Thoughts on Scripture pt1 - "Our Family Story"


• Joel Garver at Sacra Doctrina on November 23, 2004: the bible in the middle ages

(Hat tip for the original post, if I wore hats: Reformed Catholicism. Also, apologies to Stanley Hauerwas for the name of this post -- it just seemed to fit so well :)