Scripture by Heart: Reconnecting Word and Heart (The Gospel of Mark) (Critical Essay‪)‬

In the fall of 2009, I was introduced to a new and exciting strategy for interpreting the Bible. At the time, I was a senior theology major at Texas Lutheran University (TLU) and a pupil of Dr. Phil Ruge-Jones. It was in his New Testament Theology course that I had my introduction to biblical storytelling or "Scripture by Heart." That introduction renewed my passion for Scripture and for what God reveals to us through that Scripture. I am now a student at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. am on the path toward becoming a pastor in the ELCA, and I continue to hold Scripture by Heart as a close companion for interpreting Scripture. Before I continue, however, I want to describe in a bit more detail what Scripture by Heart is. For me, Scripture by Heart (biblical storytelling) is the memorizing, internalizing, and retelling of Scripture. I do this with the hope of reviving the form in which the gospel message was spread in the early church. It was a powerful tool then, and I believe it can be just as powerful (if not more so) in our modern age--especially when so much information now passes from machine to machine rather than person to person. Through storytelling, we encounter an old and often overlooked lens for biblical interpretation--human interaction.