The Goat Herder’s Guide to the Galaxy

Awhile ago I saw a meme on our favourite social media platform that read, “I just heard someone refer to the Bible as the ‘Goat Herder’s Guide to the Galaxy, and I now will forever be using this term.” It stuck, and I have begun calling the Bible the “Goat Herder’s Guide”. For me, it is a term that really resonates for a number of reasons. Of course, that the term is irreverent gives me great pleasure. The fact that there will be people that will turn red and be offended is highly motivating.

    By playing with the name I know I am venturing into a highly sensitive territory as there those people that subscribe to the Bible as being the “Word of God!” I have different view of scripture, one that is best captured in the phrase, “Do not confuse the map with the territory.” Please do not confuse my irreverence for disrespect. For I see within scripture the story of God’s love for people, and our trying to live within that love.

    However, what makes this moniker of the scriptures even more appealing is that I see a profound truth in the name. By the way, just in case you did not know, the title “Bible” just means book. There are two aspects of the name “The Goat Herder’s Guide” that I think are foundational to our faith and understanding scripture. If this blog was more academically inclined I might refer to the Bible as GHGG, but I won’t.

    The first aspect that I see is that the scriptures were created by absolutely ordinary people. While some of the characters contained within the pages of the book might be over-the-top, those who wrote the pages were just like you and me. Often when reading Genesis and Exodus I get a sense of sitting around a fire, sipping wine, and telling stories. The message that is inherent is that you and I, are able to provide divine revelation to other people.

    While the idea of Goat Herding seems much more Old Testament, the sentiment carries on in the New. The Twelve Apostles, Paul, and others were just ordinary people. The New Testament sees prophecy related to an activity, not a person, or a role. While I believe there are still those called into the role of a prophet, the rest of us still receive divine inspiration and guidance. God’s spirit is poured out over all of us, not just a few.

    The second aspect of the title reflects God’s use of human agency to enact his will. With our world view of the Big Bang and evolution, would the story of how the world came into being, be as poetic? I hazard a guess that it would not be. We would miss the nuances of beauty and majesty of creation. Would we step over that we were created in God’s likeness, male and female, to represent him on earth? The practice of creating likenesses of the Kings and placing them around the territory was a method of declaring dominion. I think our role as stewards of creation would escape us even more than it has already.

    God’s use of human agency has a cost. He is limited through our understanding of the world. This does have a hidden blessing, for in voicing himself through us, he ensures that the message can be understood by us. This aspect makes the text accessible to us. “No matter how feeble the human language of the Bible, it is our faith that mediates the self-disclosure of God.”[1] The use of faith, should be understood as our experience with God, not just a belief in the sacredness of the Goat Herder’s Guide.

    The limitation of using human agency also has detraction. The context of what is written may not be understood. The subtleties and nuances of the “Sermon on the Mount” are missed. This manifesto preached in Aramaic, most likely, and is recorded in Hebrew, used language and phrasing that would have been accessible to those to who Jesus taught. To read it superficially, as if your English translation caught the full depth of the sermon is to miss this point. The Goat Herder’s Guide is best read prayerfully and reflectively.

    So why is this all important? First, we are inclined to trust the instructions of others over our relationship with God. We so often defer to this author, that speaker, or this commentator. While education is important, the lack thereof is no limitation on God being able to speak to you. The means by which God most often “speaks” to us is scripture, the writings of one common person being read by another common person, and therein lays the wonder of scripture.

    The Goat Herder’s Guide also needs to be read reflectively and prayerfully. There has been great damage done by those quoting scripture out of context and then claiming divine authority. Above all else the perspectives that we need to read scripture are humility and love.

    Trust what God reveals to you as you read.

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[1] Michael Casey, Sacred Reading: The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina (Liguori, MO: Triumph Books, 1996), 79-100.