All renewal movements in the church during the last two hundred years have had three things in common. They have (1) emphasized the role and responsibility of the individual in community, (2) they have had strong and personal leadership, and (3) they have encouraged reading the Bible, particularly the four Gospels. Any movement of significance have found its source of inspiration in the Bible. This was so for the evangelical revival movements of the 19th century, which shaped the Protestant world especially in the USA. The bible also inspired the Pentecostal movements beginning in California in the early years of the 20th century. The renaissance of Lutheran theology in the 1920�s meant a return to the priciple of sola scriptura. The liturgical scholarship at Catholic universities and monastic communities in the 1940�s were born out of exegetical and patristic research. Bible study was the hotbed of the modern ecumenical movement. The Second Vatican Council drew on biblical research, as did the reforms which followed. The charismatic renewal, which has swept the world, as well as the Taiz� movement, the Focolare and not least Sant�Egidio have found inspiration in an immediate encounter with Jesus in the Gospels. The fast growing church in China is characterized by bible reading, and so are many of the African instituted churches. Evangelical and Pentecostal movements with the Bible as their inspiration and guide, are the winners in an increasingly competitive Christian world, while more established churches are loosing ground.

With this in mind, we need to remind ourselves that individual, and sometimes sectarian, bible reading and interpretation has proved to be a very divisive matter. Since the days of Marcion, selective reference to the word of God has always supported the course of heretics and fundamentalists. The division of the church is more often than not based on differing interpretations of the bible. Bible reading is a risky thing for the unity, doctrine and coherence of the church. Consequently, the church always had good reason to protect its doctrinal authority and her privilege to interpret Scripture. With the widespread knowledge of reading, the printing press, the availability of bible translations, and a growing individual autonomy, it has become increasingly difficult to uphold the authority of the church. The word of God can no longer be fenced in: every reader has the right and obligation to develop his or her understanding.

(This situation brings many questions to the fore, besides the exegetical ones. One is about Scripture as part of tradition, shaping tradition, and correcting tradition. Another is about a verbal, contextual, or metaphorical reading of the bible. A third � to mention just some obvious ones � is about the bible as the revelation of truth in relation to the holy scriptures of other religions.)

The Bible and particularly the Jesus story, warms the hearts of people and inspires them to attempt a Christian life in this contradictory world. In Sweden, which is my home country, participants in the evangelical revival movements in the 19th century were named �readers� because the always gathered around the Bible. After centuries of authoritarian teaching by the church, the word became alive to them in their familes and communities of prayer. This is now a lost habit. Even regular church attendants have little knowledge of the Bible besides what is read to them in church. Today bible reading and bible knowledge seem to be more frequent among Catholics than among Lutherans.

There are three fundamental principles to be applied when reading the bible. The first one is that the Bible must be interpreted by tradition and in the context of liturgy. Our understanding of revelation matures in community guided by inherited tradition and values. Present day movements sometimes tend to live on their own with few references to the wider Christian community and its collective memory. This is one reason why modern readers often read in a fundamentalist way. Bible reading outside the sacramental community easily destorts our heritage. Tradition as the living faith of the dead, easily turns into traditionalism, which is the dead faith of the living.

The second principle is that the bible must be read in faith and with an intention of salvation. A bible reader not seeking salvation is bound to get it wrong. Jesus Christ is, as Lutherans put it, the kernel and the star of the bible. Every book of the bible should be read in the light of the life, teaching, death, atonement, and resurrection of Christ. This is, in a Christian perspective, the only appropriate hermeneutical key. With Christ at the centre as the guiding principle, a fundamentalist reading of the Bible, giving every word the same weigth and value, becomes impossible.

The third principle is always to read with prayer that the Holy Spirit may enlighten one�s own heart and mind to God�s message. If a fundamentalist reads the bible to find out what it tells others and what it has to say about other people�s lives, an authentic Christian reads the word as addressed to himself.

When read in community with Christ as the hermeutical key in prayer for the Holy Spirit the Bible, and especially the Gospels, remains the most inspiring and challenging text ever. It is the great story shaping a humanistic culture and a humbe faith, and it gives any person the opportunity to encounter Jesus Christ.

As we remember pope John Paul II, brother Roger of Taize, and celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dag Hammarskjold, we are reminded of how the bible shaped their lives and understanding of the world. Recalling an Elsassian like Abert Schweizer, the great new testament scholar, medical doctor and musician, who spent his life I Central Africa, again we meet a person inspired by the scholarly and personal reading of the Gospel. Outside the church, people like Mahatma Gandhi, have made constant reference to the bible as a source of inspiration.