I’ve recently become more aware of the Jewish Midrash tradition. I’ve heard a few of these Midrash stories in the past, but until recently, I didn't know much about this intriguing world of literature. From what I’m learning, it seems to me that this is exactly where the Emergent movement could find both its roots and its voice.

Midrash is the rabbinic tradition of interpreting the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). These ancient Rabbis have been doing this much longer than modern Christianity and there is a huge library of Midrash texts to prove it. One of the most common styles in Midrash tradition is explaining sacred texts by creating more stories about the stories. These highly creative stories and poems draw out the meanings in more detail. They fill in the gaps in all our favorite Bible narratives with dramatic creativity. Midrash is the place where minor Biblical characters get their very own fully developed stories. The serpent in the Garden of Eden is more developed as the storytellers speculate about the source of his motivation for tempting Eve. The details about Adam and Eve's adventures east of Eden and Noah's difficult journey come to life. Even the words written on Moses’ two stone tablets become a living mythical character. The actual text (the very words of God) written on these two stone tablets is what lifts the heavy stones and allows Moses to carry them down the mountain. When the words see the golden calf at the bottom of the mountain, the words become angry and they fly off the tablets. Moses can no longer support the tablets void of God’s powerful words and he drops the meaningless stones to the ground. I think that is an amazing creative statement about the power of those words.

Once a canon (i.e., approved scriptural text) is closed, the problem facing the community is the problem of "searching out" the canon…The ultimate goal of Midrash is to "search out" the fullness of what was spoken by the Divine Voice.
- Dr. Charles T. Davis, Appalachian Statue University, Philosophy and Religion Department, NC

The thing I’ve learned most is that these rabbis loved to tell stories. This is how they capture and transmit meaning. I think it's beautiful. Not everyone communicates in three point sermons or PowerPoint lists. These artists created poems, narratives, symbolism, and myths that invoke our imagination while bringing out the deep meanings of the Bible. Doesn’t this sound like a postmodern concept? If Emergent Christians are seeking a return to the hermeneutics of story telling in place of our flat modern systematic theology, then Midrash may be an important model.