JETS 43:1 (March 00) p. 73 and pay close attention to how they express themselves. At the same time, we want to avoid being like the scribes of Jesus’ day who studied the text carefully but were blind to the ways in which its message was being worked out in their own generation. They were Scriptural positivists, as it were, in relation to the past meanings of texts. They were not sensitive to the fact that the reason we engage the narratives of Scripture is not just to refresh our memories but also