Black biblical scholar Joseph Johnson gave us the following eleven principles which suggest a way of preparation for the imaginative use of Scripture.
- Prepare yourself with devotion and prayer prior to your encounter with the Scriptures.
- Read the entire chapter in which the ext is located.
- Become acquainted with all of the stories which lead up to the text and those that follow.
- What were the problems, the situation of the participants in the story?
- Read the biblical passages aloud, so as to hear the Scriptures and permit them to speak with you.
- Discover the huan element and the Divine element in the situation.
- You must see what the writer saw, feel what the participants in the story felt, and hear what they heard.
- Use your imagination and put yourself in the place of the writer and participants of the story.
- Assume the different roles of the principal characters in the story and act as if you were present when the story was first told.
- Ask yourwelf this question: "What special message does this passage of Scripture bring to your people for their healing and renewal?"
- Then wait for God to speak.
