Reading the Bible After Christendom

This the title of a book by Lloyd Peitersen. Sad, depressing read about the downside of Christendom and its dominance of the Christian message and understanding.
His focus is on the place of the Anabaptist in the life of the church and its way of reading the Bible. Indicating his indebtedness to them he writes: "I shall advocate that reading the Bible after Christendom requires an approach that is Jesus-centered, rooted in Community reading, open to the Spirit and orientated to Obedience. .... I depart from them on their refusal to accept ambiguity in the text and their approach to the two testaments." ( pp 65 -66) The Anabaptist insistence on Obedience as an integral part of reading the Bible is I believe essential given what we understand the Bible to be.
In Part 2 of his book he commences with a chapter on "Jesus as the Centre of Biblical Interpretation" He writes in part: "First, Jesus exemplifies what the Old Testament means by loving God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might and loving your neighbour as your self (Deut 6:5, Lev 19:18) which He states are at the heart of the Old Testament (Matt 22:40) Second, Jesus expands on this by speaking of "justice and mercy and faith" as the weightier matters of the law" (Matt 22:23) So any reading of Scripture which claims to be Christocentric should enhance our love of God and neighbour and contribute to human flourishing in terms of justice, mercy and faithfulness .... This brings ethics and praxis to the fore front of biblical interpretation.
Finally reflection of the person of Jesus can provide us with particular lenses with which to read the Bible .... customary to see this through Christ as Prophet, priest and king. These are too connected to Christendom ... so I propose to use Prophet, Pastor and Poet as angles of vision with which to view the Biblical text" ( p 69 - 70 ) and so he proceeds.
I find this framework to read scripture very persuasive. Echoes of Walter Brueggemann sound as I read this. It is not surprising that the same Walter Brueggemann writes a Foreword to this book. You will note that this post appears under the general label of Narrative Explored which gives a hint of the influence of Bishop Tom Wright as well.
It is to be noted that I now view the first chapter of Genesis to be a declaration contra Idolatry and false religion. That Light is declared to be independent of the Sun and Moon is critical to this. They appear on Day 4, yet light is provided on Day 1