A call to a new Reformation in the teaching and life of Jesus' followers
I have been reading N.T. Wright’s book “The Last Word — Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture.” This is a good read, shorter than usual for Wright, that discusses a number of issues surrounding Biblical inspiration in what I believe is a very healthy light. My quote of Wright in this post, while it links to an online … Continue reading Biblical Literalism according to Wright
It’s not about you.The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness.So begins that modern mogul of megachurches, Rick Warren, in his bestseller “The Purpose Driven Life.” He’s right, of course, though I wish he would have expanded the thought in more directions than he did. But I’m afraid that though millions bought … Continue reading Personal Salvation
Those who’ve been in regular dialog with me for some time now know that I have a long-running issue with creeds or statements of faith. To some extent my issue is with the concept itself–that a creed seems often to be used to define who’s “in,” or more particularly who’s “out” of fellowship with a group, a deity, a religion. While I freely acknowledge my … Continue reading A word about creeds
We have it all wrong when we invite people to follow Jesus. The typical Evangelical invitation to Christ is, of course, summed up most fully in the so-called “Four Spiritual Laws.” In short, they are (and partially in my own words): God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life; Because you are sinful, you can’t experience God’s plan for your life; Jesus … Continue reading Atonement as Evangelism???
I have just got to promote this article by N.T. (Tom) Wright, bishop of Durham in England: http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/page.cfm?ID=334 Thanks to my friend Ben for sharing it. Wright has outlined so many things in this piece, that have also been bugging me, that I don’t even know what highlights to quote. It’s long and a bit heavy at times, but seriously, take the time to digest … Continue reading Required reading by N.T. Wright
One of the things that originally got me on the subject of what the Bible actually says about itself was my frustration about how people in the church use it. . .and these are things I have encountered in a wide variety of Christian settings, not just evangelical/fundamental ones. I refer here to the devotional rituals described by some as “time with the Lord” or … Continue reading Spiritual Innoculation
While looking for the source of the quote in the previous post, I came across the entire text of Vernard Eller’s compilation of the writings of Johann Christoff Blumhardt and Christoff Heinrich Blumhardt, Thy Kingdom Come: A Blumhardt Reader. This excerpt from the section entitled “The Bible” is relevant and interesting: People speak much these days about “the inspiration of scripture”; and this is good. … Continue reading A different take on Inspiration – Blumhardt
Though I’m far from exhausting the issue of Biblical inspiration, I think it might be useful to turn aside for a moment and look at why I’m going down this road at all. I already stated at the outset that one primary reason is that we have no business making a doctrinal-level claim that cannot be conclusively supported on Biblical texts alone. That is, if … Continue reading Why it matters
I have contended in previous posts that the conventional Christian position designating the entire Biblical canon to be the “Word of God” is in error. But this is not to say that we do not have the Word of God available to us. . .quite the contrary. The role of the “workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 … Continue reading Biblical Inspiration part 4 – Rightly Dividing the Word
Note, please see the follow-on to this discussion linked at the end of this article. “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. . .” (NRSV). Doesn’t this verse conclusively state that our Bible comes straight from God? Well, not exactly. First of all we have to look at the word “Scripture.” While … Continue reading Biblical Inspiration Part 3: But what about 2 Tim. 3:16?