Reading Scripture

Discover Theology Lab

Pastors and Christian Leaders, Reading Scripture / By

A church in the northeast is up to good stuff lately. I accidentally came across Highrock Covenant Church last year when either Beth Allison Barr (The Making of Biblical Womanhood) or Kristin Du Mez (Jesus and John Wayne) posted on Twitter about speaking for a series on American Evangelicalism. I had been pondering my faith heritage within evangelicalism for several years, and certainly since 2016, trying to make sense of it.  So, I eagerly signed up to watch the series live and participate in Zoom discussion groups. Theology Lab is one of the church’s initiatives run by resident theologian Scott Rice.

Highrock is not a flashy megachurch. Nor has it used these stellar theology labs as a means to draw attention to itself. Highrock started these discussions for its own congregational community within the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC). For example, when I attended the series on evangelicalism, I was one of the few who was not a Highrock member, despite the line-up of big names. Highrock was simply trying to create resources for its people to help shape their theological imagination and promote spiritual formation.

When I first signed up to learn from these Theology Lab series, I had no idea that I would end up in a speaker line-up! But Scott read my books and invited me to be a presenter for the 2023-2024 series on Scripture and Tradition to discuss my latest work, The Word of a Humble God: The Origins, Inspiration, and Interpretation of Scripture. My co-presenters in the series included excellent scholars like Dennis Edwards (Vice President/Dean; North Park University), Janette Ok (New Testament; Fuller Seminary), Tim Mackie (The Bible Project), and Peter Enns (Old Testament; Eastern University).

Image and link to the Theology Lab Scripture and Tradition series featuring, Dennis Edwards, Janette Ok, Tim Mackie, Karen Keen, and Peter Enns.

Theology Lab has completed several series that are available on YouTube, as well as via podcast. So far, Highrock done series on:

You can keep up on Theology Lab happenings through Highrock’s website or Theology Lab Facebook page. You can also find Theology Lab on Highrock’s YouTube channel.

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A Few Thoughts on Faith and Historical Criticism

Reading Scripture, Reconstructing Faith / By

Recently, I wrote an article for Logia’s blog entitled, “How Historical Criticism Challenged My Faith . . . Then Strengthened It.” Commonly, when graduate students from evangelical backgrounds continue their studies in theology and the Bible, they encounter truths they didn’t know before, facts that can be unsettling at first. In the article, I share my own journey (as much as one can in a short blog post). If you or anyone you know has felt disoriented or disillusioned when your long-held presuppositions about the Bible are challenged, you might find this article helpful. Here’s an excerpt:

“I began to ask new questions, including what does the world behind the text mean for me as a Christian? At my previous seminary, I was told it didn’t matter because, ultimately, the biblical authors provide their interpretation of history. They selectively reported on events to advance a particular inspired message from God. Other historical facts, then, were superfluous for the spiritual life. And yet, as I studied the world behind the text, I realized it, too, had something truthful to say. Sometimes that truth conflicted with ways I had been taught to read Scripture.

The tension between historical criticism and theological interpretation challenged my faith. In retrospect, that tension was reflected in Prof. G’s response to me. He was an evangelical desiring to be seen as a legitimate scholar within the guild at large. That required him to care about mainstream methodologies. Yet, he hadn’t reconciled the two in his heart. Some part of him believed he needed to suppress religious passion to be a reputable scholar. While my seminary responded to the mainstream guild by ignoring it, Prof. G craved its validation. Neither approach seemed right to me.”

Read the rest at Logia. Logia is an initiative in partnership with The Logos Institute at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland. The program and blog site are currently under the oversight of Executive Director, Christa McKirland, who is based out of Carey Baptist College in New Zealand. The initiative was founded in 2017 to address barriers that women face in higher education and theological leadership. The program is “designed a) to highlight the excellence of women already active in leadership in the academy and the church; and b) to develop the excellence of women training for such roles.”

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Noah by Darren Aronofsky & Ari Handel

Book & Film Reviews, Reading Scripture / By

Have you seen the movie Noah starring Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly? Given my interest in Old Testament reception history, I could not pass it up. How would two Jewish men today interpret this flood story? The Genesis account itself is a product of unique Israelite interpretation of a common ancient Near Eastern narrative. The story appeared in ancient texts long before Genesis was written. But, the biblical authors offer their own theological perspective on the event.

Similarly, the flood has been the subject of midrash (Jewish interpretation of the biblical text) throughout history. Ancient Jewish writers sought to fill in narrative gaps in Genesis with commentaries like I Enoch and Jubilees. In fact, from these ancient Jewish texts, the movie draws content about the Watchers and Noah’s visit to Methuselah—narrative details not found in most biblical canons. Those Transformer-looking rock creatures in the film might seem like fantasy fiction invented by modern movie makers, but their role did not come out of nowhere. They are the fallen angels of lore—albeit their appearance a bit embellished.  

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The Bible Made Impossible by Christian Smith

Book & Film Reviews, Reading Scripture / By

I recently read Christian Smith’s book The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture (2012) published by Brazos Press. It critiques a form of biblical interpretation that too often treats the Bible in a wooden and rule book fashion, thereby diminishing the richness of Scripture. Having grown up in fundamentalism, I understand the problem he is describing. At the same time, I often felt he did not capture important nuances by choosing to critique the most fundamentalist version of evangelical Scripture reading.

What is Biblicism?

Smith defines biblicism as “a theory about the Bible that emphasizes together its exclusive authority, infallibility, perspicuity, self-sufficiency, internal consistency, self-evident meaning, and universal applicability” (viii). He lists ten assumptions of biblicism:

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The Bible Tells Me So by Peter Enns

Book & Film Reviews, Ethics, Reading Scripture / By
Book link to Peter Enns's book The Bible Tells Me So

How do we make sense of difficult passages in the Bible? What about the violence or apparent contradictions? Peter Enns addresses these concerns in his book The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It. Enns is concerned that instead of honest engagement with Scripture some Christian thinkers make unreasonable attempts to cover up or explain away the challenges. He specifically sees this occurring among those who treat the Bible like a rule book of fixed, timeless truths. Instead of a rule book, Enns suggests we read Scripture in the genre of storytelling, with inspired examples of how God-fearers of the past have wrestled with their faith.

To be clear, Enns affirms the value of Scripture—we know God better by reading it—but he believes we have erroneous expectations of it. He wants to help his readers understand the nature of Scripture and, therefore, how to correctly read and apply it. Instead of diminishing reverence for the Bible, Enns seeks to affirm it by accepting it for what it really is: an inspired but messy text.

Before I provide my own reflection on the book, here are the stats. The book is divided into seven chapters that each have multiple, short readable essays. He centers his thesis on three primary realizations that challenged him to re-think the nature of Scripture. The Bible depicts:

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Three Reviews: Ethics and Old Testament Violence

1 Comment / Book & Film Reviews, Ethics, Reading Scripture / By

Numerous books have been published in recent years addressing challenging passages in the Old Testament. Many of them have focused on the Israelite conquest of Canaan, while others discuss a palette of “problems.” In this post I review three books that engage these challenges. I especially consider how they handle violence in the Old Testament.

Book 1: Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan, Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God (BakerBooks, 2014)

Book cover and link to Did God Really Command Genocide

Did God really command the Israelites to slaughter the Canaanites? That is the moral dilemma that Copan and Flannagan take up. These scholars offer an apologetic response to philosophers and New Atheists who dismiss the Old Testament as barbaric. But, does their apologetic meet the task? Yes and No.

The book has four parts:

  • Genocide Texts and the Problem of Scriptural Authority
  • Occasional Commands, Hyperbolic Texts, and Genocidal Massacres
  • Is It Always Wrong to Kill Innocent People?
  • Religion and Violence

The book is largely a summary of the apologetic arguments espoused by William Lane Craig and Nicholas Wolterstorff with atheist philosopher, Wes Morriston, serving as one of their primary opponents. In this regard, the book serves as “Cliff Notes” to broader conversations happening on the topic. The authors begin by asserting that the words of Scripture are not the result of mechanical dictation. In other words, they acknowledge the human side of Scripture; God does not always affirm what the human author affirms, such as psalms of vengeance (28). That is, we must consider whether or not what the human author wrote is what God wants to say to us today through Scripture. God might want to appropriate the words of Scripture for an intention different than the original authors. The original meaning might have been important only for the Israelites’ time and place, and now we have to draw a general principle from the text. At the same time, Copan and Flannagan reject the dichotomy between the Old and New Testament God (war God vs. loving God), as well as Seibert’s distinction between the “textual” God (how the Israelites imagined God to be) and the “real” God (who is not always like the Israelites portrayed God to be; 39-44).

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Divine Scripture in Human Understanding by Joe Gordon

Book & Film Reviews, Reading Scripture / By

One of my research interests, and one I am currently writing on for publication for Eerdmans, is the origins, nature, and useful interpretation of Scripture. Well, I guess that is more like three research interests! But I like to contemplate them together, as they intertwine. Origins helps us to know what the Bible is and what it is helps us to know how to meaningfully use it. So, whenever possible I pick up books on the subject. When I found out a colleague, Dr. Joseph Gordon, associate professor of theology at Johnson University, was coming out with his book Divine Scripture in Human Understanding: A Systematic Theology of the Christian Bible, I knew I had to check it out. I have long appreciated and respected Joe’s theological insights since we were classmates at Marquette University.

Gordon is driven by questions related to the nature and purpose of the Bible. What is it? What role ought it to play in the Christian life? How do we best interpret it? He contemplates these in full awareness of thorny questions around the human fingerprints in Scripture–its difficult passages (e.g. depictions of slavery or violence) and the process of its textual production that has led to a variety of manuscript traditions and not a singular “original” text. What does it mean that the Bible is inspired if human involvement is so evident?

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Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch by John Webster

Book & Film Reviews, Reading Scripture / By

John Webster provides a helpful contribution to the discussion on the inspiration of the Bible in Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch. He provides a much needed look at the role of the Holy Spirit (pneumatology) that is missing in some of the discussions on the nature of Scripture. Webster roots his views of Scripture in a doctrine of God as saving presence (39). He emphasizes the importance of understanding the Bible as Holy Scripture, and not merely “scripture” (2). The former is a “human text which God sanctifies for the service of his communicative presence” and the latter is “human writing generated and used by religious communities.” He further defines Holy Scripture as “the saving economy of God’s loving and regenerative self-communication.”

Webster believes that in some circles the Holy aspect of Scripture has been discarded (1). He seeks to provide a dogmatic explication of what we mean when we say “Holy” Scripture. In religious studies programs analysis of sacred texts tends to focus on the human agents in the production of the text. But, “Holy” Scripture is indicative of the reality that something divine is occurring beyond merely human activity. Webster does not deny the human elements in Scripture, but rejects reducing Scripture to mere scripture. A doctrine of Scripture must be firmly rooted in the “self-representation of the triune God, of which the text is a servant” (6). When Scripture is divorced from divine activity the text is treated as a matter of independent investigation.

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Inspiration and Incarnation by Peter Enns

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In Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament. Peter Enns proposes an incarnational model for understanding how the Bible was inspired by God. Just as Jesus is 100% divine and 100% human, so also the Bible is both divine and human (17). Jesus was “God with us.” Even though he is divine, he took on human flesh and all the cultural trappings of this world. In the same way, the Bible is sacred yet clearly reflects the cultures that produced it. Enns recognizes that the incarnational analogy is not an exact fit. Thus, he suggests “incarnational parallel” might be a better way to phrase it (18, 168). The point is understanding Scripture as both divine and human is a crucial tension to maintain. The Bible is a product of a collaboration between God and human beings.

There are tendencies toward two extremes: those who see the obvious cultural influences in the Bible and therefore only consider it a human book, and those who are uncomfortable acknowledging the earthiness of Scripture and overemphasize its divine qualities (18). The latter fall into Docetic heresy which claimed Christ was fully divine, but only appeared to be (but was not really) human. Enns states that the human dimension of Scripture is what makes it what it is. Recognizing that the Bible is both human and divine affects what we should expect from it and what we should do with it.

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Sacred Word Broken Word by Kenton Sparks

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In his book, Sacred Word Broken Word, Kenton Sparks proposes an “adoptionist” model for understanding how God speaks to us in Scripture. He writes, “Scripture is God’s Word because God providentially adopted ancient human beings, like Paul, as his spokespersons. In doing so God ‘set apart’ or ‘sanctified’ their words for use in his redemptive activity” (29, 156). Interestingly, he chooses a 2nd century heresy as an analogy. Adoptionism denies that Jesus was eternally pre-existent with the Father, but rather he became divine when “adopted” by God at his baptism and the Spirit of God descended upon him (e.g. Luke 3:22). Sparks says “there is a theological purpose behind God’s choice to use human beings as we are, so that the glory for redemption will truly be his” (156). But, he does not expand on this theory of theological purpose.

Sparks believes the biblical authors were sinful human beings who erred like any other human beings (29, 32, 46-47, 59). They sometimes “thought and wrote ungodly things.” He also believes the Bible not only has errors (6, 29), but also contains within its pages evil that is in need of redemption (46-47). He compares Scripture with creation—good, but fallen. Some texts should be prioritized for reading above “those that are more partial or distorted by the human condition” (49).

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