Sunday, February 12, 2012

Scripture and the Authority of God

Scripture and the Authority of God is a book by NT Wright that was recently re-released with a few changes and additions from the original book titled, The Last Word. Authority is an effort by Wright to demonstrate how the Bible has authority in the present and continues to serve as the church's unwavering basis and dynamic guide throughout history. Written as a 'popular level' work, Authority is less polemic than other works by Wright (just as Justification) but also not designed to be primarily an academic study. The best audiences for this book are probably pastors, lay Christians, non-Christians seeking answers (although there's enough Christian terminology to cause a person to get lost) and seminary students in their early years of study. Overall, the book delivers a strong case for God's authority working through the vehicle of Scripture, but comes up short in making a specific ontological case regarding the nature of Scripture itself.

Very early in Authority NT Wright pulls from his hip pocket something he loves to do in almost every work I've ever read by him, as well as every sermon I've heard him preach. He loves to say that we (Christians) are coming to the text of the Bible with the wrong questions (or at least asking the right questions in the wrong way). In the preface he says: "Having made the Bible the focus of my own professional work for many years, I have become convinced that we are asking at least some of the questions in the wrong way." He goes on to describe an article he's written in the past concerning the Bible's authority as well as chapter 5 of his magnificent work, The New Testament and the People of God, in which he describes the biblical story as a 5-act play (also Authority 122ff). We are currently living in the 5th act, which is the last phase of God's eschatological plan for humanity and all creation. Then what are the right questions, Dr. Wright? He lays them out as such: 1. In what sense is the Bible authoritative in the first place?; 2. How can the Bible be appropriately understood and interpreted?; 3. How can its authority, assuming such appropriate interpretation, be brought to bear on the church itself, let alone on the world? These are great questions, and Wright logically works through each one methodically and candidly. However, as Wright plainly states, he believes these questions are the most important ones, and other questions that have been asked are perhaps not the most critical of questions. An example of such questions might be, "Is the Bible historically reliable?". "How do we know if the Bible is divinely inspired?" "Is the Bible free from error?". If these questions are the most pressing for the reader, he or she will walk away disappointed. These are not the questions of this book. 

Understanding what questions Wright is asking is essential in understanding his work. He's essentially asking questions about how the Bible could be viewed as authoritative, but he always answers those questions in terms of how God uses the Bible as an authority. In chapter one Wright defines what he means by the authority of Scripture: "...the authority of the triune God, exercised somehow through scripture". (Authority, 21) In other words, the authority of the Bible is never spoken of apart from the authority of God. Such an approach may seem on a surface level axiomatic, however, many traditions speak about the Bible in terms of it's efficacious nature apart from the dynamic and ever-present working of Father, Son and Spirit. (Many systematic theologies attest to this fact as Bibliology is often the basis of its foundational theology, vs. Theology Proper.) In fact it's this apparent tension between the authority of God and the authority of Scripture with which Wright deals:

"...how can we speak of the Bible being in some sense authoritative when the Bible itself declares that all authority belongs to the one true God and that this is now embodied in Jesus himself. The risen Jesus, at the end of Matthew's gospel, does not say, "All authority in heaven and on earth is given to the books you are all going to write," but "All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me." This ought to tell us, precisely if we are taking the Bible itself as seriously as we should, that we need to think carefully what is might mean to think that the authority of Jesus is somehow exercised through the Bible. What would that look like in practice? In particular, what happens when we factor in Jesus's own redefinition of what 'authority' itself might mean?" (Authority, XI)

Wright works throughout the book to resolve that tension and does so mainly by means of a brief history of the various views of the Bible, within and without the church.

In short there are three things of central importance for Wright about which the role of the Bible within the church should remind us: God is a God who speaks; God's transforming grace enables us to think in new ways - i.e. reading a book in order to be changed by God is not counter intuitive; and lastly, that the resurrection of Jesus forms the basis for the mission of the church to the world.

Across the board this book is engaging, well-written, and theologically astute. Wright's efforts at tying the authority of Scripture back to the Triune God as well as to the mission of God is a praiseworthy, and ultimately successful, effort. In addition, although brief and perhaps at times painted in broad strokes, his historical analysis of the history of scriptural interpretation is helpful. Wright is often criticized for commenting on modernism too harshly, however this book seems to offer a balanced approach. Where Authority might fall short is due to the many epistemological reasons that the church can view the Bible as authoritative - namely, it's historical credibility, it's resilience throughout history, etc. That's not to say the Bible can be understood fully apart from God's authority, but it does have some credibility within the subject of Bibliology apart from Theology Proper. Part of this issue however goes back to the questions that Wright is trying to answer, as discussed above. But Wright's purpose in this particular work does not change the need for other questions about the Bible to be asked and answered - whether or not Wright thinks those are the right (or best) questions. 



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