In my last post I presented the idea of God as a gradualist. He works on social reforms incrementally — at the speed of humanity rather than the speed of divinity. The incarnation is the ultimate example of God “walking at our pace.” This post is about God’s work on the problem of slavery. Main Point: The Bible shows forward progress …
Bible Interpretation Part 5: The Justice Objection 2
So far in this set of posts regarding Bible interpretation, I’ve replied to four different objections to a traditional reading: the naturalistic, the literalistic, the pluralistic and the “justice” objection. This is part two of the justice objection, and can be summarized as follows: Whenever a traditional interpretation of the Bible doesn’t account for racial, sexual and gender justice, it must be …
Bible Interpretation Part 4: The Justice Objection 1
In my prior three posts I responded to 1) the naturalistic objection to Bible interpretation, 2) the literalistic objection and 3) the pluralistic objection. This post is about the “justice” objection, which has various forms but perhaps can be summarized as follows: It would be unjust of God to reveal himself primarily in only one religious tradition such as Christianity …
Bible Interpretation Part 3: The Pluralist Objection
In the prior two posts, I responded to the naturalistic and literalistic objections to Bible interpretation. The “pluralist” objection is third, and goes something like this: The Bible is just one revelation among many of the Divine. Any interpretation of the Bible that excludes other religious traditions or somehow invalidates them cannot be accepted. Two Replies: 1. Excluding exclusivism: the pluralist …
Bible Interpretation Part 2: The Literalistic Objection
In my prior post I replied to the naturalistic objection to Bible interpretation. In this post I’d like to respond to the literalistic objection, which goes something like this: The Bible is the inerrant Word of God and must be read literally, “as is.” You don’t “interpret” Scripture, you just read it and apply it to your life. I agree …
Bible Interpretation Part 1: The Naturalistic Objection
College students of varying backgrounds often raise objections to traditional interpretations of the Bible. Here are three types of objections I hear regularly: Naturalistic Literalistic Pluralistic Naturalistic objections are critical of anything that is miraculous or otherwise “fanciful” in the Bible. Thus the supernatural elements found in the Gospels, Exodus and numerous other places in Scripture are automatically rejected — …
Is Christianity Trustworthy? Part 3: Scripture
By modern standards of precision, the New Testament (NT) is messy in places. For example, the geneologies of Jesus’ ancestry as recorded in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 are difficult to reconcile. The names of the apostles listed in the four Gospels don’t line up exactly. The accounts of the empty tomb differ in the details. I could go on. …
Starting Points, Part 3
A critical question that penetrates to the heart of the starting-point issue (see part 1 and part 2 of the series) is this: What’s the main authority in a person’s life? If it’s Scripture, she’ll be standing on firm ground. This is my position. But if it’s culture or personal experience, the ground is constantly shifting: cultural norms are in continuous …
Equipping Teens for College, Part 3: Inductive Bible Study Skills
To study the Bible inductively is an adventure in humility. It’s a choice to place oneself under the authority of a God-inspired author of more than two millennia ago. For this reason and others, my ideal incoming freshman would have been trained by her home church in OIA: Observation: Scrutinizing the text for its basic facts and grammatical construction. Interpretation: …
Equipping Teens for College, Part 2: Bible at a Glance
The Bible at a Glance Probably you cannot read the above chart in this compact blog space. But it’s an important element in the toolkit of my ideal incoming freshman. To illustrate, consider the following story, which is based on a thousand real life examples: Kendra grew up in the church. She arrives at college lacking any kind of big …
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