Christians confess the Bible as \u201cGod\u2019s word,\u201d which means (among other things) that God had something to do with the production of it\u2013though, the honest person will admit, we don\u2019t really know nor can we adequately articulate what that \u201csomething\u201d is, and calling it \u201cinspiration\u201d or \u201crevelation\u201d is simply assigning a multi-syllable word to that unknown process.<\/p>\n
Be that as it may, the history of Christian theology hasn\u2019t been at all shy about providing various models\u00a0of biblical inspiration and the Bible as God\u2019s revelation.<\/p>\n
But the Bible was also\u2013and this is self-evidently true\u2013written by people, real people, with personalities, histories, questions, perceptions, worries, fears, etc.<\/p>\n
That brings us to\u00a0a\u00a0struggle\u00a0a lot of Christians\u00a0have with the Bible:\u00a0thinking of the Bible, God\u2019s word, as a human book?<\/em><\/p>\n To which I would like to offer 4 points.<\/p>\n 1. Change \u201cas\u201d to \u201cis.\u201d\u00a0The Bible\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>a human book,<\/strong> meaning there is nothing in the Bible that does not fully\u00a0reflect\u00a0the human drama and that cannot be explained on the basis of its \u201chumanity.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, there is nothing in the Bible to which one can point and say, \u201cAh, here is something that is divine and NOT human.\u201d \u201cAs\u201d falsely suggests distance between the Bible\u2019s thoroughgoing humanness.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0Though the Bible is not merely a human book, it is nevertheless a thoroughly human book<\/strong>. That is a paradox, and confessed by faith.<\/p>\n The evangelical challenge concerning scripture can be summarized as the need to work through a true\u00a0<\/i>synthesis where the \u201chumanity\u201d of scripture is\u00a0truly\u00a0respected.<\/p>\n In other words, the Bible reflects various and sundry (not one) ancient (not modern Christian) ways of thinking about God and the life of faith, and these factors need to be thoroughly integrated into any discussion of the \u201cnature of scripture.\u201d<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0The evangelical system has not always done a good job of pulling off this synthesis. <\/strong>The thoroughgoing humanness of the Bible is often doctrinally uncomfortable, and so is adjusted, ignored, or neutered to\u00a0protect theological statements about the nature of scripture.<\/p>\n Another way of articulating the challenge:\u00a0true dialogue is needed between the Bible as a means of deep spiritual formation and \u201ctaking seriously\u201d Scripture\u2019s thoroughgoing humanity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Of course, just what \u201ctaking seriously\u201d means is the money question, and too often in evangelical formulations, at the end of the day, the diverse and ancient nature of Scripture is either tolerated or tamed rather than allowed truly to inform Scripture\u2019s role in spiritual formation.<\/p>\n 4. I offer\u00a0three interrelated models<\/strong> for Bible readers today for engaging the Bible with greater attention to the Bible\u2019s own character as a means toward, rather than an impediment for, spiritual formation.<\/p>\n A dialogical model:<\/strong>\u00a0Taking a page from the history of Judaism and much of premodern Christianity, the Bible is a book where God is met through dialogue rather than primarily as a source of doctrinal formulations.<\/p>\n Reading the Bible well means being open and honest about what we see there rather than feeling doctrinally pressed to corral all parts of Scripture into a logically coherent system. The dialogical model is woven into the Bible itself, e.g., Job, Ecclesiastes, and lament Psalms, which challenge the status quo.<\/p>\n A journey model<\/strong>: Rather than a depository of theological statements disguised as a narrative, the Bible models our spiritual journey by letting us in on the spiritual journey of the ancient Israelites and first followers of Jesus.<\/p>\n This model allows the theological and historical tensions and contradictions to stand as statements of faith at various stages of that journey rather than problems to be overcome in preserving a \u201csystem\u201d or \u201cowner\u2019s manual\u201d approach to Scripture. (I focus on the journey model in\u00a0The Bible Tells Me So<\/a><\/em> An incarnational model<\/strong>: I continue to think that an incarnational model of Scripture provides needed theological flexibility for addressing the\u00a0realities of a Bible that is both located squarely and unambiguously located in antiquity and continues to be sacred scripture.<\/p>\n This post was published in June 2015 and is adapted from an <\/span>earlier post<\/a> from January 2014.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=inspirandinca-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0062272020\")