McLaren on the Bible
One of the courses I took waaaay back in Bible college was Apologetics, which bored me to tears and I really hated it but I think it was required. Apologetics is about forming a reasoned, rationale for one's Christian beliefs. I don't remember much about the course. I do remember that it was really, really important that we all believe that the Bible is inerrant.
McLaren in A Generous Orthodoxy points out that the very language of words like authority, inerrancy, infallibility, revelation, literal, etc. are not words that Scripture uses to describe itself. They are words coming from a modernist mindset that we have shoved onto scripture.
He suggests that we should consider what Scripture has said about itself - that it is God-breathed and useful in equipping people to do good works - and then go about using it to do good works. He suggests we see it for what it is - largely narrative - and read it as narrative.
I liked that chapter because in the past I have been only presented with 2 options - either the Bible is inerrant or we may as well just throw out all of Christianity. Neither options has sat well with me as I've sat in this world of I think I really like Jesus but sometimes I'm not sure about all the other stuff. A new way of seeing Scripture really appeals to me.
So have I crossed the line? Am I a heretic yet? Guess I'll know when the cross is burning on my lawn.
McLaren in A Generous Orthodoxy points out that the very language of words like authority, inerrancy, infallibility, revelation, literal, etc. are not words that Scripture uses to describe itself. They are words coming from a modernist mindset that we have shoved onto scripture.
He suggests that we should consider what Scripture has said about itself - that it is God-breathed and useful in equipping people to do good works - and then go about using it to do good works. He suggests we see it for what it is - largely narrative - and read it as narrative.
I liked that chapter because in the past I have been only presented with 2 options - either the Bible is inerrant or we may as well just throw out all of Christianity. Neither options has sat well with me as I've sat in this world of I think I really like Jesus but sometimes I'm not sure about all the other stuff. A new way of seeing Scripture really appeals to me.
So have I crossed the line? Am I a heretic yet? Guess I'll know when the cross is burning on my lawn.
posted by Jude | 9:17 PM
2 Comments:
I think if there is a cross burning on your lawn, it doesn't mean your a heretic, it means you've been transplanted through time and space 30 years backward to the Deep South. And most likely that you have become a black woman.
If you are a heretic, it will be YOU that is burning on the back lawn.
Just to clarify.
Oh, right. Okay. Can they just burn my effigy?
I hear another option is to get hauled in front of Packer and Stott for severe questioning and get a write-up on you in Christianity Today, followed by being embraced by the Wittenburg Door.
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