wfn.org | Seminary professors reflect on Scriptural authority

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Dec. 10, 1999 News media contact:Thomas S. McAnally*Nashville, Tenn.*(615)
742-5470 10-21-28-71B{665}

NOTE: For related coverage, see UMNS story #664.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The Bible is like an orchestra rather than a solo
instrument, a seminary professor told participants in a United Methodist
consultation on the authority of Scripture and the nature of God's
revelation.

While the Bible can be understood to have one fundamental message, there are
a variety of ways that message can be legitimately construed, said the Rev.
Delwin Brown, professor of Christian theology, vice president and dean of
academic affairs at Iliff School of Theology in Denver. He was one of five
professors who addressed the group.

The variety of claims and meanings in Scripture is not its problem but its
power, Brown asserted in his remarks Dec. 8. "A uniform Scripture is ...
destined for irrelevance as new contexts develop, new perspectives emerge,
new problems confront. The Bible molds us precisely through its diversity,
precisely by placing us in the midst of many voices."

The Dec. 7-9 consultation was sponsored by the United Methodist Board of
Discipleship, headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., and the denomination's
Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, based in New
York.

Brown offered a model for thinking about the Bible's authority: "The Bible,
as Scripture, is not that which norms us; it is that which forms us.  We
constantly interact with this or that voice within Scripture -- questioning
it and being questioned, listening to it and being heard arguing with it and
being challenged, denouncing it and being denounced, celebrating it and
being celebrated in it, struggling with it and in the process being named.
The authority of Scripture is the creative power it manifests and therefore
enables in those who inhabit it, its capacity again and again to create and
recreate individual and communal identities."

Brown said he is not content with either conservative or liberal views of
biblical authority. "Conservative theology ignores the diversity of
Scripture; liberal theology ignores its centrality to Christian existence."

The Rev. Scott Jones, professor of evangelism at Perkins School of Theology
in Dallas, reminded participants that basic United Methodist documents found
in the church's Book of Discipline "give strong testimony to the authority
of Scripture in our official teaching."

Whatever United Methodists actually do or fail to do with the Bible, Jones
said their official doctrine says it is important. Methodism founder John
Wesley believed Scripture alone is the authority for faith and practice,
Jones said. "On this point, Wesley is definite.  It is the Bible which
serves as the final court of appeal."

What has come to be known in recent years as the "Wesleyan quadrilateral"
was described by Jones as a summary of how Methodists understand theological
authority.  "Scripture is primary, and always interpreted in the light of
the other three (tradition, experience and reason)," he noted.  

It is "thoroughly non-Wesleyan to play off any part of the quadrilateral
against the other parts, and particularly so if one part is used to nullify
the authority of Scripture," he said.

Frequently throughout the consultation references were made to the
quadrilateral. While Wesley himself did not formulate the version as
described in today's Book of Discipline, the Rev. William Abraham, a
participant from the Perkins faculty, said the quadrilateral has proven
invaluable. "I believe it has held the church together in a very difficult
period." 

Another presenter from the Perkins faculty, the Rev. Rebekah Miles, said the
quadrilateral has proven to be a helpful way for United Methodists to think
about what it is to be Christian. "It works," she exclaimed. "People can
remember it. We can discuss it all we want to, but it is a tool that works.
It has gotten attention. At some level it is true enough of Wesley."

In the Third World, the quadrilateral isn't enough, said the Rev. Wesley
Ariarajah. "The historical context is a very important factor in doing
theology and should be taken into consideration with the other four," he
said. Ariarajah is a Methodist clergyman from Sri Lanka and professor of
ecumenical theology at Drew University School of Theology, Madison, N.J.

Jones said Wesley's view of revelation is narrowly defined compared to
modern options.  "In our modern-day language, he might say something like
this: 'Look, either the Bible is telling the truth or it isn't. If it is
lying, then throw the whole book away as worthless. If it is telling the
truth, then take it for what it professes to be: the written word of God."

Miles presented three models of biblical authority that are common in the
U.S. culture and in debates within the United Methodist Church:

·	Propositional, a more conservative position that focuses on the
truth of claims found in Scripture and is quick to defend objective truth of
claims found in Scripture;
·	Transformational, a more liberal approach emphasizing Scripture's
capacity to form and transform lives; and
·	Narrativist, a position that emphasizes the character of God and
faithful communities as narrated in Scripture and as shaping current
Christian communities.

In her interactions with both clergy and laity, Miles said she finds that
the first two models dominate, "sometimes polarizing each other and causing
unnecessary misunderstandings. At times, we may not be as far apart as we
think." 

The three positions that have often divided contemporary life need each
other, she said.  "Each can learn from something from the other. ... I
contend that a comprehensive model of biblical authority -- certainly a
Wesleyan one -- must contain the elements so central to each of the
positions."

Concerning the rancorous debate in the church regarding issues such as
homosexuality, Miles said Christian conferencing may be the answer.  "It is
even possible that if we listen well to each other and pray hard and try our
best to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit, we might be given new sight.
While we engage in this crucial, even sacred Christian conferencing, we
cannot forget, we must not forget, that every Sunday, every day of the week,
people come to churches and into our lives who need not so much our theories
about the authority of Scripture but the transforming word of Scripture
itself."

There is no one true answer to the question about the authority of
Scripture, said the Rev. David J. Lull, director of Bible translation and
Utilization for the National Council of Churches. Lull was recently named to
the faculty of  Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.

Scripture consists mostly of stories that cannot be reduced to propositions,
he said. "The stories of the Bible, which is to say most of the Bible, form
Christian identity, community and spirituality by engaging us with our
predecessors. These stories are not so much about 'doctrines' as about
people and communities and their encounter with God." Just as there is "no
one true answer" to the authority of Scripture, Lull said there is no one
true answer to the question, "What is God's revelation?"

Addressing biblical authority in a non-Western context, Ariarajah said the
credibility of the Bible is hurt with the insistence on particular
interpretations or theories. "The Christian community needs to be liberated
from the 'power mentality' and the anxiety to 'control' everything that is
so evident in the defensive stances it takes in relation to its beliefs and
its attitudes to Scripture," he said. "Anxious and defensive persons and
communities make poor witnesses."  

In the non-Western world, Ariarajah said there is deep suspicion about the
general appeal to Scripture as "revealed" and "authoritative."  

"Scripture functions as revelation and authority only as interpreted," he
said. "It is interesting that in the accounts of the temptations of Jesus,
both the devil and Jesus quoted and interpreted Scripture. But they had
different purposes for doing so."

Leading worship for the consultation were the Rev. Joy Moore, director of
student life at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., and the Rev.
Dan Benedict, a Board of Discipleship staff member.

The consultation grew out of two dialogues on theological diversity
sponsored by the Commission on Christian Unity in 1998 and 1999. "In Search
of Unity," a document produced by participants in those consultations,
identified homosexuality as the most critical and divisive issue in the
church and said much of the debate hinged on an understanding of the
authority of Scripture and the revelation of God.  

Participants in the first consultations were chosen with a careful balance
of conservative and liberal participants. Most of the participants at the
most recent consultation on the authority of Scripture came from the
governing boards of the two churchwide agencies.
 
"There is a significant divide in our church, and we are searching for ways
to bridge it," said the Rev. Bruce Robbins, staff executive for the
Commission on Christian Unity, during introductory remarks.

Bishop Roy Sano of the Los Angeles Area, president of the commission,
compared recent debates in the church about issues such as homosexuality to
missile silos in the Upper Midwest during the Cold War. "We have been
digging deeper and deeper, trying to find stronger foundations, and as we
have dug deeper we have lost sight of each other on the horizon."

On a hopeful note, the bishop said there are some indications that "we have
started to see each other as people. God has put the divine image in each
one of us. If we devastate each other, we are stepping on the image of God."

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