The most frequent discussion about Biblical Authority comes from people who call themselves "conservatives." The term itself is an interesting label, but throughout the years, what is meant by "the authority of the Scriptures" has diversified and grown in meaning, so that the conservative movements do not have a monopoly on the term or on its use.
Many people ask, "Do you believe that the Bible has authority?" Accompanying this question is another one: "Do you believe it was inspired?" The purpose of our query today is to ask in return not whether the Bible has authority but what kinds of authority it has. If I were to ask an atheist, "Does the Bible have authority"-- using just those words, he might very well say "no." But suppose I asked instead whether he could observe the Bible changing the lives of other people. He might indeed say "yes" instead of giving a negative answer. Now if this book changes people's lives, we must admit that it has authority, even if that authority is not understood in the traditional conservative sense.
William Placher (professor at Wabash College) participated in the religious discussion that took place in 1989 at Christian Theological Seminary. [This is the discussion of authority which gave rise to Conservative, Moderate, Liberal.] In fact, it was he who gave the opening and defining talk. Placher defines not one but three kinds of Biblical authority--and there might be more. His definitions include:
Now, what does Placher mean by each of these things? Generally speaking, these things are easy to see, and most people will not dispute them entirely. For example, the Bible does teach truths. Whether or not the history contained therein is factual, the most liberal of liberals will acknowledge that the Bible teaches spiritual truths. You will have to search long and hard to find people who honestly believe that there is nothing wrong with murder, rape, theft, and other violations of the Torah. People might not say, "That truth comes from God," but it is clear that the Bible teaches those true things. Certain things in the Bible are virtually undeniable because they are universally recognized as true.
That the Bible changes lives can be proven beyond a doubt by examining the lives of people today and throughout history who have had their lives changed. Consider Martin Luther, who was a happy monk until he began reading the Bible differently from the Catholic Church. He came to the conviction that the Bible taught contrary to the practice of the Church and set out to reform it. Eventually, this resulted in a group pulling away from the Church in protest and for Luther to stand up for his convictions so that his life was in danger. Here we have a man whose life was changed simply by reading the Bible, and there are many stories like Luther's in and out of every group in Christendom.
Most anyone, too, will acknowledge that the Bible tells about God. It is not merely the story of the Jewish people; it is the narrative of their relationship with Yahweh God. Anyone who reads the Bible will see that God is central to it. Further, the Bible describes what God is like. Even if none of the stories about God's involvement with his people are historically accurate, the stories themselves provide glances into God's personality. Even if God never smote the Egyptians and led his people out of slavery into the Promised Land, the story of the exodus speaks volumes about how God is to be understood. Words like love, compassion, and justice come out of any discussion of the exodus, whether or not there was a "Moses" on Mount Sinai.
People who call themselves "conservatives" generally adhere to the first definition, almost to the exclusion of the others. Even more specifically, the Bible IS the truth. Some have gone so far as to say that the precise wording, and even translation, of the Bible is no less than exactly what God has to say to every person in every time. This is a very strong attachment between the Bible and "truth." Yet there are others, call them "liberal" for the purpose of discussion, who might not assign historical or factual meaning to most or any of the stories contained therein. But they will say that the Bible changes lives, or that it narrates God's identity. To them, the incidental information in a story is not as important as the themes and principles that the story is attempting to convey. Whether or not Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman at a well, we know what the story shows us about Jesus and about God--we know what it means. There are the Mother Teresas of the world: there was a woman who devoted forty years of her life to helping the poor in Calcutta without ever examining whether Mark 16:9-20 really belongs in the Bible. The moderate view is somewhat in between, attaching to each of the three propositions nearly equally.
Is one view more correct than the others? It is not for me here to select between the conservative view, the moderate opinion, and the liberal rationale. But it is clear to me that each of the propositions is true at least to an extent. The Bible is both a beacon of truth, a transforming power, and a source for information about God. How these may balance one another is not the concern of this examination.
In addition to the authority issue, there are also several models of "inspiration". How is inspiration defined? In a most general way, inspiration is the process that brought the Bible from God to human beings. By this definition, it would be hard to say that the Bible is uninspired without denying God. Therefore, this definition should provide a basis for a Christian discussion of inspiration. We need not ask whether the Bible was inspired, but how. In this examination, too, there are several existing models:
Most people will consider this to be the same scale as "Biblical authority," with the most conservative views near the top and the most liberal opinions near the bottom of the list. To a great extent, then, one's view of inspiration stems from one's view of authority--or perhaps vice-versa. The person who was taught that the Bible is the Word of God in every sense adheres to the view of inerrancy or infallability. The one whose spirirual journey teaches her that the Biblical narratives have transforming power but may or may not express absolute truth may find her view of inspiration elsewhere on the list. The "liberal" most likely holds one of the views nearer the bottom, but this is not because the Bible is any "less inspired". On the contrary: the Bible IS inspired, but the inspiration is of a different sort than the inspiration required by conservatives.
With a knowledge in mind of how others may view the same Bible that you are holding, let us take a look (or two) at how the "Old Testament" was formed. Proceed to the next week.