I seldom promote my own books this far in advance, since this one comes out in October, but I think this one is my most important small book in a long time, due to the crisis of Biblical Authority in the Protestant and Catholic churches. The title has just gone up on Amazon, and soon you will be able to order it on Amazon. It is only 125 or so pages of text, but the argument is important, as it traces the whole history of the idea that the Bible is and should be the final authority for the church’s decision making on matters ethical as well as theological. This is because it is indeed the inspired Word of God and tells the truth about the subjects it teaches us about— theology, ethics, Biblical history, and spiritual formation. It should not be overruled by claims about human experience, questionable church traditions, or appeals to human reason that do not take into account the truth claims of the Bible itself. The root of many current crises in the church, including the crisis over human sexuality and marriage can be traced back to a defective understanding, or a lack of acceptance of the authority of the Bible on subjects it actually addresses and teaches us about. In this study, I deal with where the phrase sola Scriptura came from (and it wasn’t first advocated by Protestants), what the relationship should be between Scripture and church traditions, when and where the modern stress on inerrancy came into claim, and how we should evaluate all such matters. I think you will find this book will tease your mind into active thought, as C.H. Dodd used to say, and that is a good thing, because too often ideological and partisan posturing is substituted for actual deep thought and wrestling with the Bible’s teachings, the history of its authority claims and much more.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In