A balanced view of the Bible Recognizes both its divine and human elements. The Anglican model of authority that features the Bible, Tradition, and Reason, is well suited to understanding the Bible properly.
IntroductionThe Bible is a very important part of my life as a Christian. I believe that it is the Word of God in written form. The Bible contains all that is necessary for salvation. It is the Word of God in a derivative sense, that is, it derives its authority because it witnesses to Jesus Christ, who is the Living Word of God.
My Church, the Episcopal Church, part of the world-wide Anglican Communion, is a Bible Church. Our liturgy is full of scriptural references, our Book of Common Prayer is 70% scripture, and our Daily Office assigns robust Bible readings for every day of the year. In this essay, I try to give an idea of how those of us in the Episcopal/Anglican tradition understand the Bible.
My Own Practice
I read the Bible every day, I hardly ever miss, and this has been my practice for over 30 years now.
I am a Benedictine Oblate (a lay Christian who associates with a monastic Benedictine Community). The Benedictine tradition enjoins regular reading of the Sacred Scriptures and the practice of Lectio Divina, which is an attentive, meditative method of reading the Bible developed by the ancient and medieval monks and nuns.
Because I understand the Bible from within the Church, I read with the Church. The Episcopal Church has Bible readings assigned every day through the Daily Office found in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. We also on Sundays read the Bible passages assigned in the Revised Common Lectionary, which is used also by the other mainline Churches, such as the Lutherans, Methodists, and Presbyterians, and somewhat aligned with Roman Catholic lectionary. In this way, Christians read the same passages every Sunday, and hear the Word of God together.
Bible Versions
Lately, I have been alternating between the Authorized (King James) Version, and the New Revised Standard Version.
The Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible is the historic version of the Episcopal Church. It certainly has an unmatched literary status in the Church and in the history of the English language itself. In 1786, the Roman Catholic scholar Alexander Geddes said of the Authorized Version, "If accuracy and strictest attention to the letter of the text be supposed to constitute an excellent version, this is of all versions the most excellent." The Authorized Version is the traditional version of the Anglican Church, and some would argue, still the best we have. To all the conservative and evangelical Protestants who have cherished the King James Bible for so many years, we Anglicans say to you, "you're welcome!"
The New Revised Standard Version is the choice of scholars, and the pew Bible for mainline Churches. It is a very reliable version. Its translation philosophy is to be "as literal as possible, [and] as free as necessary." Because the NRSV stands in the lineage of the Authorized Version (a revision of the Revised Standard Version, which is a revision of the American Revised Version, which is a revision of the Authorized Version), the two versions share some common phraseology which form the backdrop of our common Biblical heritage.
Reading and Understanding the Bible
Although the Bible for me is the Word of God in written form, I study and read it critically. The Bible, like Christ Himself, is both divine and human. There are human elements in it, which are culture and time bound. But by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Bible points us to our Lord Jesus Christ. The Key to interpreting the Bible is Jesus Christ.
The late mainline evangelical theologian, Donald Bloesch, compared the nature of the Bible to the nature of Christ. Just as Christ has both a divine and human nature, so does the Bible, according to Bloesch.
In the ancient Christiantiy, various groups of Christians had different view of the Person of Christ. One group, the Ebionites, saw Christ as human only; on the other hand, another group, the Docetists, saw him as only divine. We can see these understandings of the Person of Christ reflected in different views of the Bible.
Some people only see the Bible in rational terms. They see it as a flawed and human book. Some have a bias to dismiss and supernatural or miraculous occurrences in the Bible out of hand. It is a presupposition for them that there are no supernatural events. They seek to "de-mythologize" the Bible, and seek "the historical Jesus," but they do not believe that the Bible is inspired in any divine sense. Their view of the Bible is an Ebionite view.
On the other end of the spectrum are certain fundamentalists that identify every word of the Scriptural text with the very Word of God. They do not believe there any mistakes or errors in the Bible, even in matters that do not touch faith. Any science, math, or historical events as recorded in the Bible are considered accurate and true. They insist that cultural norms from the Bible era regarding the roles of men and women, for example, are still in force today. They defend uncritically the savagery of the conquest of Palestine by the Israelites described in the Old Testament. C.S. Lewis (the great Anglican Christian writer) said in his book on the Psalms that there are parts of the Psalms that should repulse us as Christians. Those that believe that the Biblical text is infallible and wholly without error have a Docetic view of the Bible. They regard the Bible as divine only, scarcely acknowledging the real human element in the Bible.
There is a wide range of views regarding the Bible's inspiration in between these two poles.
Like the orthodox definition of the Person of Christ, which holds him to be both God and Man, a wholesome and balanced view of the Bible holds the divine and human elements of it together.
As Episcopalians (Anglicans), we understand the Bible through Tradition and Reason. Tradition and Reason can both greatly aid us in understanding the Bible, and help us recognize its human and divine elements.
In the Anglican tradition, three sources of authority are: The Bible, Tradition, and Reason; they are described as three legs of a stool. The Bible is the sole source of our faith, but we understand it with the aid of the other two legs of the stool (John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was an Anglican Priest till he died. He added to these three legs a fourth leg, Experience). Richard Hooker, the great Anglican Theologian, described this as a hierarchy of authority, with Scripture as our foundational authority, and reason and tradition as vitally important, but secondary, sources of authority.
Tradition
One of the five "Solas" of the Reformation is Sola Scriptura, that is, the Bible Alone. The Reformers insisted that the sole authority for Christians is the Bible. The Anglican Church, being both Catholic and Reformed, strikes a balance between the "Bible Only" in Protestantism, and the authority of the Church as understood by Catholicism.
The Anglican Churches indeed hold that the Bible contains all things necessary for salvation. The Sixth Article of Religion in the Book of Common Prayer, Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation, states:
Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.
Yet, Episcopalians understand the Bible through the tradition of the Church. In their theological writings and biblical commentaries, the Fathers of the ancient Church quote Sacred Scripture abundantly. Some of the greatest Bible Scholars of all time hail from Christian antiquity, people like Origen and Jerome.
As the various Christian communities began compiling writings ascribed to Christ's Apostles and their immediate disciples, a canon of the Holy Scriptures came into being. Those ancient communities of Christians, guided by the Spirit, formed the canon of the Bible; certainly their interpretations should be given great weight. Catholic and Orthodox apologists are correct to argue that the books of the Bible were chosen in part for their conformity with Christian doctrine, not the other way around.
Christian Tradition does not stop with the ancient Church, but continues through all the centuries, in the Eastern and Western Churches, in male and female saints and doctors of the Church, in the theology and liturgy of the Church. Tradition amplifies the Bible. The Bible is the Church's Book, and we must read it within the Christian tradition. The historic Creeds of the Church, and the doctrine of the Person of Christ and the Holy Trinity, emerge from a common understanding of Biblical teaching.
However, the Church must also be constantly reformed in the light of Scripture. The Bible is still ultimately the source of our faith, containing all things necessary for salvation. So while Tradition is a guide to understanding Scripture, we must also remember the teaching of St. Paul, who says that "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word..." - Ephesians 5.25.
Reason
The Anglican tradition recognizes the use of Reason: "Properly speaking reason means simply the human being’s capacity to symbolise, and so to order, share and communicate experience. It is the divine gift in virtue of which human persons respond and act with awareness in relation to their world and to God, and are opened up to that which is true for every time and every place." (Ronald C. Stevenson, Chancellor of the General Synod the Anglican Church of Canada, 2003).
Reason is an aid to understanding scripture. There is no reason why Scripture should not be studied, for example, with tools of Biblical scholarship, such as historical-criticism, literary criticism, form criticism. We should be able to study the Bible as any other type of literature. We should not be afraid to read the Bible with contemporary understandings of science.
“Reason increases and enlarges human understanding of divine revelation through its own workings, so long as reason is used in humble dependence upon the God who gave it.” ( Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury).
Experience
We should also include Wesley's leg of experience in understanding the Bible. We must seek to understand the Bible within our own cultural and historical context. The famous theologian Karl Barth said that we should read the Bible in one hand, and the newspaper with the others. Many voices through out the centuries have been effectively silenced- women, ethnic minorities, the poor and oppressed. The Bible has often been interpreted by those in power. But the Bible must also be viewed from "below." Various liberation theologies, feminist theologies, and theologians working on the margins of society, in minority communities, and in the so-called developing world, bring us fresh new understandings of the Biblical text.
Often we find the Biblical message obscured by Christian Tradition. For example, Liberation Theology, often maligned, accentuates the message of liberation that has always been present in the text. The Bible clearly proclaims liberation from oppression, a message that has often been ignored.
The Purpose of the Bible
The purpose of the Bible is for us to know God and have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), chronicles God's Relationship with humanity and the nation of Israel, and points to the future coming of the Messiah. In the New Testament, the Messiah, the Christ, comes, and reveals God to us. The New Testament is the book about Jesus Christ, and contains eye witness accounts of his life and ministry, and the memoirs of his disciples.
St. Jerome said "Ignorance of the Bible is Ignorance of Christ." While this statement may not be true in an absolute sense, it reminds us as Christians that we come to know Jesus through the Bible. It is in the New Testament that the words and deeds of Jesus Christ, the God-Man, are recorded. The Bible is an indispensable component to our personal relationship with Christ.
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About the Bible from the Episcopal Church Web site:
The Bible
"Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them" (Book of Common Prayer, p. 236).
It is our foundation, understood through tradition and reason, containing all things necessary for salvation. Our worship is filled with Scripture from beginning to end.
The Bible Challenge
The Episcopal Church takes reading the Bible very seriously. Approximately 70% of the Book of Common Prayer comes directly from the Bible, and Episcopalians read more Holy Scripture in Sunday worship than almost any other denomination in Christianity. The Bible Challenge, sponsored by the Center for Biblical Studies, helps individuals and parishes set goals to read the entire Bible, to receive its comfort, strength, wisdom, and guidance, and to gain a deeper understanding of how God has worked, and continues to work.
Approved Translations of the Bible for the Episcopal Church
The Episcopal Church has authorized the use of the following translations of the Bible:
- King James or Authorized Version (the historic Bible of The Episcopal Church)
- English Revision (1881)
- American Revision (1901)
- Revised Standard Version (1952)
- Jerusalem Bible (1966)
- New English Bible with the Apocrypha (1970)
- Good News Bible / Today's English Version (1976)
- New American Bible (1970)
- Revised Standard Version, an Ecumenical Edition (1973)
- New International Version (1978)
- New Jerusalem Bible (1987)
- Revised English Bible (1989; the version used at Westminster Abbey)
- New Revised Standard Version (1990)
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