Ode To A Seminary Student

The first Bible that made a significant impression on me was given to me for my 16th birthday. It was one of those imitation leather, green copies of the Living Bible. If you remember that greenback book, you are a baby boomer. Two friends offered it to me with their favorite verses highlighted in yellow. John 3:16. Romans 8:28. Philippians 4:13. In those days of my adolescent formation, I was glad to get my hands on a version of the Bible which was more accessible.

Since those days, I’ve spent a lot of my life pouring over the Bible. I’m prone to look at a variety of translations in search of the meaning of a particular text. I’m grateful for good scholarship which challenges me to dig deeper. My most recent favorite translation is Eugene Peterson’s The Message. I even have a Bible app on my iphone with a host of translations at my fingertips.

There is no lack of interest in the Bible. It is the foundation of our faith. Indeed, I believe that Jesus models an incarnational theology. His life, teaching, death, and resurrection provide the very foundation on which our lives are transformed. Simply stated, that transformation is a result of living in relationship to Jesus Christ rooted in the whole of scripture. From my vantage point, the best way we understand life is by studying the Bible and following Jesus. As a result, persons become vibrant witnesses to the Word made flesh. We honor not just the stories that confirm our particular points of view, but also affirm the whole of scripture as it forms and informs our spiritual lives. In our time, we are losing a sense of our rootedness in scripture with, on the one hand, an interest in the spiritual, and on the other hand, a growing sense of secularism. For that reason, I’ve always preferred the language of Christian formation rather than merely spiritual formation.

One of the key issues facing both the United Methodist Church, and our culture is how one appropriates authority. In fact, voices across the landscape of Christendom today speak freely about Biblical authority. In truth, the Church has been trying to settle on its understanding of authority since the fourteenth century. The question that emerged was: what authority will we trust?

For a very long time the Church and tradition spoke as one voice. With the onset of the age of enlightenment along with the onslaught of the plagues which swept Europe, the authority of the church began to break down. With the Protestant Reformation and the emergence of the priesthood of all believers, the Church divided in two branches, Roman Catholic and Protestant. Later the Church of England was added to the mix. Then, along comes John Wesley with a heritage in the Church of England. Wesley was influenced by Thomas Aquinas via Richard Hooker who articulated the ideas of what we now know as the quadrilateral: scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. For Wesley, scripture was primary. While Wesley referred to himself as a man of one book, sola scriptura, he was actually a man of many books. His primary authority, however, was Scripture.

Authority is being questioned in our time.

If we are to build bridges from the Church to the culture, understanding and appropriating authority will be essential.