3. Scripture as a Source in Theology

Question 1

Why is Scripture better thought of as a library rather than a “book”?

Answer 1

We interprete genres differently.

• There is a particular set of books.
• They are in a particular order.
• There are carry different value.

Question 2

What are the major parts (“blocks”) of the Old Testament?

Answer 2

1. Historical Narratives
2. Dialectic & Prophetic Books
3. Prophets

Question 3

How was the Old Testament canon formed?

Answer 3

1. Pentateuch [Torah] “Law” “Teaching”
2. History books of Jewish Bible “Former Prophets”
3. “Latter Prophets” “The Prophets”
4. Writings “Other Works”

Question 4

How does the major parts of the Old Testament and the formation of the canon help us understand how Protestants and Catholics come to have different canons of the Old Testament?

Answer 4

Protestants: Dominate principle is Gospel, not Tradition.

Catholics had too much Judism.

Question 5

What factors contributed to the fomation of the New Testament canon?

Answer 5

• Spatial distribution of Christianity & Gentile converts
• Temporal distance
• Heresy
• Encourage those facing persecution

Question 6

How are the Old Testament and the New Testament to be related from a Christtian perspective?

Answer 6

Together they from 1 single canon. Both the OT and the NW are its parts.

Gospels::Pentateuch

Question 7

Even though Nichol’s “canon within the canon” can be seen as theological necesity, explain how it can be seen as theologically harmful.

Answer 7

• Helpful:
  
  • an inner canon is suppose to guide one in the employment of Scripture in theology.
• Harmful:
  
  • everything else in the canon must be judged in relation to the inner canon.
  • Prevents a plurality of theologies which deminishes the total wealth of Scripture.

Question 8

What is inspiration concerned with?

Answer 8

Inspiration concerns the problem of how the authority is mediated or present in the canonical books.

• How did God work through the writer to make it “inspired”

Question 9

What notion of inspiration did Christianity inherit from Judaism? (note the 2 classic NT texts that relate to inspiration)

Answer 9

The survival of Judaism was the survival of the conditions that made possible the coming of the Messiah.(in a changing world)

The Books preserved the way of life.

NT

• 2 Timothy 3:15-16
  
  • and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and[a] profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness
• 1 Peter 1:21
  
  • Through him you have confidence in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God

Question 10

Explain the hypnotic theory.

Answer 10

“The bible writer lost their reason and were played upon by the Spirit as a pipe is played by the piper”

Author is a mere instrument

Problematic: there are vast writing styles (cultures)

Question 11

Explain the theory of verbal dictation. What implications does this have for biblical inerrancy?

Answer 11

From God’s voice to writers ear.

God communicates the language of Scripure to the author, giving him supernaturally those words which best suit the writer’s individuality.

• God: “principal efficient cause”
• Human: “instrumental efficient cause”

Inerrancy–> Incorrect historical information.

Question 12

Explain the theory of subsequent approbation.

Answer 12

• Writings that weren’t scripture later become scripture.
• Inspiration is retroactive.
• Canon makes it inspired.
• Rejected by the Catholic Church.

Question 13

Explain the theory of negative assistance.

Answer 13

God only corrects the author’s text when it is in error.

God prevents errors from occuring in Scripture.

Question 14

How did the rise of textual and source criticism, the study of comparative literature, and advances in biblical archaeology pose challenges to the foregoing (nature of inspiration) theories?

Answer 14

1. Textual Criticism
   
   1. opposed to Verbal inspiration theory
   2. there were varient readings of the bible
   3. there is no verbal exactness
2. Source Criticism
   
   1. opposed to Hypnotic theory and verbal dictation theory.
   2. multiple authors
   3. J E P D sources
3. Comparative Literature
   
   1. biblical texts were modeled on various types of literature already in existence
   2. authors had similar intentions of thier non-Jewish counterparts.
4. Biblical archaeology
   
   1. opposed to verbal dictation.
   2. confirming and disconfirming empirically the historical assertions of Scripture.
   3. City of Jericho was abandoned

Question 15

How do form criticism, redaction criticism, and tradition-historical criticism alter the terms in which inspiration must be discussed?

Answer 15

1. Form Criticism
   
   1. Genres (Knock knock… Who’s there?)
   2. verbal and liturgical forms were written down
2. Redaction
   
   1. there is a theological understanding of the writer and to whom its written. (editor changes text)
3. Tradition-historical criticism
   
   1. unification of the three: oral, written, and final.

Question 16

What implications would follow for theological method?

Answer 16

Refer to your notes and paragraph that you summarized.

1. Literal sense-author writer for a specific purpose in a time of history about God.
2. The writing fits together into a book (accumulation of literal senses) the final editor puts it together to make a superordinate literal sense.
3. Ordering of inspiration to the caon reveals meaning of a book beyond literal sense and individual book because many books interrelate.
4. The charism of a divine society- the complete canon is made within tradition of the Church and not without
5. The cumulative and indefinitely extensible nature of this entire process may be explained by hermeneutics (always more new interpretations to the readers)

Question 17

What problem does inerrancy engage? What were 2 sources of belief in inerrancy?

Answer 17

Not everything matches up in fact in history

The inerrant truth of scripture is saving truth. It isn’t material inerrancy (doesn’t extend to every historical detail in the scriptures)

1. the kind of book it is.
2. the measure of biblical truth lies in the economy of salvation as willed by God.

Question 18

What contributions do a determination of literary genre and recouse to the economy of salvation make to an understanding of inspiration that is both historically and theologically viable?

Answer 18

They work together in that when we know the author’s literal sense of the text in history then theologically we can come enter more closer into the biblical truth founded in the economy of salvation as willed by God.