The relevance and authority of scripture from three different viewpoints first evangelical with its strong emphasis on the Word of God it left little room to advance with the ever changing culture. Second the Liberal movement was all about cultural relevance and used only as a record of history. Each holds a valid argument Neo-Orthodox however is a good blend of both cultural relevance and scriptural foundation.
The Issues
Evangelical
Evangelicalism carried a strong emphasis on the Word of God. Which is in its own right a positive to the movement. Bible is used as the center of the Christian faith, however where they went wrong was saying that God is not moving anymore and what we have in this book is all that there is. There is no need for any more revelation because the Bible is complete. Actions will be based on the foundations of the Scriptures and things that do not directly align with this scriptures will not be tolerated. The evangelical movement held to the truth that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God. However, aloud no room for experiential or cultural relevance of the Bible. They did believe that the Bible was “the only infallible, authoritative Word of God” (qtd. in “Church History”) the evangelical movement joined people together out of other random religions and formed a cohesive bond between churches.
Liberal
Friedrich Schleiermacher believed that a person’s private revelations of God took precedence over their revelations from Scripture. Schleiermacher claimed the Bible was nothing more than a record of others’ religious experiences, as opposed to the inspired Word of God (Lane 238) He taught that one’s experiences and feelings brought about the religious aspects of today. There external sources employe...
... middle of paper ...
...ationship with God I can say that I lean more to the Neo-Orthodox movement. God gives us the ability to think and make choices, hi gives us His word to be a guide on how to live life. I believe that there is a place for modern thinking and ideas however under no circumstances should the authority of the scriptures be denied as in Liberalism. Nor the cultural relevance of the bible in evangelical thinking.
Works Cited
“Church History and Christian Thought: Lesson 132.” Introduction to Christian History and
Thought. Regent University. Virginia, Virginia Beach. Lecture.
Lane, Tony. A Concise History of Christian Thought. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.
Print.
The Holy Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996. Print.
Houdmann, Michael S. "What Is Neo-orthodoxy?" GotQuestions.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. .
The Bible is read and interpreted by many people all over the world. Regardless, no one knows the absolute truth behind scripture. Walter Brueggemann, professor of Old Testament, wrote “Biblical Authority” to help people understand what he describes as six different parts that make up the foundation to ones understanding of scripture. He defines these six features as being: inherency, interpretation, imagination, ideology, inspiration, and importance. As Brueggemann explains each individual part, it is easy to see that they are all interconnected because no one can practice one facet without involuntarily practicing at least one other part.
Evangelicalism by its very nature is hard to define. In fact, Douglas Sweeney, Chair of the Church History and the History of Christian Thought Department at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School states, “precious little consensus exists among those who have tried to describe the evangelical movement.” Nevertheless, Sweeney does an excellent attempt by briefly explicating the diverse history of the evangelical movement in his book, The American Evangelical Story: A History of the Movement. Sweeney, a Lutheran and expert in American religion and culture not only introduces
Modern Christianity is sometimes criticized for attempting to tie the Gospel to a right wing political ideology. Unfortunately, some of this criticism is justifiable. As we will see, having a consistently Biblical world view will not always fit neatly into "left wing" or "right wing" categories.
However, both groups consciously reshaped the organizing framework of religion to diminish its ordering of their lives within the public and private sphere. Prothero posits that while “The Bible remained authoritative [. . .] Americans insisted on interpreting it for themselves” (47), especially women who lived under its patriarchal construction. “In that effort,” Prothero continues “they were assisted by a new culture hero: the populist preacher, who combined evangelicalism and egalitarianism in daring new ways” (47). Prothero maintains that it was “the rise of pulpit storytelling” (51) that allowed such reimagining of religious ideology. Prothero goes on to argue that the “story sermon” (51) as a rhetorical style “did not catch on as fast in New England as it did in the South and the West (51),” a point ...
Since evangelicalism promoted public lay exhorting, the established authority was threatened because it meant the role of authority was passed to the common people. This sense of self-rule broke the established culture of discipline and created a crisis which redefined religion. Everyone was placed on the same plane and were in charge of their own salvation
Inspiration can be defined as God’s ongoing and dynamic revelation of truths to humans in order for us to know how to live and deal with spiritual and ethical encounters, by instilling wisdom and understanding of his word. Since humans wrote the Bible there is room for idiosyncrasies, intelligence, historic context, social context, and geographical context to influence scripture. However, God’s revelation of himself and his character prevails through the Bible. There is a dimension of God that can only be reached through personal encounters of His truths, through prayerful reflection of the Bible.
For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging
The nature of Scripture and the authority of Scripture are two characteristics carefully entwined in such a way that creates an impossibility for them to not affect each other. They directly influence each other. Evangelicalism, Liberalism, and Neo-Orthodoxy all have differing views of the nature and authority of Scripture. Evangelicalism takes up the view that the Bible, Scripture, is infallible (Lane, 2006, p. 255). Scripture is God’s word and is therefore fully truth (Lane, 2006, p. 256). People under Evangelicalism equate Scripture with God’s spoken word, and they believe that though God and humans are both authors, the human author was divinely prepared by God to write out His word (Lane, 2006, p. 257). They believe that “the Bible is the supreme authority for faith and practice” (Bingham, 2002, p. 162). Liberalism takes a different view on the Scripture. In Liberalism, religion is “nothing but feeling and experience” (Lane, 2006, p. 238). This reduces the authority and value of Scripture. Scripture is not seen as God’s word or His revelation but as a written record of the experiences of humans, which takes away from its divinity and authority (Lane, 2006, p. 239). Schleiermacher, the father of Liber...
Can one question, or consider evaluating the authority of God 's ' word and his infallible wisdom to supernaturally inspire those who wrote it? In the words of the psalmist” God’s word is the truth” and “every one of his righteous ordinances endures forever” (The Holy Bible, Ps: 119: 160). As students of the ministry, it is critically important to understand the biblical authority, inspiration, and inerrancy of the bible and the potential effects to society. This paper will reflect my personal insight, biblical research, and analysis to formulate a clear and concise understanding of this topic.
Is the language in the New Testament problematic for the modern world view? Rudolf Bultmann’s argument in the article, “The Task of Demythologizing,” in Philosophy and Faith: A Philosophy and Religion Reader, believes it is. He challenges the theologian to strip away the elements in the language of the mythical world image and the event of redemption, and then, suggests theology needs to examine the truths in the New Testament. Theology must discover whether the New Testament offers people a better understanding of themselves leading them to a genuine existential decision. Keeping in mind, the New Testament was written for humankind’s comprehension of the world view during the pre-scientific age, Bultmann stipulates theologians may want to
To attempt to address these questions, Gundry compiles a collection of responses from the views of five scholars representing the Weslyan (Melvin E. Dieter), Reformed (Anthony A. Hoekema), Pentecostal (Stanley M. Horton), Keswick (J. Robertson McQuilkin), and Augustinian-Dispensational (John F. Walvoord). Each contributor provides an overview and introduction to their specific evangelical position and at the same time compare and critique as they response to the other views presented. This is an excellent study as it helps to clarify the essentials as well as the distinctiveness of each position.
In the 18th century to 19th century, there were many great influential leaders of Christianity that influenced many individuals belief systems. During this time period three great movements included the relevance of liberalism, Neo-orthodoxy, and Evangelical views. These views in particular had great influence over how individuals applied biblical scripture to their everyday life.
relevant to life, such as do not kill and do not steal. The bible also
In this paper I will discuss the Authority of Scripture and how it has a role in the way the Bible is taught in Christian Education. I will discuss and tell what the Bible is. I will discuss different interviews on what other people think the role of the Bible is in the Christian faith and what I believe the role of the Bible is in the Christian faith. I will also discuss how I will teach the Bible in Christian Faith after having listened to others and having completed this class.
Scripture holds a prominent role in the sermon. In 2 Timothy 4:2, it states to “preach the word in season and out of season”. The Greek word for preach is ‘Kerusso’. It means to be a herald (proclaim) and to preach (announce) a message publicly and with conviction (persuasion). In this verse, Paul gave Timothy and the others ministers a charge and a commission to preach the Word. In order to be an effective preacher, the Word of God must be the foundation. In 2 Timothy 3:16, it states that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”. In other words, the Word of God was written by man, God-breathed and divinely inspired. The Scripture is important because it creates an argument or appeal that is persuading the audience to do something. The substance of our preaching must come from the Bible because the Bible comes from God. As messenger and ambassadors of God, we are obligated to speak the mind and thoughts of God.