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.
Authority of Scripture
What is the authority of scriptures? Let me first start by defining the word authority. Authority is “the power to influence or command thought opinion or behavior” (Webster Ninth New Collegiate Dictonary, 1990)
How do we interpret scripture? It might come through prayerful interaction, or when we first become a new Christian in our faith journey. We also interpret scripture by our own events and traditions that are happening in our lives at the present time. As we look at scriptures we can relate them to our own faith journey and we can seek comfort and meaning through the scriptures. By putting ourselves into the scriptures we make them our own and are able to apply the scriptures as a rule and guide in our lives. (http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/authority.html, n.d.)
In ¶63 on Scripture in "Our Theological Task," The Book of Discipline, 1996, the United Methodist view of Scripture is described at some length: United Methodists share with other Christians the conviction that Scripture is the primary source and criterion for Christian doctrine. Through Scripture the living Christ meets us in the experience of redeeming grace. We are convinced that Jesus Christ is the living Word of God in our midst whom we trust in lif...
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....d.). Retrieved from United Methodist and the Authority of Scripture.
Last Name, F. M. (Year). Article Title. Journal Title, Pages From - To.
Last Name, F. M. (Year). Book Title. City Name: Publisher Name.
MCDevitt, K. (2013, Oct 15). (E. L. Taylor Jr., Interviewer)
Meyers, P. (2013, August-October). Class Notes. Charlotte, NC.
Peeler, D. (2013, October 15). Pastor Snow Hill UMC Candler NC 28715. (E. L. Taylor Jr., Interviewer)
Peeler, J. (2013, October 15). (E. L. Taylor Jr., Interviewer)
Peeler, S. (2013, Oct 15). (E. L. Taylor Jr., Interviewer)
Robinson, G. (2013, Oct 15). (E. L. Taylor Jr., Interviewer)
Taylor, E. L. (2013, August).
Taylor, E. L. (2013, August). Psalms 100.
Warner, S. (2008). Unlocking the Message of the Bible/ Guide to Biblical Interpretation. St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press.
Webster Ninth New Collegiate Dictonary. (1990). Merriam-Webster.
In argument for the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, they said that reading the Bible not only was essential to the building of good morals and development of the minds of impressionable school children, it was free to be interpreted anyway because of lack of comment and explanation. They claimed that the Bible was not a religious work, but when viewed from the eyes of a Christian, it did express the message of Christianity.
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.
Michael Joseph Brown, unveils new ways to read and examine the Bible in his book, titled “What They Don’t Tell You: A Survivor’s Guide to Biblical Studies”. Although quite technical, the guide, not book, really goes into depth on the process of studying the Bible and its documents. Brown has a new and refreshing way of giving the reader this information that is necessary in a small group, or for a Biblical scholar. This guide is not meant solely for the biblical scholar and talks in detail about the difference between these two, because some may link the two together. Published by the Westminster John Knox Press, WJK for short, this book gives straight forward answers on the best way to thoroughly understand Biblical text. As you read on you will find out more about how they differ and why they appear so similar from an outside perspective. Brown has taken a wide variety of information, and made it into something interesting and extremely useful for the reader. In his own words, “What I have done is to ‘translate’ some foundational concepts in biblical studies into an idiom more people can understand” (xiii)
This paper is written to discuss the many different ideas that have been discussed over the first half of Theology 104. This class went over many topics which gave me a much better understanding of Christianity, Jesus, and the Bible. I will be addressing two topics of which I feel are very important to Christianity. First, I will be focusing on the question did Jesus claim to be God? This is one of the biggest challenges of the Bibles that come up quite often. Secondly, I will focus on character development.
N.T Wright (2008) stated that “When we read the scriptures as Christians, we read it precisely as people of the new covenant and of the new creation” (p.281). In this statement, the author reveals a paradigm of scriptural interpretation that exists for him as a Christian, theologian, and profession and Bishop. When one surveys the entirety of modern Christendom, one finds a variety of methods and perspectives on biblical interpretation, and indeed on the how one defines the meaning in the parables of Jesus. Capon (2002) and Snodgrass (2008) offer differing perspectives on how one should approach the scriptures and how the true sense of meaning should be extracted. This paper will serve as a brief examination of the methodologies presented by these two authors. Let us begin, with an
Scripture,” the idea that the Bible is God’s perfect word, the clearest expression of God’s plan
The editors certainly strive to share their passion for this method of understanding Scripture which seems to have been essentially lost to time. The student, formal or layman, is given clear examples of the various writings the editors feel are relevant to the various sections of
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and useful for teaching, for conviction, for correction and for disciplined training in righteousness in order to fit and fully equip the man from God for every good task. (2 Timothy 3:16,17)”16,17
Cosby, Michael R. Interpreting Biblical Literature: An Introduction to Biblical Studies. Grantham: Stony Run, 2009. 120-25. Print.
Whoever reads the bible must obtain a reliable text; they must understand the logic of scripture; they must compare parts of the scripture with each other in order to have the most accurate visualisation of God; they must obtain the attitude of humble seeking of the word of God; and finally they must receive the instruction of God and enforce
The doctrine of Scripture is foundational to the Christian faith. But there is more to say about Scripture than simply, “The Bible says it.” I believe it. That settles it.” If you don’t grasp what the Bible is and how it came to be, you’ll never fully grasp its meaning. Since the meaning of the Bible is vitally important to our faith and life. God has spoken and God speaks. God has spoken and continues to speak through the Holy Scriptures, the Bible. The questions that I ask myself on a daily basis is, how well do I know what the Bible tells us about the Bible? Could I go into a room with complete confidence and speak the truth to many different people? That is why it is always important for me to be prepared.
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...
Carson, D, & Moo, D. (2005) An introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
With the advent of the printing press and the protestant reformation in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Word of God became available to the common believer. Now, in the twenty first century, people all over the world, can read for themselves the scriptures in their own languages. Consider the Bible studies going on in any given country on any given evening, where people are encouraged to interact with the sacred scriptures. As encouraging as this may be, it may present a problem. Could discussions of what a scripture ‘means to me’ cloud out what the scripture originally meant? Is it even possible to know the author’s intent? Even if we could understand a first century text as its author intended, can we also grasp what it’s supposed to mean to us?
Stewart, J. S. (2000). The life and teaching of jesus christ. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press.