The Authority of the Bible

Kenneth Cauthen

The essay that was formerly on this page has been published as Chapter Three in my Toward a New Modernism (Lanham,MD: University Press of America, 1997), 45-60. Copyright © 1997 by University Press of America. All rights reserved. An abstract of the article is included here.

Only two hermeneutical principles have fundamental status:

NO CHRISTIAN ALLOWS THE BIBLE TO TEACH AS THE AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD WHAT IS KNOWN OR BELIEVED (FOR WHATEVER REASONS) TO BE EITHER UNTRUE OR IMMORAL.

EVERY CHRISTIAN FINDS WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES AS THE AUTHORITATIVE WORD OF GOD TO BE IDENTICAL OR CONGRUENT WITH WHAT IS KNOWN OR BELIEVED (FOR WHATEVER REASONS) TO BE TRUE AND RIGHT.

Limits to interpretation do exist. The text does say just what it does say and not something else. Moreover, with some relative success, a study of the Bible as a whole reveals recurring themes, grand motifs, general patterns, ruling metaphors, and the like. Nevertheless, when thinkers set forth a normative theology, their appropriation of Scripture is mediated through a complex background of operative assumptions that determine the form and content of the outcome. The interpreter is the functional creator of the final product, however much the text of Scripture is a contributing source.

The modernist view contends that we decide what the Word of God is for us today. We have to. There is no alternative. Let us frankly say that we regard as obligatory for today only what in Scripture is worthy of belief as we are able to judge truth and right instructed by Scripture as we interpret it? It is finally the intrinsic excellence of what is professed and practiced that matters. We decide what that is.

I invite responses.

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This is one in a series of essays on theological and ethical topics. The best place to start is: Theological Essays Presently, the following essays are available: About the Author
A List of my Books
What I Believe
Interpreting the Bible Today
The Authority of the Bible
Using the Bible with Integrity
Ways of Acquiring Moral Truth
Natural Law and Moral Relativism
What is Truth -- and Does it Matter?
A Doctrine of God
Hints Toward a Doctrine of God
Trinity: God, Christ, Spirit
God as Masculine and Feminine
Theodicy: the Problem of Evil
Theodicy: A Heterodox Alternative
The Many Faces of Evil
Christ and Christians
A Contemporary Christology
A Critique of Niebuhr's Christ and Culture
The Incompatibility of Christianity and Civilization
Christian Ethics
Process Christian Ethics
The Ethics of Belief
Relativism, Morality, Belief
Capital Punishment
Physician Assisted Suicide
Bioethical Decision-Making
Prostitution
Abortion
Drug Policy
Homosexuality
Theology and Ecology
Religion and Politics
Science and Theology
Church and State
A Short Biographical Sketch For something on the light side: Mother Goose Goes Electronic

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Created: Monday, March 04, 1996, 5:23:46 PM
Last Updated: Friday, June 15, 2001, 2:45 PM