Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read the Bible Today Paperback – March 19, 2013

Title: Scripture and the Authority of GodAuthor: N.T. WrightPublisher: HarperCollinsYear: 2011Pages: 210N.T. Wright other works: N.T. Wright Page[Disclaimer: I paid for this book with a gift card I received at Christmas 2013. It was a very happy time in my life when I could freely spend at amazon.com. It also prevented me from having to humbly admit that I got the book free in exchange for a fair review. I can be as nasty as I wanna be in this review. :-) ]No one will ever accuse N.T. Wright of cutting corners when it comes to Scripture. What he does in Scripture and the Authority of God is take his readers on a whirlwind tour of the complex cultural cancers that have affected and distorted the way we read the Scripture. And if I have read this book correctly, Wright is saying that it is far less about the external forces and far more about internal pressures that have, in a sense, ruined the Scripture. To wit: "This strongly suggests that for the Bible to have the effect it seems to be designed to have it will be necessary for the church to hear it as it is, not to chop it up in an effort to make it into something else" (25). To repeat myself, this is akin to saying: it is less the cultured despisers we have to worry about when it comes to Scripture and far much more the prophets, priests, and preachers in the church. And isn't this, if we are honest, the truth?Throughout the book Wright maintains a singular thought, which he repeats in earnest as often as he can: "...the phrase 'authority of Scripture' can make Christian sense only if it is a shorthand for 'the authority of the triune God, exercised somehow through scripture" (20). The main problem we have in the church is that we tend to ignore context when it comes to Scripture. Preachers are so bent on a particular theological or political system that the entire corpus of Scripture gets forgotten, the story from beginning to end is either ignored or forgotten. In my opinion, N.T.Wright is absolutely prophetic in this regard because he always, I mean always, keeps this overarching metanarrative in mind when spelling out some of the more microcosmic ideas found in Scripture. And no one is safe from his pen: conservative, liberal, right, left, high-church or country-bumpkin. His solution? There is a profound need for 'fresh, Kingdom-oriented, historically rooted exegesis' (112). I have read many of Dr. Wright's books and if anything can be said of his work, perhaps the best thing that can be said is that he is undeniable consistent: the metanarrative never leaves his focus regardless of the topic he is discussing.This is like telling people who have been doing the same thing for 100 years that they are doing it wrong and need to change to which they would respond, "We have always done it this way." I hear such sentiments in churches, in schools, in business. And again it is hard to argue when the current methods have resulted in the modern phenomenon of the mega-rich, mega-churches. It's a lot easier to use Scripture to make some politically expedient point or some culturally relevant pop-psychological jabberwocky than it is to do the hard work of actually reading Scripture from front to back, and back to front, seeing what it says and then thinking about what it means. I remember sitting in my office one Sunday morning and listening to the women's Sunday school class on the other side of the wall. We had just started a Bible reading campaign designed to take the entire church the entire Bible in 90 days. I distinctly remember hearing one of the women say, "I don't know why we have to do this."Wright takes his time explaining to his readers the insidious nature of the various cultural developments and church reactions that have so distorted and warped our reading of Scripture. He covers sixteen centuries of warped exegesis in about 20 pages before he moves on to discuss the enlightenment period in a little more than 20 pages. He then demonstrates for us how those on the 'left' and 'right' have used the flawed methods of those previous generations to distort the Scripture for their own purposes. Then, finally, he moves on give us thoughts on how to get back on track. (Yes, there was much more at the beginning of the book, and I'm not overlooking it. It's there and lays an important foundation.) It is here that I find most agreement with Wright based on my own experience as a local church preacher and a well read Christian. This newer version of the book I read also features two 'test cases' at the end of the book--one on the Sabbath and the other on monogamy.One wonders what the world would look like if preaching was not always a reaction to the goings on in the world or a mere 'how to feel better about life' medicinal word? I'm sure there is a place to address such things, but the best way to do so is found by consistently preaching how God has brought about his grace in the fullness of time in Jesus--his Kingdom where broken people find hope, peace, and love. We cannot ignore the world and what is happening--indeed, it is the world we are to redeem through our witness to Jesus and the preaching of the Gospel! When we keep the metanarrative in mind, not merely as a backdrop, or for illustrative material, or as I saw in a book I recently read, a place for good quotes, but as the sure historical foundation through which God was bringing about his redemptive purposes and preparing the world for Jesus, we can see how God's word is authoritative in the midst of our own cultural upheaval and turmoil and political intrigue. This is precisely the reason Paul writes that God gave us preachers, teachers, apostles--to equip us...then we will no longer be tossed about by the waves of this world (Ephesians 4:1-16).Whatever else we take away from this book, it is imperative that we read chapter 8 carefully and thoughtfully. This might mean, gasp, that we are going to be confronted individually or collectively with ideas that challenge us, change us, or choke us: "We who call ourselves Christians must be totally committed to telling the story of Jesus both as the climax of Israel's story and as the foundation of our own" (126). It is especially when he talks about five strategies for honoring the authority of Scripture that we ought to pay attention. I say yes to all of them! Contextual reading? Yes! Liturgically grounded reading of Scripture? Yes! I pause here because my own tradition has a nagging history of neglecting the liturgical, contextual, public reading of Scripture. That is, we prefer a bit before communion or a bit before the sermon or a bit before the plate is passed but we have failed greatly when it comes to the type of reading that reminds us of who we are, of the greater story being told, and our place within that narrative. This will not do. I weep for my tradition precisely at this point because we who have prided ourselves for so long as being a 'people of the book' have utterly neglected our historical roots and the reading Scripture in a liturgical fashion: "It also means that in our public worship, in whatever tradition, we need to make sure the reading of Scripture takes a central place" (131). Amen.I highly recommend Scripture and the Authority of God and it is my hope that when people read this they will begin to hold their leaders accountable. So I have some suggestions myself of how churches can hold leaders accountable.First, change your worship. That is, drop a song or two or three in order to create space for the unfiltered reading of the Scripture. This is what Ezra did (Nehemiah 8); this is what Jesus did (Luke 4); and this is what Paul told Timothy he was to do (1 Timothy 4:13). There is just as much worship in hearing the Scripture simply read as there is in singing and dancing (Revelation 1:3).Second, insist that your preacher have ample time and resources to study the Scripture. Demand less of him in areas where others can serve competently (Acts 6:1-7) so that his/her time in the Scripture is undiluted and undisturbed (2 Timothy 2:14-15). You want the church to grow? Count on the one thing in Scripture that God said would provide growth: Isaiah 55:10-12.Third, engage your congregation in consistent reading of the entire Bible. Interesting that one of the commands the king was to obey was that he was to write for himself a copy of the law (Deuteronomy 17:18-19) and have it with him all the days of his life. The congregation should do the same, always reading and studying and learning because when we are in Scripture we are bound to see Jesus (Luke 24:25-27, 44). Keep this metanarrative in mind at all times when reading, studying, and preaching.Surely there are things I could add to this list, but for now it will do. If churches could get motivated again to take the Scripture seriously, as Wright is ultimately suggesting, we might see the sort of revival take place in our churches. I say this especially to those among my own tradition who have, for far too long, neglected Scripture in favor of methodology.

There are many good reviews on here, but I will still try to add in my own praise:I know there are sane approaches to the Bible as many of my professors had them when I was studying theology and Bible at a university, but they still seem so few and far between in our everyday lives. Either people (typically evangelical protestants) want to treat the Bible almost as an idol over God, giving it such a high authority it just becomes a destructive tool they use for their own ends, or they want to treat it as if it is just a bunch of nice stories that just give the narrative of our lives some meaning with little to no truth value in any parts or say in what is right or wrong in our lives. Usually people fall somewhere in line between these two extremes, but Wright seems to do such a good job of finding a good balance that is centered on an encounter with God as we see God in the Trinity and a sane view of the concept of revelation itself which is not the information in a book but the breaking in of God in our reality which we see the pinnacle of in the incarnation itself.Here are a couple of good quotes from the intro and then the first chapter that I feel set up the book:"I have tried, in particular, to face head-on the question of how we can speak of the Bible being in some sense quthoritative when the Bible itself declares that all authority belongs to the one true God and that this is now embodied in Jesus himself. The risen Jesus, at the end of Matthew's gospel, does not say, "All authority in heaven and on earth is given to the books you are going to write," but "All authority in heaven an on earth is given to me.""We now arrive at the central claim of this book: that the phrase "authority of scripture" can make Christian sense only if it is shorthand for "the authority of the triune God, exercised somehow through scripture."I will admit that I have struggled at times at knowing exactly what to do with that book that I called so dear to my faith. I believe we all have, even (or perhaps especially) those of us going into ministry. Although I am apart of the Nazarene tradition, which is not so fundamentalist, I was still raised in a southern, fundamentalist town in Arkansas which perhaps left me at times with a bad taste in my mouth when it came to the Bible. Wright helped me know how to accept that book and use it wisely in my own life and as a minister trying to help others engage it.The kind of authority that Wright talks about is not the kind of "authority", as he says early on, "which consists solely in a final court of appeal", but rather in the authority of God's reality having the final say and transforming power.(Still from early on in the book:) "God's authority, if we are to locate it at this point, is his sovereign power accomplishing this renewal of all creation. Specific authority over human beings, notably the church, must be seen as part of that larger whole."You will not find a lofty academic (as you never find with Wright) who is simply trying to stuff information into your head. You will find a well informed, sincere Christian who is trying to invite you to see a picture of a God who is inviting you through the testimony of scripture to take part in something even bigger with a higher status of authority than the book itself in God's Kingdom.So if you are wanting a sane book with a sane, pastoral approach to scripture that at times even seems beautiful, then N.T. Wright is your guy and this is your book.

I should give it a five. But Wright is not a great communicator. In fact, I'd give the book 3 stars for readability and 5 for the importance of what it says (that's how I arrived at 4 stars). Not that I agree with everything he says, but if you form a panel of scholars whom you can consult with respect to the reading and study of the scriptures today, you definitely want Wright among them.

Highly recommend if you want to understand the authority of scripture and how that can work in your life.

An outstanding combination of scholarly discipline, showing an attitude to scripture that's full of faith and deep knowledge, and a style of writing that wears deep learning lightly and is easy to read. The ideas are profound, and shed light on the ways in which scripture has served the community of believers across the millennia. Perhaps the most striking aspect of these ideas is the way in which Wright shows how, in successive ages, that community has viewed the relationship with scripture in a dynamic way -- that it has always functioned as a light and a guide to those who desire to live as believing people.The book is full of trenchant yet gracious criticisms of many traditional views of scripture; and these are so wide-ranging that they include the literalism of modern fundamentalism, the prescriptive tendencies of the Reformation, medieval scholasticism, Gnostic inclinations and heresies, and many more. But Wright is never scornful in tone or substance, for he sees these flaws as originating in the church's continual desire to apply the truth of the Gospel during specific periods, and along the way, its desire to refute error.For this reader, the most revelatory sections were those which showed how the early church viewed the Old Testament, and how the Protestant tendency to polarise the distinction between Law (OT) and Grace (NT) diminishes the fact that the Apostles and the early church were animated by the conviction that Jesus was the culmination of all that the OT Scriptures had promised and towards which they had been pointing. So the life, death and resurrection of Jesus are the culminating events, and He is in person the culmination, of all that had gone before. But this is not a boundary that closes off -- the church as a community is intended to continue that work forward to the ultimate reconciliation that the Kingdom of God will bring about, even as the church continually remembers the events of its Lord's life, death and resurrection.Ultimately, this is profoundly practical book, which helps one understand why passages that modern readers might find difficult (such as some of the most demanding or harsh requirements of the Law) fulfilled a function much larger and more transcendent than the modern mind can readily grasp. It therefore applies its ideas to two case studies of equivalent, modern "difficulties" -- the Sabbath and monogamy. The resulting discussion is full of compassion, yet firm in its deep orthodoxy. There is never any question of where Wright stands in these areas; but his practical conclusions are those of someone well aware of human frailty, of the challenges facing Christians in the 21st-century, and of ways in which we might continue proclaiming the restorative power and purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Excellent and Relevant!

I bought this book hoping to get Wright's take on why and how we can consider the bible to be authoritative, but that’s not really what I got. A large chunk of it is a mainly historical discussion on how the bible has been misread. Wright then moves on to outline what our approach to reading it should be and he gives five strategies for "honouring the authority of scripture". These strategies are to read the scriptures in a way that is totally contextual, liturgically grounded, privately studied, refreshed by appropriate scholarship and taught by the church's accredited leaders.Finally, with these strategies in mind, we get two bible-reading case studies demonstrating the “Wright” approach. The first considers references to Sabbath-day observance and the second looks at passages relating to monogamy. These studies are approx. 20 pages long each and descend into a confusing muddle of multiple layered interpretations, assumptions and argumentations. The discussions end up quite a long way away from where a more straightforward reading of the texts would take us. For example, at the end of the first study we are told:"We are called to live in the endless Sabbath of God's new creation, even while the old creation continues to groan in labour awaiting its full redemption. The latter continuing condition (the groaning of creation) means that we still need to order our lives wisely with an appropriate rhythm of work and rest, to be navigated and negotiated case by case and from place to place, and most likely honouring the seven-day rhythm of creation in some appropriate fashion.”As nicely phrased as this and other conclusions are, i'm left still unclear on his grounds for accepting the legitimacy of biblical authority, as well as now also wondering about the validity of his particular interpretations. In short, if you're a bible believing fan of Tom Wright, there's probably plenty here for you, but if, alternatively, you're wondering why you should read the bible at all, this book isn’t going to be of much help.

Good book!