Tuesday 28 August 2007

We continue with Placher's use of work by Charles Hodge on scripture.



Hodge wanted to make sure that theologians did not make fools of themselves by trying to defend the indefensible. He remembered earlier battles in which Christians had insisted that the sun goes around the earth, because the Bible seems to say so. No, Hodge insisted - some of the authors of the Bible may have assumed that the earth is at the center of the planetary system, but that was not the point they were trying to make, and not what they were teaching.

Hodge, for that matter, had no problem with the idea, coming to the fore in the evolutionary science of his day, that the earth had existed for millions of years. The authors of Genesis may have believed in a much shorter time-span of world history, he admitted, but they did not teach it. Therefore, we need not believe it in order to believe in the truth of the Bible.



I should have mentioned yesterday that Charles Hodge wrote this in 1872. He is not "present-day, liberal, non-bible-believing scholar." It is simply good to hear such an old voice able to make us look again at scripture and how we are to work our way into its truthfulness and then out of it with some sense of intellectual and faith integrity. Once again, the word-by-word, literalism that often only likes certain types of literalism, must be shaken so that the Word of truth can be heard in the midst of the chaff. Yes, our faithful story telling is full of images and assertions that are wonderful to read and often inspire our thoughts and devotions. And yet, these stories and some of the elements of the stories are not the essential teaching the faithful are to take from the story. This is quite a liberating word offered by these two scholars. It is a gentle reminder - but direct in an age when we need to be direct about what we think about Scripture and what we take from it for our life together.



Connection: This is a tool to be used. When confronted with language of literalists that want to make the Scripture into something it is not meant to be - be bold about drawing things into question without losing our faithful voices.



Come, Spirit of all Truthfulness, and have this great wind of life that is present in the Scriptures, blow around us and through us so that we will not be halted or stuck in words that do not offer us the vision of your Gracious Reign. Come, O Spirit, Come. Amen