Word of God

Sometimes book titles catch my eye and I have to pick them up to see what they are about.  I guess that is probably the intention of most book titles, otherwise how would they ever get sold.  The other day I ran across a book called "The Sins of Scripture."  It is exactly the kind of title I am talking about.  When I saw the author was Bishop John Shelby Spong, I couldn't resist.  Not only did I pick the book up, I had to buy it.  In the first two chapters, Spong argues that he is a Christian and that he has a life-long love affair with the Bible.  You know he is about to make a controversial claim when he begins by defending himself, and here it comes.  Spong does not like the traditional phrase, "the Word of God."  Here are his exact words.

Perhaps the strangest claim ever made for any written document in history is that its words are or somehow contain the "Word of God." Such an assertion assumes that God is a very humanlike being who has the ability to speak to a particular people in a language that they understand and that God is intimately invested in the minutiae of human life...Similar claims have also been made for the sacred writings of other religious traditions, but Christians have never taken these "pagan" claims seriously. Somehow these claims coming from non-Christian sources are just too obviously absurd.

Spong goes on to explore how this phrase is understood by Christians.  Some take it very literally as the inerrant, inspired words of God. In this view, to quote a verse of the Bible is to invoke the authority of God.  Others hear the phrase metaphorically.  It is a claim that every generation continues to hear God's voice through the reading of these ancient texts.  The problem for Spong as that the phrase, "the Word of God." carries with it the authority to justify any behavior within the church, even when it is evil.  Spong has not shortage of examples throughout Christian history and goes on to conclude,

To face this reality is essential for my integrity as a Christian, but it is not easy. My religious critics say to me that there can be no Christianity apart from the authority of the scriptures. They hear my attack on this way of viewing the Bible as an attack on Christianity itself. I want to say in response that the claim that the scriptures are either divinely inspired or are the "Word of God" in any literal sense has been so destructive that I no longer want to be a part of that kind of Christianity. (p. 18)

Now you can understand why he begins the book by defending himself.  I don't always agree with Spong, but his claims bring up some important questions within me.  Why do we call the Bible "the Word of God" when it does not make that claim for itself?  Does this understanding of our Holy Text give it the authority to justify evil?  Where does our authority as Christians rest if not in the Bible?  As a youth I remember being asked, "Do I believe that God had the ability to give us a book that contained everything I needed to know about life and salvation."  It was the kind of question that really only has one answer if I believed in God.  The problem is that it has become the wrong question.  My question is not could God create this book, but did God?

Comments

[William E. Salmon]

DID GOD CREATE THE BIBLE? Of course not. To answer the question in any other way makes the mistake of objetifying God. God is not an object, instead God is a relationship that we experience whenever we are loved even in "tough love"), and/or as we experience the fulfillment of our intended creation; our intended creation is to live humanely and graciously with our neighbor, ourselves and with God that is experienced as Perect At-One-Ment; this is a formula representing the Divine Commanment.
The Bible is a human testimony from those who experienced failure to fulfill their intended creation, the testimony of those searching for the meaning of their existence, and the testimony of those who experienced the transformation of their natural and human propensities and became loving, humane and gracious.
In a larger context, the Bible is the Testimony of those who set aside their individualism in order to honor the transformation of their community and nation.
This is why the Bible continues to be relevant. It is the story of our personal lives, and it is the story of our lives as a church, a community, state and nation.
God help us!

[Sherry Peyton]

I was not raised in faith, but joined the Catholic church as an adult. I cannot and could never make my brain believe that the Bible is anything but what it suggests, the wonderful, beautiful, poetic, lyrical, confusing, and sometimes contradictory account of a people and its faith journey with God. To suggest that God directed the specifics of its writings, is to make God small, petty, a rather lousy writer...well you get the picture.

Ps. Like your blog. Its hard to find blogs that are progressive in nature. I'm drowning in a sea of fundamentalism.