Worth a Look

Ryan has posted a provocative quote from Kierkegaard regarding the possibility of a reformation that lessened Protestant attachment to the Bible. The question I found interesting was whether or not there is any connection between the kind of authority against with Luther and others rightly rebelled and the kind of authority that the Bible is seen to have in some Christian circles today. Of course this sounds outrageous at first glance but I think it’s worth thinking about.

I’ve wondered about this in the past, particularly in light of Stanley Hauerwas’ inflammatory words on the subject. I am not disputing the authority of the Bible over the practice of the church. The question that Hauerwas raised (that I think is probably behind Kierkegaard’s words as well) is whether there is any kind of prior commitment that needs to precede our reading of the Bible (it is, after all, the church’s book). Heaven knows we have more access to the Bible than any other period in history. But the words do not have a magical power (many who read them don’t believe them; many who read them remain unchanged by them). It seems to me that an openness to the God that we meet in the words of the Bible might make a significant difference as to how we hear them.