The Place of Scripture in Evangelical, Liberal, and Neo-Orthodox Thought
The nature and authority of Scripture is approached differently in reference to the three theological movements in church history, known as Evangelical, Liberal, and Neo-orthodox. Because of these differences in thought, scripture takes on a different meaning for each movement. The nature and authority of Scripture will be discussed with each of the three theological movements; Evangelical, Liberal, and Neo-orthodox.
The Issues
Evangelicals view the Holy Scriptures, both old testament and new testament, as the perfect word of God. Evangelical thought does not make claim that man cannot err in the interpretation of Scripture, but what it does is position man’s Evangelical
Upon entering the Jerry Falwell Museum, there is a cabinet displaying information about Jerry Falwell’s heritage. Lining the walls are portraits of his ancestors, along with different signs from the 17 different service stations his family owned. A model recreation of a service station is on display with different photos of the buildings his family had owned. There is a plaque describing Jerry Falwell’s conversion to Christianity, with information about his three main mentors, and how he met Macel, who was later to be his wife. Looking around the room one can see many of Jerry Falwell’s achievements, including his many ambitious ministries. In one corner of the room there is equipment that was used from his first television ministry. Also on
In the first chapter of One Sacred Effort the author sets out on a voyage to sketch a brief overview of what fuels the Baptists denomination. Generally, the first conviction to be addressed is the doctrine and authority of Scripture. Following the example of Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16 “historical Baptists have held that the Bible is God-breathed Scripture…and that it is a sufficient rule of faith and practice.” (1.1) As a result of viewing scripture in this light, other theological convictions and distinctions flow out of this. Such as, salvation through faith alone, soul accountability, the priesthood of all believers, autonomy of the local church, and the importance of proclaiming and advancing the gospel. Again, this is not an exhaustive list
Of all the debates that have developed in the Christian world over the centuries, the debate in regards to the infallibility and authority of scripture looms at the top of the list. This is not simply a trivial matter of belief, but this is a key issue; what an individual believes in this regard has the potential to either clarify or distort his or her view on the character, trustworthiness, and supremacy of God. A person’s stance on this issue, the infallibility and the authority of the written Word of God, will determine and establish many of the boundaries of their faith in God.
The main message in Christianity & Liberalism is what the only object of faith is Christ. Machen composes his book into doctrine, God and man, the Bible, Christ, Salvation, and the Church; he shows all of this doctrine should be directly connected with the faith in Christ. If not, he declares that that should not be Christianity. In chapter 1 and 2, Machen emphasizes that how maintaining traditional doctrine is important. The reason for that is classical conservatives tried to keep the doctrine upon the Bible; however, classical liberalism attacked the traditional doctrine because Machen points out that liberal theologians and preachers want to interpret the truth from the point of a human. Machen even warns that the liberalism is shaking the faith in Christianity. In other words, it could be proper understanding that the liberalism rebelled against the truth and God’s word.
Theology of Christianity appears in many forms. It is a concentration of the study of both the old and new testaments, as well as Christian traditions. Such theologies discussed by the author are: biblical criticism, systematic theology, historical theology, moral theology, pastoral theology, liberation theology, natural theology, liturgical studies and sacramenta theology, and mystical
The main reason that I am sold on this Baptist thing is because our statement of beliefs is not a creed or confession that tries to express all of the things that southern Baptist believe but is instead broad statement that hits the main points. This is important to me because unlike some other mainline denominations Baptists do not base the whole organization around a certain theological system. Because of this the Southern Baptists allow for a minister to change his view as he grows, reads, and learns without having to leave the denomination.
Connie R. Green, Emily Katherine Green Scott, and Sandra Brenneman Oldendorf scripted Religious Diversity and Children's Literature: Strategies and Resources and said “All of these groups shared common ideas such as the belief that communion is symbolic and not the literal blood and body of Jesus.” Believing salvation is the highest importance; I have chosen to research it further. I want to recognize how different or similar the plan of salvation is for the three distinct denominations. Denominations start to differentiate and separate in their spiritual philosophies, and they are remarkably contrast about the permanence of salvation. Every sect teaches their creed with absolute certainty, without acknowledging how faithfully or not it follows the
In recent discussions of racism, one issue has been racial and religious profiling. On one hand some argue that these actions are necessary to protect the American people from both foreign and domestic threats. From this perspective, people of color are un-equal to everybody else and people such as Muslims are probably connected to groups such as the Islamic State. On the other hand, racial and religious profiling is considered completely immoral and wrong because it takes away liberties. This leads to a conflict between safety and liberty. My own view is that racial and religious profiling is immoral to an extent; however, I also believe that Americans should be protected. I believe that those targeted by police should match statistics of
Fundamentalism is a strict adherence to a set of ideas or beliefs that are conservative in nature. It is a pejorative term usually associated with religious fanaticism. Usually, this is what comes to mind when there is mention of a fundamentalist. However, in Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist starring the protagonist Changez, a Pakistani Princetonian who is a top-ranked employee at a prestigious New York valuation firm, turns out not to be an Islamic fundamentalist, but a reluctant fundamentalist of US Capitalism. Hamid challenges readers to reevaluate their preconceived notions and prejudices of people different from themselves in post 9/11 America by employing the use of motifs, aphorism, and suspense, to create a conflation
Church history reveals that a number of serious biblical doctrinal controversies occurred during the late 1800s and early 1900s that gave occasion for the formulation of certain fundamentalist principals to be implemented as a clarification and remedy against unbiblical manifestations. The authority of the Bible was brought into serious question.
“We regard you to be one of our best friends in the world.” Ariel Sharon, former Israeli Prime Mister stated towards a group of 1,500 Evangelical Christians in Jerusalem.
The third section dissects the formation of the New Testament with more historical context and views of other writings defined as Gnostic writing. Bruce explains the spoken words of the apostles carried as much authority as their written words and gives an in depth explanation how the Gospels and Pauline writings were viewed by the Church Fathers. The rest of the section demonstrates the Church Fathers and their views of what was to be considered scripture and the councils that affirmed the inspired scripture.
In doing so, we can discover that final authority is not in and of scripture itself but of the Triune God who is the Author of scripture. The second obstacle to consider is that many have dismissed scripture as a book of Israelitic & Christian stories. Wright contends that these stories are told to inform us of “internal dynamics” of the past so as to engage us in the present for transformation into Christ-likeness. (p.25). Thirdly, Wright asserts that the question of scripture’s authority should not be viewed as a list of rules where God condescends to man. Rather, scripture should be received as God’s purpose to save and renew the entire world by authorizing the church—God’s agent in the world—with His mission through the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus, it is imperative that biblical scholars “see the role of scripture not simply as being [informative about or revelatory of God’s truth] but as a means of God’s action in and through us.” (p.28)
I never thought to be a Christian leader. As a matter of fact, I am a person who did not know about God for 26 years. I was the center of my life, and there was no room for God to enter. Even when I was attending church service, I was trying not to be exposed to other church people. In other words, I was the kind of person who was afraid to walk into a life of faith. However, in the past three years, God has changed me in many ways, and showed me so many miraculous things. And, finally here I am. Being a Christian leader seems the most challenging job in the world. I am working as the chairman of a youth ministry, and walking on the path to be a church leader. When God called me to work for the
The third school of interpretation is Traditionalism. Traditionalists maintain that the Bible is full of truth, God is revealed within the Bible and that it is inspired by the Holy Spirit. One of the key characteristics of their approach to the Bible is its emphasis on the need to understand the nature of the different types of literature within the bible. However, traditionalists would not accept the fundamentalist’s notion of inerrancy as many would acknowledge that there are mistakes in the Bible. These are seen as a reflection of both the historical context in which they are written and the human fallibility of the authors. As with Liberals, traditionalists believe that some aspects of the Bible need to be reinterpreted for today. Traditionalists place a lot of emphasis on the process of exegesis. However, after establishing the intended meaning of the author the next step in the traditional approach is the question of how it should be applied to Christian today. However, whereas fundamentalists believe that the true meaning of a text should be clear to each reader;