The Relevance and Authority of Scripture Essay

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

The Fundamentalist-Modernist dispute was a religious dispute that occurred in the 1920s and 1930s within the confines of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America that ended up creating separation in most of the American Christian movements also. In fact, convinced that the literal truth of the Bible formed the basis of Christian belief, fundamentalists initiated a campaign to eradicate Protestant denominations of modernism and to fight the new individual freedoms that seemed to contradict traditional morality (Foner 788). What is more, the press portrayed fundamentalism as a movement of backwoods bigots. Yet, it was a national phenomenon. Fundamentalism continued to be an important strain of 1920s politics and culture (Foner

One fact that must remain in consideration by any student of textual criticism is that there were many other religious and philosophical writings produced simultaneously with the Scriptures of the New Testament era. Robert J. Sargent states, “As the Bible was being written down, numerous other religious

As liberalism ideology evolved and championed by the economic leaders, it pose a threat to the existing social settings such as the presence of the nobility, and the church. The attempt to defend existing social arrangement is what brought about conservatism. Conservatives stood against the ideas of liberals in a rational for maintaining existing traditional political structures and the centralization of power. They stood against transferring political responsibility to the common people under the disguise of equality (Shively, 2014).

In his second essay, titled “Rethinking Power” describes this “Constantinian error” and the different ways that Christians try to create change in culture. He focuses on three major Christian culture-changing movements of our day: the Christian right, the Christian left, and the Neo-Anabaptists. All of these movements lack an

The Bible is the best-selling book of all time, and with good reason. For the stories written in it have changed the way many think and even believe when it comes to the power greater than this world. The Bible holds very specific opinions on things such as slavery, who humans should treat each other, and ultimately social justice. It has been one of the most important foundations for allowing social reform to occur in modern day history as well as the history of the whole world. However, it is forgotten in history class how prominent the ancient texts have changed the people. When looking at the history, it is discovered to be the strength of great people who have used its wisdom to bring about a change for those who could not do it on

civil and political liberties, and protection under the law. In the 19th Century, liberalism was centered on a transfer of power from the church to the state. They favored individual rights, state control on eduction, an end to slavery, and on

During the Industrial revolution many people started to believe in the idea of Liberalism. At times it was difficult. People were imprisoned or persecuted because of their ideas. Riots even occurred because the government and some of the upper class would not stand for the Liberalists’ new ways to improve society. Aristocrats refused to change their ways. But through it all, liberalists persevered and brought about one of the largest changes in society that we are still experiencing even today.

The Sermon on the Mount is a sermon given by Jesus Christ found in the book of Matthew in the Holy Bible. The beginning of this sermon includes a list of blessings called the Beatitudes. Jesus uses these to explain God’s favor towards those who are striving for righteousness. For those who had come to believe and follow Jesus as the son of God, every word that he spoke in the Sermon on the Mount was intended as words of encouragement for Jesus’s disciples and were taken as such. For those who were skeptical, the crowd, that Jesus was truly the son of God, Jesus’s words took on a totally different meaning. The Beatitudes, simple words that promote the humility of man, were explicit words of encouragement for Jesus’s disciples. Yet at the same time, to the crowd listening, the Beatitudes were an implicit invitation to become men of God by believing that this man is God in the flesh, God in spirit, God almighty, God omniscient, God omnipresent, and God omnipotent.

Classical liberalism is the transition from focusing on government to focusing on the rights of individuals. This transition came about during the time of the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. The Enlightenment period was when man started to have more faith in his own reasoning. People began to look for evidence on their beliefs themselves and to find proof on these beliefs, so that they could come up with their own opinions on things. One way that they did this was by going back and rereading Roman and Greek texts and retranslating these texts. This new way of thinking also caused the Protestant Reformation to occur. Some of the most influential Enlightenment writers were John Locke, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and the people of France’s National Constituent Assembly.

Liberalism, in general, was an ideological movement that emerged out of the ideas of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century. It embraced the ideas of individualism which were established in the Renaissance and Reformation era. The Renaissance period sparked a belief in the importance of the individual in society. It helped promote the beliefs of classical liberalism which gradually formed into the liberal ideology of the 19th century. Individuals that were waiting to get their individual rights and freedoms were allowed to finally gain liberty and power through this period of time. Classical liberalism developed

Emerging church proponents respect the Bible. Brian McLaren writes, “I believe it [the Bible] is a gift from God, inspired by God, to benefit us in the most important way possible:

I believe that scripture is the infallible Word of God, divinely inspired by God through human hands, for the teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training of Christians and forming the basis of the Christian life and guiding them on the path to Christ. I believe that scripture is infallible rather than inerrant, because human writers through which God spoke can still make mistakes. However, Matthew 24:35 reminds us that God’s word is true in all ages and places. 2 Timothy 3:16 gives reasons why it is import for believes to use the scripture such as teaching and correcting. Scripture guides us along the path we should as evidences by Psalms 119:105 comparing Scripture to a lamp to show us the way. I have also personal experienced the wisdom that the scriptures can offer to those who need guidance. I also believe that scripture should be the main point of guidance, which is something that my church has taught me such I was young. Matthew 7:24 instructs us to build our house on the rock (scripture) which is the most solid place to rest our life.

Most Christians do not think about the canon of scripture or know what it is or means in theology. Most take for granted the Bible they have and never question how it came into being. Today, we have 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. There was a time, however, that we did not have a canon. Bruce defines canon as books of the Bible that were recognized to be considered scripture (p. 17). The importance of the canon and how it was developed was intriguing to professor and author F.F. Bruce. He dedicated his book The Canon of Scripture to explore and explain the formulation of the canon we have today. Bruce taught in universities, including the University of Manchester, where he began to lecture students on the

The Liberals believe that the writers of the Bible accommodated their recipients and hence the Bible is not binding on us. Non propositional theology is often favoured by liberal theologians because it places the emphasis on human experience and rationality.