 Book Reviews Reading the Bible and the
Confessions: Jack Rogers Reviewed by William D. Eisenhower January/February 2001 |
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But the question to be asked is, Is it possible to be a superior historian of the interpretation of the Bible while failing as a Bible interpreter? Consider: “Not all of the particular cultural applications in the Biblical text apply to those of us not living in ancient Near Eastern cultures. Take, for example, the recurring theme in the Old Testament that God’s covenant people should be fruitful and multiply and fill the land. The Old Testament heroes of the faith followed that mandate by taking multiple wives, concubines and slaves to bear children to them. We can understand the original function of the divine mandate without feeling obligated to follow it today.” The idea is to preserve “the function of Biblical principles, but not the form.” I couldn’t begin to list how many interpretative mistakes there are in the four-and-a-half sentences just quoted. Suffice it to say that descriptive passages of Scripture have been portrayed as though they were normative, in order to make the “form” of Biblical teaching seem quaint and morally irrelevant. Flaws in methodology As serious as such misrepresentations are, the real flaws in this book are not in content but methodology. First, to be any help at all, a historical overview such as this one can’t limit itself to an Error/Change-For-The-Better paradigm. Alongside the examples cited, there would have to be others showing times in which the church encountered pressure to change for the worse, but stood firm, and examples of missteps into quagmires from which there has been no extrication since. Without them, the subtext seems to be, “We’re Presbyterians: Give Us Long Enough and We Always Get It Right!” This is a wonderful sentiment. But it isn’t warranted; it isn’t true; and, worst of all, it isn’t Presbyterian. Guidelines for interpreting Scripture and the Confessions have to arise directly out of the interpreter’s encounter with the realities to which they point – preaching grace because of grace, for example. To set a denominational position paper between the preacher and the text alienates him or her from the Gospel he or she is called to proclaim. Rogers believes that, “We can learn from the past so that we do not make the same kinds of mistakes over and over again.” Unfortunately, this book – while containing an abundance of fascinating historical material – is evidence to the contrary. The Rev. William D. Eisenhower is interim pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Gardena, Calif. |
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