Reflection for September 25

Luther, when he said Sola Scriptura, shouldn’t be blamed for what happened, namely Protestant inerrancy. There was no way that Luther could have foreseen Protestant inerrancy. What we mean by inerrancy is the belief that the Bible is absolutely, word for word, the word of God: historically accurate, consistent (if you don’t read it!), and to be taken as a piece of history.

I love emergence theology. I’m persuaded by so much of it. It’s brilliant theology! One of the places I find it most appealing is that emergents will say, “Absolutely, the Bible is the word of God. It is God among us, but it is articulated in human speech and you cannot reduce God almighty to human speech articulation. Its worth to us is its actualness. To argue its historicity is to confine it down to the limitations of our own intellect. How dare we! What is the arrogance that allows for that position!” (Phyllis Tickle, Embracing Emergence Christianity).