Word and Church: Are the Scriptures Your Servant?

I just finished reading the 3rd chapter of John Webster's book, Word and Church (T&T Clark, 2001), which delves into questions and comparisons of how Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer suggest that one should read and interpret the Bible.

Rather than simply summarize this chapter, I feel it would be a greater service to the subject matter (the act of reading and interpreting Scripture) to ask our readers some of the basic questions that this poses to all readers of Scripture. Before I do so, let me simply say this as a point of review; this chapter challenges some of our most basic presuppositions and expectations about the Bible. Not because Webster brings some new, radical, liberal perspective, but because he addresses the question of how the posture of the human heart and mind impact our ability to be changed by Scripture. Barth and Bonhoeffer, as you will see, just happen to provide a convenient avenue for this important discussion.

I have to admit that I am a little conflicted as I try to write this post; I am trying to review a technically dense academic book and make the subject matter accessible to everyone, regardless of whether or not one has pursued formal theological education. I do so for a couple reasons; first, because the theological work of the academy has an impact on the church, and secondly, because the subject matter contained in this book is of central importance to all Christians.

In order to state the point succinctly, allow me to suggest a few historical notes; basically, since about the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the fundamental questions of both philosophy and history have been brought to bear against the Bible and its subject matter in a much more radically assertive manner. Questions ranging from the integrity of the biblical text as we now have it, to the trust-worthiness of the historical subject matter it refers to, all the way to the question of the degree to which we can know, objectively, the content of the Christian message itself.

The task of the theologian has become a matter of mastering the critical techniques employed which gave rise to these questions in order to explain what can be salvaged of the Christian message (which varies according to the presuppositions of the particular interpreter or theologian).

In addition, in the case of the many seminaries, the results of this "theological" work is passed down to the aspiring pastor, who, while seeking to feed the body of Christ, is left only with an empty Christian edifice, gutted by the work of those who act as though the Bible is something that can be mastered. The results for the church has been an appropriation of the Bible that is "theologically and spiritually unserviceable" (Webster, 91).

So here are the questions:

1. Do you read the Bible having an expectation, at least implicitly, that it is going to provide something for you? Perhaps your daily dose of spiritual edification? Perhaps it is our definition of spiritual edification that needs to be reconsidered?

2. Do you think of the Bible as a text that can be mastered with enough study? Now, be careful here to be honest with yourself......(especially if you enjoy theological study), have you ever set out as though you will "arrive" in a place, where, for the most part, you will eventually come to a relatively complete understanding of the content in the Bible?

Allow me to suggest, taking my cue from Webster, Bonhoeffer, and Barth, that if you approach the Bible, whether lay-person, pastor, or theologian, with a posture where you bring your own questions and expectations to the biblical text, then you are not in a position to receive anything from God or the Bible. Let me also suggest that perhaps the Bible, as God's self revelation, is something that should produce a degree of fear. Fear because we know that every time we open up the Word, its going to ask our lives of us.

As a final note, I want to leave you with a quote of Webster, where he summarizes the interpretive perspective of both Barth and Bonhoeffer. And remember, even if you are not a theologian or pastor, this is important! Important because theological work affects the church, and important because it affects the growth of every believer in the body of Christ.

"If sophisticated hermeneutical theory (Interpretive Methods) fails to persuade, it is largely because, in the end, it addresses the wrong problems, and leaves untouched the real difficulty with reading Scripture. That difficulty- as Bonhoeffer ad Barth diagnose it- is spiritual and therefore moral; it is our refusal as sinners to be spoken to, our wicked repudiation of the divine address, our desire to speak the final word to ourselves. From those sicknesses of the soul, no amount of sophistication can heal us." (Webster, 109)

Also consider Hebrews 4:12:

"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do."