D
djeter
Guest
The true Church of Christ teaches the gospel.
The Bible is the sacred and canonical witness to the gospel.
Therefore, the teachings of the Church accord with the teachings of the Bible.
This simple syllogism provides the rationale for theological exegesis. And not just the rationale, but also the challenge. For the accordance of doctrine and Scripture is by no means obvious.
At times, what Scripture says is opaque, but doctrine is clear. At other times, what the Church teaches is either puzzling or undeveloped, but the plain sense of Scripture seems perspicuous and compelling.
At still other times, the Bible seems to blatantly contradict dogmatic claims, or strike at oblique angles, or even hover with perplexing irrelevance. Just think of the Catholic doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and the bodily Assumption of Mary. Difficulties stimulate the mind, and we certainly face lots of hard questions when we assume that Scripture and doctrine teach a single, unified truth.
RR Reno had an article in First Things recently that dealt with these problems and his appeal for a “theological exegesis.” Some reading selections from the article here:
payingattentiontothesky.com/2010/08/05/reading-selections-from-a-richer-bible-by-r-r-reno/
Reno is a senior editor at First Things and one of the main reasons you should be reading it every month.
dj
The Bible is the sacred and canonical witness to the gospel.
Therefore, the teachings of the Church accord with the teachings of the Bible.
This simple syllogism provides the rationale for theological exegesis. And not just the rationale, but also the challenge. For the accordance of doctrine and Scripture is by no means obvious.
At times, what Scripture says is opaque, but doctrine is clear. At other times, what the Church teaches is either puzzling or undeveloped, but the plain sense of Scripture seems perspicuous and compelling.
At still other times, the Bible seems to blatantly contradict dogmatic claims, or strike at oblique angles, or even hover with perplexing irrelevance. Just think of the Catholic doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and the bodily Assumption of Mary. Difficulties stimulate the mind, and we certainly face lots of hard questions when we assume that Scripture and doctrine teach a single, unified truth.
RR Reno had an article in First Things recently that dealt with these problems and his appeal for a “theological exegesis.” Some reading selections from the article here:
payingattentiontothesky.com/2010/08/05/reading-selections-from-a-richer-bible-by-r-r-reno/
Reno is a senior editor at First Things and one of the main reasons you should be reading it every month.
dj