24 Hours with Brian McLaren
At the beginning of December around 30 of us gathered in Perth to meet and discuss theology with Brian McLaren. Brian is a theologian who arouses strong passions and opinions all over the world; no one it seems is lukewarm towards Brian. I found him to be a most gracious and humble scholar, in this a real example to us all as we engage with one another, especially when we disagree with one another.
At the beginning of December around 30 of us gathered in Perth to meet and discuss theology with Brian McLaren. Brian is a theologian who arouses strong passions and opinions all over the world; no one it seems is lukewarm towards Brian. I found him to be a most gracious and humble scholar, in this a real example to us all as we engage with one another, especially when we disagree with one another.
Brian McLaren on the Bible
For many evangelical this is the shibboleth question, what do you say about the Bible? Brian spoke of three ways in which the Bible can be read and suggested a forth which he preferred. Some people read the Bible flat, like a legal constitution; it doesn’t matter which bit you pick up it all has the same value and legal significance. Some people allow the Old Testament to set the framework within which the whole Bible is read, others allow the New Testament to dominate and read the whole Bible through this lens of the New Testament. What happens if we recognise the unique role of Jesus as the Word of God and read both the Old and New Testament in the light of Jesus and his revelation of God?
For many evangelical this is the shibboleth question, what do you say about the Bible? Brian spoke of three ways in which the Bible can be read and suggested a forth which he preferred. Some people read the Bible flat, like a legal constitution; it doesn’t matter which bit you pick up it all has the same value and legal significance. Some people allow the Old Testament to set the framework within which the whole Bible is read, others allow the New Testament to dominate and read the whole Bible through this lens of the New Testament. What happens if we recognise the unique role of Jesus as the Word of God and read both the Old and New Testament in the light of Jesus and his revelation of God?
This is a real challenge to us, do we allow Jesus to be the hermeneutic which governs our reading of the Bible or do we allow the Bible and our way of reading the Bible to govern what we think about Jesus? I would have liked to have more time to hear Brian giving examples of how this different hermeneutic works out in handling specific passages and across the sweep of the whole Bible.
For example, how do you read the OT with Jesus as the controlling hermeneutic without abusing the OT? Certainly the OT finds its fulfilment in Jesus but how do we read that in the OT?
The major question for me here is this, which is the touchstone for us the bible or Jesus? The principal element in our Christian faith must be this Jesus who is proclaimed as Christ and Lord, to whom the Scriptures bear witness. No one is saved by what they believe about the bible, but by Christ.
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