02 Use and Abuse of the Bible

OFB, 16–31

Overview of chapter two:

• • This chapter begins with a brief survey of some classic statements of the authority of the Bible within Christianity: Roman Catholic, Anglican and South Baptist.

  • This is followed by a brief history of biblical interpretation (pp. 18–23).

  • The dark side of the Bible is briefly surveyed (pp. 23–27): sacred violence, racism, slavery, gender, sexuality, apocalyptic eschatology, and mortality.

  • This is balanced by a brief consideration of some of the positive ways that the Bible can function (pp. 27–29).

  • The concluding cameo offers a reflection on Psalm 137, one of the most difficult of the Psalms for many contemporary readers.

Web links of particular relevance to this chapter include:

• • Catholic Church Documents (Felix Just)

  • The Interpretation of the Bible in the Life of the Church (Pontifical Biblical Commission)

  • Providentissimus Deus (1893)

  • Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943)

  • The Articles of Religion (Anglican)

• Baptist Faith and Message

  • Ignatius of Antioch (Wikipedia)

  • Jerome (Wikipedia)

  • Marcion (Wikipedia)

  • Latin Vulgate (Wikipedia)

  • The Enlightenment (Wikipedia)

  • Fundamentalism (Wikipedia)

  • The Fundamentals (R. E. Torrey)

  • Modernist Crisis (Wikipedia)

  • Left Behind Series (Tim LaHaye)

  • Christian Zionism (Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism)