Love’s Wisdom: The Authority of Scripture’s Form and Content for Faith’s Understanding and Theological Judgment

Abstract

This essay asks whether the Bible's authority is a matter of (propositional) content as well as (poetic) form. It extends Martha Nussbaum's work on the importance of literature for ethics by examining the effect of the "ancient quarrel" between philosophers and poets on the relationship of biblical literature to theology. Biblical authority involves not only revealed information but also large-scale patterns of information processing, like narrative, a cognitive strategy for grasping meaningful wholes. Scripture's literary forms perform a pedagogical function, helping disciples to make right judgments about the theodrama, and hence serve as a means of sapiential formation.

Upholding Sola Scriptura Today: Some Unturned Stones in Herman Bavinck’s Doctrine of Inspiration

“…66 68 and both Bavinck and Vanhoozer exhibit a qualified appreciation for the incarnational analogy as it pertains to the doctrine of Scripture. 69 The compatibility of their respective frameworks is suggestive of ways in which elements of Bavinck's organic inspiration could profitably supplement Vanhoozer's well-versed inerrancy and vice versa.…”

The Child and the Imagination: Understanding and Responding to the World

“…Kevin Vanhoozer wants to see the imagination as a specific aspect of humanity given to grasp the unseen spiritual realm, for “conceiving what we cannot see, despite having physical eyes” (Vanhoozer, 2016, p. 18). This lands the imagination firmly in the verbal realm.…”

“…This lands the imagination firmly in the verbal realm. Vanhoozer argues that it is a visual understanding of the imagination that has caused such reductionism: “in the beginning of the imagination is the word , not the image…Theology can be defined as the attempt to imagine God's imaginings after him” (Vanhoozer, 2016, p. 26).…”

“…This works in two ways: the Christian imagination is not free in an anarchic sense but is kept in check by the “discipline and authority of the biblical Word”(Vanhoozer, 2016, p. 27); yet Scripture is also an imaginative document full of imagery and consequent literary devices. This latter point explains the varied genres of Scripture: poetry, narrative, parable, song as well as epistle and law.…”