question authority, part 1
I have been reading a lot about “the authority of the Bible.” In my reading I have begun to ask, “What is authority anyway?” We speak about this as though it is something to fight and die for, yet when pushed many have a hard time explaining exactly what authority is. If we are to say that something as sacred as Scripture is authoritative then shouldn’t we first know what we mean when we speak about authority? If we do not then we, in the words of N.T. Wright, run the risk of holding our view of Scripture too low.
When I was in college I had an 1991 Honda Civic Hatchback. It was not much to look at, but got great gas mileage, and it still ran after I went 11,500 miles without changing the oil. Around campus it never drew looks, until one day I put a sticker on my rear window. It was a bright blue sticker with two words that had large white block letters. QUESTION AUTHORITY.
As a student at a conservative religious university the sticker was viewed as something that would foment rebellion. I was asked about it by students, professors, campus security, and staff. Whenever I was asked about it I would reply by asking, “What is authority and what is wrong with questioning it?”
This question was met with a myriad of answers. However, one thing I never heard was “There is nothing wrong with questioning it, ask away.” I do not know why I never heard this. In my estimation, if one were confident in true authority questions would never be a threat, rather they would be a stimulant to greater understanding.
Maybe the reason why this sticker was eventually scraped off my rear window by someone one night, was because authority (whoever that was) was scared. Maybe those in authority did not know the “why” behind the “what” and were scared that if too many questions came along they would feel much like the wizard behind the curtain … exposed. Perhaps there was something even deeper going on.
Often when the word authority is used we immediately think of “the local authorities.” The men and women who wear a badge, carry a gun, and drive a car that my four-year old loves. They are an authority. The enforce the law and protect the innocent. This view of authority then is viewed as “that which keeps control of people.” Is that really the only thing authority is?
Another viewpoint is authority used in reference to information. So when Discovery Channel airs a special about the mating rituals of some animal bordering on extinction they call in the “foremost authority” on the mating rituals of some animal bordering on extinction. This person has the information that we need … she is authoritative. Is that it?
We also say things like “he hit that ball with authority” or “she played that piece with authority” or “the Scripture is the final authority.” Yet when we hold any of these things up to Scripture it seems to miss the mark. The Bible is not something used to control people. When used this way we get things like slavery, oppression, and rampant sexism. Nor is the Bible an answer book. So often we look at this book as though it simply a collection of static propositions that if we are able to memorize - we are good. It has the info we need.
The Bible is not something that seems to fit within our understanding of authority and maybe that is precisely the problem. We have for so long attempted to make the Bible try and fit within our framework rather than allowing the Bible to tell us what it is. The Bible is a narrative. It is a collection of stories written by men and women (hey, we do not know for sure who wrote Hebrews right?) who were inspired by God to write what they wrote.
So how does a story then, act as a thing that controls others? How does a story act as something that is a propositional truth from which one can create a systematic theology? Is the Bible even authoritative (don’t look now, but we may have just “Questioned Authority”). These are questions that we need to ask … these are places we cannot fear to tread. For if we ignore these things we may just do an injustice to the Bible. We may hold our view of it too low.
So let’s question authority (not a person or information or the police) but the word itself. Then, let’s allow the answer to come from the text itself and not from some outside idea or philosophy. We’ll investigate this more in part 2 …
When I was in college I had an 1991 Honda Civic Hatchback. It was not much to look at, but got great gas mileage, and it still ran after I went 11,500 miles without changing the oil. Around campus it never drew looks, until one day I put a sticker on my rear window. It was a bright blue sticker with two words that had large white block letters. QUESTION AUTHORITY.
As a student at a conservative religious university the sticker was viewed as something that would foment rebellion. I was asked about it by students, professors, campus security, and staff. Whenever I was asked about it I would reply by asking, “What is authority and what is wrong with questioning it?”
This question was met with a myriad of answers. However, one thing I never heard was “There is nothing wrong with questioning it, ask away.” I do not know why I never heard this. In my estimation, if one were confident in true authority questions would never be a threat, rather they would be a stimulant to greater understanding.
Maybe the reason why this sticker was eventually scraped off my rear window by someone one night, was because authority (whoever that was) was scared. Maybe those in authority did not know the “why” behind the “what” and were scared that if too many questions came along they would feel much like the wizard behind the curtain … exposed. Perhaps there was something even deeper going on.
Often when the word authority is used we immediately think of “the local authorities.” The men and women who wear a badge, carry a gun, and drive a car that my four-year old loves. They are an authority. The enforce the law and protect the innocent. This view of authority then is viewed as “that which keeps control of people.” Is that really the only thing authority is?
Another viewpoint is authority used in reference to information. So when Discovery Channel airs a special about the mating rituals of some animal bordering on extinction they call in the “foremost authority” on the mating rituals of some animal bordering on extinction. This person has the information that we need … she is authoritative. Is that it?
We also say things like “he hit that ball with authority” or “she played that piece with authority” or “the Scripture is the final authority.” Yet when we hold any of these things up to Scripture it seems to miss the mark. The Bible is not something used to control people. When used this way we get things like slavery, oppression, and rampant sexism. Nor is the Bible an answer book. So often we look at this book as though it simply a collection of static propositions that if we are able to memorize - we are good. It has the info we need.
The Bible is not something that seems to fit within our understanding of authority and maybe that is precisely the problem. We have for so long attempted to make the Bible try and fit within our framework rather than allowing the Bible to tell us what it is. The Bible is a narrative. It is a collection of stories written by men and women (hey, we do not know for sure who wrote Hebrews right?) who were inspired by God to write what they wrote.
So how does a story then, act as a thing that controls others? How does a story act as something that is a propositional truth from which one can create a systematic theology? Is the Bible even authoritative (don’t look now, but we may have just “Questioned Authority”). These are questions that we need to ask … these are places we cannot fear to tread. For if we ignore these things we may just do an injustice to the Bible. We may hold our view of it too low.
So let’s question authority (not a person or information or the police) but the word itself. Then, let’s allow the answer to come from the text itself and not from some outside idea or philosophy. We’ll investigate this more in part 2 …