Unsettled Christianity

In our discussion group this week, we read Adam Hamilton‘s description of the the battle over the bible. I believe that he accurately describes the various tugs and pulls over higher and lower criticism, inspiration and inerrancy, and the like. He ends the chapter with a great allegory using the Eucharist to describe his view of Scripture. I would encourage you to get the book, because I’m not going to tell you about his view.

But, the question remains, for me, is to what extent does the supernatural, or faith, or simply ‘other’ play into whatever form of criticism we use in understanding the bible?

I enjoy reading Thom Stark’s book, The Human Faces of God, because it is dealing with some of this, at the very least, passively, trying to get the inerrantist to understand what he or she may doing to the text. But, what if we completely deny the work of God in the Text? What if we simply allow the text to be human? First, of course, I think we then destroy what the Text is. Second, we destroy our connection and draw to the text.

What are our mandated presuppositions, or the lack thereof, in dealing with the text?