Sola Scriptura

Scripture’s Final Authority in the Modern World Ben Witherington III

In modern times, evangelical Protestants have advocated for the belief that the Bible is the only real standard of truth and true Christian praxis for the church. But is this how the early Jews and Christians, who wrote the biblical books, viewed their sacred texts? And what counted as those sacred texts? Furthermore, there is often a lack of clarity as to what is meant by the famous phrase that became a motto of the German Reformation: sola scriptura. Does it mean that the Bible is the only authority for Christian faith and practice, or does it mean the Bible is the final authority, allowing non-biblical traditions, human reason, and perhaps even experience to have some authority in the church?

With this magisterial study, Ben Witherington III invites readers to go back to the time of the writing of the Bible and look at what is said about the sacred texts with a specific focus on how the authority of such texts was viewed. Witherington then walks through Christian history until the point where the phrase sola scriptura actually appears as an authority claim of some kind. Surprisingly, it does not show up until the fourteenth century A.D. and not in the writings of a Protestant. From there, Witherington examines how the phrase continued to be used in the various Reformations and into the modern era. The story of Sola Scriptura also involves the rise of science, the effect of the Enlightenment, and changes in views about human sexuality that have affected the discussion of the Bible’s authority in various ways.

Students of Scripture, budding scholars, pastors, and laity alike stand to benefit from this book as Christians of all stripes are confronted by the same crises: a profound historical amnesia that is affecting even churches that are bibliocentric; the general chaos in Western culture that has further alienated younger generations from the church and angered the older generations who still attend church; and the increasing biblical illiteracy in the church, including in its pulpits, which has led to churches taking their signals and sense of direction from the culture rather than the biblical witness itself. Such crises will not be overcome without a serious coming to grips with the Bible, its history, and its authority for the Christian life.

BEN WITHERINGTON III is Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary. His publications include Troubled Waters: Rethinking the Theology of Baptism (2007), Making a Meal of It: Rethinking the Theology of the Lord’s Supper (2007), The Living Word of God: Rethinking the Theology of the Bible (2007), What’s in the Word: Rethinking the Socio-Rhetorical Character of the New Testament (2009), and The Problem with Evangelical Theology: Testing the Exegetical Foundations of Calvinism, Dispensationalism, Wesleyanism, and Pentecostalism, Revised and Expanded Edition (2015).

Contents

Preface

1 The People of the Book: Early Christian Appropriations and Additions

2 The Origins of Sola Scriptura

3 The German and Swiss Reformation: Scripture as the Final Authority

4 The English Reformation and John Wesley: Anglican Views of Scripture

5 The Rise of Modern Science and the Conservative Christian Response

6 The Modern Quadrilateral, Inerrancy, and the Overruling of Scripture

7 Quo Vadis?: The Legacy and Future of Sola Scriptura

“Ben Witherington is one of the best, wisest, clearest, smartest, most sensible, most prayerful, and most inspiring Bible scholars around. Everything he writes is worth reading. And everything he writes will help you open up the Living Word of God.”

JAMES MARTIN, SJ, author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage

“An admirably accessible work of fine scholarship.”

PHILIP JENKINS, Baylor University

“A gift to Christians who desire to ground their trust in the Bible with accessible historical evidence.”

—HOLLY BEERS, Westmont College

“A timely and well-nigh prophetic work in its examination of authority in the Christian churches throughout the millennia.”

—DAVID A. DESILVA, Ashland Theological Seminary

“A helpful corrective that will assist theologians and biblical interpreters as they wrestle with the meaning and application of the sacred text.”

—CRAIG A. EVANS, Houston Christian University

“The wisdom traditions of the Old Testament have not always been as appreciated as they should be among biblical theologians. Given the ever more audible groaning of all creation that surrounds us, Dell’s learned and compelling reconsideration of creation (and its connection to covenant) within wisdom literature is all the more timely. Dell unmuffles our ears to the voice of Wisdom, which we have never needed to hear more than we do today.”

—JACQUELINE LAPSLEY, Professor of Old Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary

“Dell’s integrative approach to creation, covenant, and wisdom is a welcome corrective to a discipline that has too long relied on imposing false taxonomic boundaries on texts and concepts. Her ’wisdom lens’ focuses our attention on new and long-forgotten features of Israel’s Scriptures, creating a rich and rewarding synthesis. This threefold cord will not be quickly broken.”

—WILL KYNES, Professor of Biblical Studies, Samford University

“With clarity and insight, Katharine Dell guides readers through the key issues involved in the interplay of wisdom, creation, and covenant. Dell’s deep awareness of the sources shines through, as does her judicious assessment of the main debates. Anyone interested in biblical theology will treasure this book because it provides an in-depth and readable guide that connects biblical wisdom books such as Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes with the main theological traditions of the Hebrew Bible.”

—BERND U. SCHIPPER, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, Humboldt University of Berlin

KATHARINE J. DELL is Professor of Old Testament Literature and Theology in the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.