ABSTRACT
Scripture is as vital an ingredient to the practice of Christian theology as are the stars to nautical navigation, or a play script to dramatic performance. Scripture is the ‘soul’ of theology, the script of the play or ‘theodrama’ in which the Church has been summoned to participate.1 As such, Scripture is the key resource for speaking well of what God has done and is doing in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ, the core subject matter about which faith seeks even greater understanding. In particular, Christian theology attempts to articulate the meaning and significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection ‘according to the Scriptures’ (1 Cor. 15:3-5). Understanding ‘according to the Scriptures’ – being ‘biblical’ in that sense – is
part and parcel of being ‘Christian’. Theologians must show how Scripture authorizes their proposals about God and everything else in relation to God. Even more importantly, theologians must help disciples conform their lives – their heads, hearts, and hands – to what Scripture shows God to be doing to renew all things in and through Jesus Christ. Scripture’s role in theology is not simply a matter of providing raw material for systems of doctrine but rather of forming a people able rightly to participate in God’s missionary outreach to the world. The aim of theology is to inculcate right theodramatic practice, the ability to participate fittingly in the dramatic subject matter of the Scriptures. Christian theology is the disciplined intellectual effort to refine the dross of mere
opinion about God into the gold of knowledge, gold mined largely from scriptural shafts. It is the attempt to understand the gospel – God’s drama of redemption – that new state of affairs ‘in Christ’ in which the Church has been caught up. It is also the disciplined effort to train disciples to make judgments and decisions that conform to the wisdom of God displayed in the person and work of Jesus Christ, the climax of the drama of redemption. Theology studies Scripture – the authoritative transcript of what God has said and done – in order to help the Church understand
its own role in God’s drama of redemption, the story of God’s making all things new (2 Cor. 5:17). We can see where the biblical plot is heading by looking at the drama’s end, that future point where Christ will be ‘all in all’ (Eph. 1:23; cf. 1 Cor. 15:28): ‘And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true”’ (Rev. 21:5). ‘Scripture’ says more than ‘Bible’. One can read the Bible as literature or study it
as a document of the university, but to call it ‘Scripture’ is to acknowledge its authoritative use in the Church. It is the Church’s holy transcript and script, a record of what God has done for the world and of what the Church ought to do in grateful response. To speak of ‘Scripture’ is to indicate that the Bible is more than raw material to be worked or processed; rather, ‘Scripture’ indicates that the theologian will hearken to the authority of the biblical text, respecting ‘the way the words go’ – the diverse literary forms, canonical context, and Christological content – and following the signs and signposts to the reality to which they point. Practicing Christian theology demands that we give an account of what Scripture
is, what it is for, and how to read it. To the extent that these accounts involve God, we find ourselves having to articulate theology’s first principles – a ‘first theology,’ as it were. For we can only speak of the God of Jesus Christ on the basis of the Scriptures, and the biblical texts are ‘Scripture’ – an authoritative guide for the Church, its designated community of interpreters – by virtue of their distinct relationship to God and his purpose. Not surprisingly then, theologians have accorded special status to Scripture as the Word of God for most of Church history. The tendency in much modern theology, by contrast, has been to view Scripture as an expression of human experience of God. But even this proves the general rule: one’s view of God affects one’s view of Scripture (and vice versa). Scripture and theology are joined at the hip.
