Leven na de dood: het Nieuwe Testament als toetssteen voor enkele contemporaine opvattingen

This article considers the question of the difference between NT documents and their contemporary religious and philosophical thought world on ‘life after death’. Consideration of only a few themes discloses that the NT differs widely from Hellenistic views, and that it is closely connected to some views in early Judaism as far as these stand in continuity with the OT. The NT view on ‘life after death’ stands far more on its own than the History of Religions School suggests. Modern thought on the ‘afterlife’ reveals that the NT is still relevant; theological methods should not blur its original message, nor biblical authority (OT and NT) be minimized.

Introduction

This chapter explains the book’s central arguments, provides background, and theorizes its approach to literature. It shows how Old Testament wisdom philosophy informs Melville’s response to the manifold crises of modernity, specifically the loss of religious certainty and biblical authority. It explicates the book’s argument that Melville’s response can help us understand the dynamics at play in this crisis by providing historical and contextual background: first, it inscribes Melville into a transnational theological conversation about biblical interpretation that lasts from the early eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century; second, it outlines the American reception of new analytical methods such as higher criticism, surveys America’s intellectual infrastructure, and discusses how romantic literature fills the interpretive lacuna left by theological scholarship. Finally, it defines “wisdom” and “religious skepticism” and explains its approach to literary criticism as informed by a hermeneutic theory of contemplation (theology) and by postsecular as well as postcritical approaches (literary studies).

The Effects of Confessional Strife on Religious Authority in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century

This chapter discusses the confessional controversies on biblical authority and ecclesiastical tradition in the first half of the seventeenth century. While Protestant theologians upheld the status of the Bible as a divinely inspired, unique, coherent, and self-evident source of faith and stressed the subordinate significance of the patristic legacy, the Roman Catholic camp embraced the importance of the teachings of the Church Fathers, conciliar decrees, and papal decisions as a rock-solid criterion for a sound interpretation of the Bible. On the basis of treatises authored by eminent and hard-core exponents of Calvinism like Abraham Scultetus, Jean Daillé, Louis Cappel, and André Rivet, set against the views of the Jesuit Denis Pétau, expert in the history of the primitive church, it is argued that debates led to a reciprocal undermining of viewpoints, which eventually paved the way for more radical positions at the end of the century.

The Spectrum of Inerrancy: An Exploration of David S. Dockery’s Typological Contributions to the Inerrancy Debate in Evangelicalism

"The present article explores the typological contributions to the inerrancy debate of David S. Dockery, the Chancellor of Trinity International University. Resulting from controversies in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) during the 1970s and 80s, Dockery provided a valuable typological framework for identifying a spectrum of positions in the inerrancy debate. Dockery’s frameworks provide a helpful lens for understanding the complexity of inerrancy. Some positions are more conservative and deductivist, and other positions are more liberal and inductivist. These distinctions often create a barrier, a presuppositional divide, which is difficult to cross in a debate context. Dockery’s variations provide a means of at least understanding the divide and the positions that differ from one’s own. To that aim, I present Dockery’s variations as a vital component for all attempts at dialogue in the inerrancy debate. Keywords: evangelicalism, biblical inerrancy, David S. Dockery, biblical authority, hermeneutics "

The Same Yesterday and Today and Forever? A Hermeneutical Study of the Use of the Old Testament in the Epistle to the Hebrews and its Implications for Scriptural Authority and Biblical Preaching in a Secularized Western Setting

Secularization and pluralism have created a crisis of biblical authority within contemporary Western Christianity. Responding to this, Christine McSpadden has produced a manifesto for preachers which approaches the Bible not as just one ‘sacred text’ amongst others but as a unique means of life-changing encounter with the living and active Word of God. Though she makes no reference to it, McSpadden’s understanding of Scripture closely echoes that of one of the earliest Christian texts, the Epistle to the Hebrews. The purpose of this paper is to examine Hebrews’ use of the Old Testament and what its interpretive method reveals about the author’s understanding of the nature of Scripture; to identify the extent to which McSpadden’s approach follows this understanding and method; and to determine what further implications this shared tradition may have for the doctrine of scriptural authority and the practice of biblical preaching in a contemporary Western setting. It concludes that McSpadden’s approach stands firmly in the tradition first articulated in Hebrews and that together they reflect the most ancient Christian understanding of scriptural authority, which protects the Bible texts from historical irrelevance on one hand and from unduly speculative and subjective interpretations on the other.

Revisiting the Scopes Trial: Young-Earth Creationism, Creation Science, and the Evangelical Denial of Climate Change

In the century since the Scopes Trial, one of the most influential dogmas to shape American evangelicalism has been that of young-earth creationism. This article explains why, with its arm of “creation science,” young-earth creationism is a significant factor in evangelicals’ widespread denial of anthropogenic climate change. Young-earth creationism has become closely intertwined with doctrines such as the Bible’s divine authority and the Imago Dei, as well as with social issues such as abortion and euthanasia. Addressing this aspect of the environmental crisis among evangelicals will require a re-orientation of biblical authority so as to approach social issues through a hermeneutic that is able to acknowledge the reality and imminent threat of climate change.

Introduction to the Special Issue on the Sufficiency of Scripture

This article provides an introduction to the special issue on the sufficiency of Scripture. The special issue examines the biblicist approach to the sufficiency of Scripture and offers alternative understandings or examples of the how the sufficiency of Scripture relates to counseling. The introduction notes the issue includes contributions from integrationist, theological, Christian psychology, and Biblical counseling perspectives that share both a commitment to a high view of Biblical authority and an openness to resources for counseling offered by the contemporary mental health professions.

Integration, Biblical Counseling, and Hermeneutics

Some have claimed that the integration project has adopted a lower view of Biblical inspiration. Yet, both Biblical counselors and evangelical integrationists typically hold to a high view of the authority of Scripture and may share the same adherence to Biblical inerrancy. This article argues that difference between how Biblical counseling and integration tends to engage Scripture in their counseling approaches is due less to their doctrines of Biblical authority than to their secondary hermeneutical and related theological views. A review of the author’s model of integration as a form of interpretative activity is provided. Implications for the sufficiency of Scripture doctrine, theological interpretation of Scripture, and integrative interpretative competency in reading Scripture are considered. The evangelical integration movement is fully compatible with a robust embrace of the historic sola scriptura view of Biblical authority but not the innovation represented by a solo scriptura view.

Penciptaan Alkitabiah dan Evolusi: Berbagai Upaya untuk Merekonsiliasi Keduanya

Since Charles Darwin wrote his book on the theory of human evolution in 1859, the paradigm of Christians and even Christian theologians have partially endorsed it or at least tried to reconcile ideas about biblical creation and the theory of evolution. Attempts have been made in literary form by Christian theologians who strongly believe in the Bible but at the same time believe in evolution, in their effort to reconcile both. This paper attempts to examine the writings of several theologians on evolution and biblical creation, and then provide rebuttals regarding the views of those who try to reconcile six-day biblical creation with the millions of years of evolutionary theory, but override the authority of Scripture. The expected result in this paper is that the biblical authority and its validity in the story of God’s creation during the six days is literal and cannot be reconciled with the theory of evolution. This paper using a documentary research method, in which the primary resources are the theologians who believe in God and simultaneously believe in the theory of evolution. Secondary resources are needed as a comparison and provide input in connection with this research. AbstrakSejak Charles Darwin menulis bukunya tentang teori evolusi manusia pada tahun 1859, paradigma orang Kristen dan bahkan para teolog Kristen pun sebagian telah mendukungnya atau setidaknya mencoba menyelaraskan ide tentang penciptaan alkitabiah dan teori evolusi. Berbagai upaya telah dibuat dalam bentuk literatur oleh para teolog Kristen yang sangat memercayai Alkitab tapi di saat yang sama juga memercayai evolusi, dalam upaya mereka untuk menyelaraskan keduanya. Makalah ini mencoba untuk menelaah tulisan beberapa teolog sehubungan dengan hal tersebut dan memberikan sanggahan sehubungan dengan pandangan mereka yang mencoba menyelaraskan penciptaan alkitabiah selama enam hari dengan teori evolusi yang berlangsung jutaan tahun, namun dengan mengesampingkan otoritas Kitab Suci. Hasil yang diharapkan dalam makalah ini bahwa otoritas Alkitab dan keabsahannya dalam kisah penciptaan Allah selama enam hari literal adalah benar dan tidak dapat diselaraskan dengan teori evolusi. Makalah ini menggunakan metode studi literatur, di mana sumber utama adalah tulisan para teolog yang memercayai Allah dan secara bersamaan memercayai teori evolusi. Sumber sekunder diperlukan sebagai pembanding dan memberikan masukan sehubungan dengan penelitian ini.