These Are Written

Book excerpt: Today there is an increasing awareness and availability of the sacred writings of the world's religions. This raises important questions about the Christian Scriptures. What is distinctive about these writings? What role do they play in the Christian story? What makes these particular texts holy? The modern battle for the Bible, with its narrow focus on proving (or disproving) biblical inerrancy, has made it difficult to provide sufficient answers. This work of constructive theology rethinks the concepts, categories, and assumptions that have dominated the modern approach to the Bible by returning to the biblical narrative and its focus on the cross. It identifies the Scriptures as the written form of the living and active Word of God, which was spoken by the prophets and apostles and became human in the person of Jesus Christ. This conception of the Bible provides Christians in this postmodern world with a solid ground from which to address pressing questions about canon, authority, and interpretation of their Scriptures.