Friends,

Last night I had the realization that I didn’t know how to articulate my belief on whether or not the Bible is literally the word of God. As our make-up confirmation class was winding down, we got a series of very good questions, and I believe I answered faithfully, but even as I was uttering my answers, I knew it was woefully insufficient. As always, I realized a better thing to say several hours after it was too late.

First of all, let’s talk about the big picture. The Anglican Church believes that the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the word of God and contain all things necessary for salvation. So, here’s the interesting thing, we don’t really agree on what that means, and (for the most part) we like it that way. If you find yourself in a liberal or conservative camp and you feel put-out or affirmed with this statement, then you are reading it wrong. You should be uncomfortable. The Anglican Church takes scripture very seriously, and there is a tremendous amount of diversity of opinion on the matter within the Church. J.I. Packer was an influential priest and scholar in the Church of Canada, and is popular in literalist and fundamentalist across Canada and United States. On the other end of the spectrum, you have Marcus Borg, who was not ordained, but an active Episcopalian, and an extremely influential Biblical Scholar that was a major force behind the “Jesus Seminar”, which in my opinion turned reading scripture into a soulless academic exercise. N.T. Wright of the Church of England may be the most respected Biblical Scholar in the Anglican Church that is still living. He is highly critical of more liberal circles (the Jesus Seminar in particular), but it would be unfair to call him a conservative either, at least by our definition. He almost single-handedly reshaped the modern discussion around Paul’s writings, and (in my opinion) rightly urges the Church to focus more on the resurrection of the dead and not just going to heaven, because that is what is in the scripture. If we want a concise info-sheet on how Anglican/Episcopalians read scripture, then we will be disappointed, because we are group that innately disagrees with each other on how to be faithful in this regard, and somehow this feels honest and faithful to me. Keep in mind, disagreement does not have to equate to conflict. N.T. Wright and Marcus Borg collaborated on the book, “The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions”, and both authors seem downright friendly to each other.

Like these Anglican scholars that are way smarter than me, I believe in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, to contain all things necessary for salvation, and I honestly do not find the conversations around the inerrancy of the scriptures to be helpful when it comes to actually reading scripture. On Wednesday night, I began with a group discussion on my favorite passage from Mark, and I tried to get everyone excited about digging into its meaning. We spoke about our passage as if it were trying to tell us something, and I loved this part of the conversation. Only after this did we get into the intellectual stuff, and when people started asking about how Anglicans actually read scripture, I have to admit, I gave inadequate and vague answers, so here is my attempt to tell you what I believe when it comes to the authority of Holy Scripture.

I begin with the assumption that scripture is correct and is trying to tell me something. With that being said, I don’t feel threatened at all when I am presented with information to the contrary. For example: if the Exodus happened on the scale that is portrayed in the Bible, then we would have more of an archeological record, and that record simply does not exist. I find this information interesting, but it doesn’t affect how I read that scripture at all. The meaning behind the scripture isn’t in its status as a historic record, but in what it is trying to teach us about our relationship with God, which exists regardless of the historic record. There are other bits of scripture that I just flat out do not like, often because I have seen them used as weapons or tools to support people’s agenda. When I attempt to read what these bits of scripture are actually saying, I am often surprised, because the message seems to be miles away from how people are using them in the public sphere. Sometimes, I just flat our disagree with what is being said, but I still read them. Sometimes scripture seems to disagree with itself, and once again, this isn’t something I particular care about. John’s series of events is totally different than the other three Gospels, and this is often used as a “gotcha” in secular circles, but once again, who cares if Jesus threw over some tables at the beginning or end of his ministry? Like other Anglicans, while I believe scripture to be the word of God, I also believe that it’s Jesus and not scripture that is the ultimate revelation, so if I have to keep more than one idea in tension, that is ok.

Whether it is perceived conflict in the historic record, the baggage we carry when we encounter weaponized scripture, or the acknowledgment of internal inconsistencies within scripture, we can only grow if we can hold these things in tension. Some people feel that you have to see all of scripture to be absolutely literal and inerrant, or you just see all of it as soulless allegory, but I see this false binary as far too small for the beauty and meaning of scripture. If scripture is the Word of God, which we utter week after week, then we shouldn’t be surprised that our understanding of it gets blown up every once and a while.

I don’t think being faithful and reading scripture means adhering to a strict set of rules, and I certainly don’t think it means reducing it to an intellectual excise in figuring out what Jesus actually said, and what was added later. I try to hear what it is actually saying, and I use pretty much any resource I come across, and I always hope to be surprised with what I find.

I’m not sure if this helps you, but reading scripture is a big part of my life, and taking a moment to think about what it actually is has been helpful for me. I hope when you read it, you will look forward to being surprised too.

-Nick