The Bible's Story

The Bible has come a long way. In the latest issue of Case Quarterly which is published by CASE we look at the 'journey' that took place to arrive at the Bible as we know it today.

In the beginning was the Word, but it took a while for the hundreds of thousands of words in the Bible to be composed, written down, painstakingly copied, preserved, passed around, tested, accepted, collected together, bound into book form and translated to give us the Bibles we have available to us today. 

Its use, status, standing and influence have waxed and waned across the centuries. The Bible was once trusted and read far more widely in Western society than it is today. It has been a book of great significance in shaping thought, the arts, literature, systems of government and so on. English literature and art alone are difficult to fully appreciate and understand without knowledge of the Bible. As Marilyn Robinson writes:

The Bible is the model for and subject of more art and thought than those of us who live within its influence, consciously or unconsciously, will ever know. Literatures are self-referential by nature, and even when references to Scripture in contemporary fiction and poetry are no more than ornamental or rhetorical—indeed, even when they are unintentional—they are still a natural consequence of the persistence of a powerful literary tradition.[1]

But while it is generally believed to be the most published, distributed, read, and influential book in history, it is being increasingly sidelined—even by Christians. Some estimates suggest that as few as 20% of Christians read the Bible regularly.^[2] There are many possible reasons for the reduction in the importance of the Bible as part of daily life, including crowded lives, competing philosophies, and challenges from science. Some have lost faith in the Bible as a reliable book and struggle to see it as relevant.

It isn't possible in a quarterly magazine but in Issue 42 we consider a number. JamesPietsch in his article on the relationship between critical thinking and Christianity, addresses the importance of facing such doubts about the Bible and challenging them head on as we persevere in the faith.

One approach to restoring confidence in the Bible is to combat the ignorance that exists, even within the church, about the Bible: Where did it come from? Is it genuine? Who wrote it and when? How early and reliable are the oldest copies? How consistent is it with other sources from antiquity? Why are there so many different versions? Is there any coherent unity to its diverse elements? This issue of Case aims to shed a little light on some of these issues as it explores the Bible’s story.

Dr Andrew Shead

Andrew Shead addresses the question of the biblical canon: How and why did various texts come to be included in or excluded from the Bible over the centuries? Staying with history, archaeologist Karin Sowada looks at what archaeology can—and cannot—tell us about the people, places and events recorded in the Bible’s pages.

Turning to the story within the Bible’s pages, David Höhne examines the relationship between the Old and New Testaments. He concludes that the writers of the Bible shared the understanding that they were writing different chapters of a single unified metanarrative: the story of God’s love for the world he had created, and the salvation of his lost people through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We have also included brief accounts of the holy books of the other two great Abrahamic faiths—Judaism and Islam. Old Testament scholar, George Athas, explains what constitutes the Jewish Tanakh, and how it relates to the Old Testament and other sacred Jewish texts, such as the Talmud and Mishnah. Samuel Green from ‘Engaging with Islam’[3] does the same for Islamic texts, explaining the origins, nature and structure of the Qur’an, and its relationship with the Christian Bible.

Our ‘Books and Ideas’ segment also includes a review and excerpt of Into the World of the New Testament, providing Bible readers with background knowledge of the context in which Jesus lived and the New Testament was written. The excerpt examines the different strands of religious thought around at the time of Jesus, including the Pharisees, Sadducees and Samaritans. The segment closes with a review of a collection of writings by previous Case author, Edwin Judge: Engaging Rome and Jerusalem.

If you subscribe to Case Quarterly you should have your copy already. If you don't you can purchase single copies HERE or subscribe for just $55 per year.

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[1] M. Robinson, ‘The Book of Books: What Literature Owes the Bible’, New York Times, 22 December 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2015.

[2] GSI Report, NCLS 2006, February 2011; P. Hughes, & C. Pickering, Milk to Meat Bible Engagement Report (milktomeat.com.au, 2010); and Bible Engagement among Young Australians: Patterns and Social Drivers, unpublished research report initiated by the Bible Society and other partners.

[3] S. Green, ‘Engaging with Islam’, http://engagingwithislam.org/.

Abraham Lincoln: A man used by God

I have always admired Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) but became more interested in him when living in the United States in 1984. Living in Indiana meant that there were a number of Lincoln memorials within close distance, including the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Spencer County Indiana. As a family we visited the farm site where Lincoln lived from 1816 to 1830. While living in Bloomington Indiana we also learned that our daughter shared Lincoln's birthday. This increased our interest, especially my daughter's, who read everything she could find about him. There was one embarrassing moment at the Lincoln Memorial when as a 7 year old she corrected the tour guide in one museum about the facts of Lincoln's life (and she was correct).

It is the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth today (and Nicole's 32nd birthday - happy birthday Nic!). Lincoln's life demonstrated how God could use a less than perfect man to bring an end to slavery in the USA and to reunify a nation.

Lincoln is typically seen as a Christian who was used by God. However, biographers report that Lincoln's faith was paradoxical. He did not go to church, and yet, many suggest that he had a spiritual depth not matched by many of his contemporaries.

In the 'Puzzling Faith of Abraham Lincoln', Mark Noll outlines how confusing Lincoln's faith proved to people of his time. He contrasts Lincoln with the two most influential preachers of Lincoln's day. In the North there was Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) who was from the most prominent evangelical family. He was the pastor of Brooklyn's Plymouth Congregational Church, and had the most influential pulpit in America. In the South, Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898) was a Presbyterian and strong defender of the Scriptures, a man even more orthodox than Beecher. Each man was certain they understood the will of God in relation to slavery and the future of the Union. Each was convinced of the other side's guilt. Dabney saw the conflict as caused deliberately by evil abolitionists from the North who persecuted the South. In contrast Beecher, saw that the evil was perpetrated by the South, he saw "the whole guilt of this war upon the ambitious, educated, plotting leaders of the South".

And yet, God used a non-church goer to challenge the conflicting certainty of the leading preachers of his day in relation to the rights and wrongs of the conflict. Lincoln said this of his contemporaries:

"The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God can not be for and against the same thing at the same time."

In his second inaugural address of 1865, he challenged the nation with these words:

Neither [side] anticipated that the cause of the conflict [i.e., slavery] might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! [Matthew 18:7]' If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. [Psalm 19:9]'

When reflecting on his speech just days later he commented:

"Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them...to deny it, however, in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the world. It is a truth which I thought needed to be told. . . .”

Irrespective of just how deep was his faith, and where he stood theologically on many things, Lincoln seemed to have had a good grasp of sin and man's need of redemption, and an understanding that God is sovereign and will work out his purposes for his people through whoever he chooses. Lincoln eventually gave his life in the service of God's purposes. On the 14th of April 1865, just five days after Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, Lincoln was assassinated while attending a performance at Ford's Theatre in Washington. He died the next day at 7.22am.

I praise God for Lincoln's life which began on this day 200 years ago.

Remembering the impact of Christians in History week

This is History Week in NSW and it got me thinking about Apologetic opportunities.

History Week was initiated by the History Council of NSW in 1997 to showcase the rich, diverse history being produced by organisations and individuals across the State. During History Week, community groups, local councils, libraries, archives, museums, universities, cultural institutions, professional and amateur historians across NSW open their doors to present the latest in today’s historical research - fascinating stories, artifacts and experiences about both our past and ourselves today. It seems to me that there might be an opportunity for some churches to be involved next year (maybe some are this year).

As individuals or churches there could be no better week to remind your friends, family, workmates, fellow university students etc that Christians have been used by God in many ways throughout known human history. And that history is ultimately about God's story.

It would be a great time to mention some of the many Christian men and women who have changed the course of history. Ultimately, you would want to work your way back to the one who has changed the course of history more than any other – Jesus Christ - but some of the following might serve as a wonderful bridge to a discussion of the gospel:

• Some of the greats of the Reformation - including John Knox, Martin Luther, William Tyndale, Thomas Cranmer, John Wycliffe.
• Great dissenters who took important stands – John Newton, Richard Baxter (Puritan leader and writer), John Bunyan (gospel preacher and writer), John Eliot (who laboured for the needs of native Americans following the impact of English Colonists), John Wesley (who founded the Methodist Church) and so on.
• Great social reformers of the 19th Century – William Wilberforce and his colleagues (abolition of the slave trade in Britain, urban renewal, education for poor children, restrictions on child labor etc), Elizabeth Fry (prison reformer), David Livingstone (missionary and explorer who opened up Africa), William Carey (founder of modern missions), Hudson Taylor, Mary Slessor, Wellesley Bailey (Founder of the Leprosy Mission).
• People who suffered for the church in the 20th Century – Richard Wurmbrand (Romanian Pastor), Brother Andrew (work in the Communist world), Corrie ten Boom and many others.

Christianity Today has a great web resource on Christian History that will provide some leads.
There are also some useful books such as Geofrey Hanks' book 70 Great Christians: Changing the world (1992). Probably the most comprehensive reference is the book edited by John Woodbridge More than Conquerors: Portraits of believers from all walks of life (1992) which provides lots of wonderful examples under headings such as Politics (e.g. Abraham Lincoln), Writers (e.g. C.S. Lewis), Sport & Entertainment (Eric Liddell), Thinkers, Industry & Commerce etc. This volume has many contemporary examples as well as some of the better known men and women of the past. Then of course there is the current film Amazing Grace that tells of the fight by William Wilberforce and others to end slavery in 18th century Britain. Any other ideas?