The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures

by D.A. Carson (Editor)

Valuable insights into key disputed topics from a veritable who's who of evangelical scholars In this volume thirty-seven first-rate evangelical scholars present a thorough study of biblical authority and a full range of issues connected to it.   Recognizing that Scripture and its authority are now being both challenged and defended with renewed vigor, editor D. A. Carson assigned the topics that these select scholars address in the book. After an introduction by Carson to the many facets of the current discussion, the contributors present robust essays on relevant historical, biblical, theological, philosophical, epistemological, and comparative-religions topics. To conclude, Carson answers a number of frequently asked questions about the nature of Scripture, cross-referencing these FAQs to the preceding chapters.   This comprehensive volume by a team of recognized experts will be the go-to reference on the nature and authority of the Bible for years to come. CONTRIBUTORS James Beilby Kirsten Birkett Henri A. G. Blocher Craig L. Blomberg D. A. Carson Graham A. Cole Stephen G. Dempster Daniel M. Doriani Simon Gathercole David Gibson Ida Glaser Paul Helm Charles E. Hill Peter F. Jensen Robert Kolb Anthony N. S. Lane Te-Li Lau Richard Lints V. Philips Long Thomas H. McCall Douglas J. Moo Andrew David Naselli Harold Netland Osvaldo Padilla Michael C. Rea Bradley N. Seeman Alex G. Smith R. Scott Smith Rodney L. Stiling Glenn S. Sunshine Timothy C. Tennent Mark D. Thompson Kevin J. Vanhoozer Bruce K. Waltke Barry G. Webb Peter J. Williams John D. Woodbridge

Genres: Theology, Christian, Nonfiction, Christianity, Faith, Reference, Religion

1257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 11, 2016

About the author

Donald A. Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He has been at Trinity since 1978. Carson came to Trinity from the faculty of Northwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he also served for two years as academic dean. He has served as assistant pastor and pastor and has done itinerant ministry in Canada and the United Kingdom. Carson received the Bachelor of Science in chemistry from McGill University, the Master of Divinity from Central Baptist Seminary in Toronto, and the Doctor of Philosophy in New Testament from the University of Cambridge. Carson is an active guest lecturer in academic and church settings around the world. He has written or edited about sixty books. He is a founding member and currently president of The Gospel Coalition. Carson and his wife, Joy, reside in Libertyville, Illinois. They have two adult children.

Reviews

[Zachary Horn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is undoubtedly a tome that requires some fortitude to journey through, but it is a very worthy tome. Like many such works where each chapter is comprised of an essay from a different author, the essays vary in quality, and there is significant overlap in places. However, this is one of the better executed works of this type I have read. There is gold all throughout the chapters of this book that well repays the reading.

A few of my favorite chapters:

-The Truth Above All Demonstration: Scripture in the Patristic Period to Augustine- Chalres E. Hill
-Accommodation Historically Considered- Glenn S. Sunshine
-Biblical Authority and Diverse Literary Genres- Barry G. Webb
-The Problem of the New Testament's Use of the Old Testament- Douglas J. Moo & Andrew David Naselli
-May We Go Beyond What is Written After All? The Pattern of Theological Authority and the Problem of Doctrinal Development- Kevin J. Vanhoozer
-Take, Read- Daniel M. Doriani

[Michael Boling · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is not that much of a stretch to declare the Word of God has been under attack since the Garden of Eden when the Serpent questioned God’s command to Adam up until the present day when Scripture continues to be questioned on seemingly all fronts. The desire for man to do what is right in our own eyes and the temptation even from those called to declare God’s Word in the capacity of preachers, teachers, and authors to question whether Scripture is completely true in all aspects is an unfortunate reality. If we cannot depend on God’s Word to be the source of truth in an age where truth is up for grabs, then we are left with quite frankly a foundation build on sand. Thus, it is absolutely vital to outline why God’s Word can be trusted from the first page to the last page and everything in between.

Entering in the discussion is a book released earlier this year titled The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures. This massive tome is edited by noted biblical scholar D. A. Carson and contains contributions from a number of also notable biblical scholars, some arguably more familiar to come than others. When I say massive, I am not speaking in hyperbole. This is a 1200+ page book that covers a wide range of important topics when it comes to matters of the authority of Scripture.

Carson sets the stage for the overall discussion by providing a thorough overview of the current discussion on biblical authority to include some interaction with relevant books on this topic that have been penned in recent years. He also provides a helpful definition of what is meant by inerrancy, an often hotly debated topic as well. Carson concludes his introductory comments by noting some important epistemological, philosophical, and theological issues of importance. He aptly notes in the final paragraphs of his introduction that “only the closest and most faithful reading of Scripture will have the temerity to construct an alternative world, a Christian world, that is deeply ground in, and permeated by, Holy Scripture.” The alternative world is in contrast to the increasingly secular world that rejects the very notion of truth as defined in Scripture.

A point of suggestion is to not approach this book as something you can start with the first essay and then read through to the end. If you go that route, you will be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of material to wade through. This is not to say one cannot work their way through this work in that manner. With that said, it is intended to be a collection of essays that while discussing an overarching topic, can be read individually on their own merit. In fact, I would encourage the reader to engage this book in that manner or perhaps to study each section and its respective essays.

Given the wide range of topics and the plethora of authors, the first thing I did when receiving this book is to scan the list of essays to see if anything quickly caught my eye. While I do enjoy matters of church history, an essay on Wesleyan Theology, while certainly an important piece to the overall puzzle, was not something I immediately was drawn towards. The two essays I picked up on based on their titles were written by Bruce Waltke and Kirsten Birkett, namely Myth, History, and the Bible and Science and Scripture respectively.

Waltke’s essay was interesting to me because I have recently read a few works by Mircea Eliade, specifically his book The Myth of the Eternal Return. I found Waltke’s insights and comments on Eliade’s work to be helpful, in particular the criticism from Walktke that Eliade and the Myth and Ritual School do a bit too far in trying to holistically connect the beliefs of the early Israelites with that of their Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) neighbors. While there are similarities in regards to history happening in a cyclical manner and the important element of a return to creation (in the case of Scripture the matter of the redemption of all things and a “return to the Garden” if you will), at times, Eliade and others take their approach a bit too far.

I also found Waltke’s discussion of the differences and similarities between the ANE Gilgamesh Epic and the biblical account of Noah’s flood to be informative. He rightly notes, “The biblical flood narrative stands head and shoulders above the others in wisdom and theology, lifting the audience to heavenly heights of virtue and praise.” Thus, the account of Noah’s flood stands in contradistinction to the ANE myths of the gods fighting it out with some interesting actions such as “breaking wind” in each other’s face. It is important to grasp the vast difference between the pagan cosmology presented in works such as the Enuma Elish and the biblical narrative. Waltke saliently concludes his essay by averring “Israel’s sovereign God created matter out of nothing, is transcendent in his rule over all of his creation, conflicts with cosmic and volitional evil to produce virtue and bring rightful praise to him, and created the cosmos as the first of his saving acts in a trajectory ending with his kingdom irrupting into the world through his magnolia Dei and word and an eternal stae in which he finally eliminates all hostility.” So we have Waltke seemingly making a rather strong and clear declaration that Scripture, especially when it comes to matters of ancient myth, is historical and factual in its description of something such as Noah’s flood.

When it comes to the essay provided by Kirsten Birkett, we find a far different approach to Scripture. I will state I am unequivocally a proponent of approaching the creation account found in Genesis as a literal outline of how God created the heavens and the earth (i.e. all things). If we can affirm that Noah’s flood is not ancient myth and is instead a historical account of the God of the Bible interacting with the affairs of man in keeping with His divine plan, it would seem to go without saying that the account of creation found in Scripture should be approached in the same manner, namely as real history. More specifically, we should then affirm God created all things in six literal days as He so clearly declares in Genesis and elsewhere in Exodus 20 and again in Exodus 31 and referred to in passages such as Hebrews 4.

Birkett rightly notes that at points in church history, the days of Genesis has been a debated topic. She discusses the beliefs of writers such as Philo, Origen, and Augustine and their understanding of the days of Genesis. She then interacts with several other authors and their respective interpretations. This was an interesting and admittedly a helpful journey through history although not authoritative given Scripture is the ultimate guide for truth on matters such as this. Birkett next pivots to a clear effort to suggest that the “rise of creationism was spurred by the atheistic contention that the Bible and evolution could not both be true. Those who accepted this, repelled by evolutionist arrogance, took up creationism.” In other words, biblical creationism and its rise was nothing more than an effort to deal with evolution. Furthermore, Birkett declares, “People reacted against science to determine their view of the Bible; and those views became increasingly inflexible as the decades went on.”

I found the subheading of “The Rise of Creationism: Scripture against Science” to be misleading. For starters, it presents the idea that those who affirm biblical creationism are anti-science, something that is a falsehood. Also of concern was the idea presented that evolution can come alongside Scripture as compatible and associated ideologies. She references the writings of evolutionary biologist Denis Alexander as apparently helpful in this regard. It is somewhat strange to as holistic proof of why biblical creationists are anti-science. Interestingly, Birkett completely failed to interact with studies from young-earth creation scientists on matters of science proper or when it comes to important issues such as death and suffering or whether one affirms Genesis as literal history or merely a mythical account that is nothing but symbolism. All in all, this was a very disappointing essay and goes against the very grain of the point of this work as a whole, namely affirming and demonstrating the authority of Scripture. If the days of creation are not literal days, then Birkett failed to interact with why God related the work week to His creative acts if nothing else. Outside the “debate” on yom (Hebrew for day), if God did not create in six literal days, then a cursory examination of why God declared to His people to work six days and to rest on the seventh was such a big deal to our Creator. Birkett seemed more interested in finding loopholes in order to allow evolution to find a place at the table with Scripture.

As a whole, I found this work to be enlightening and a very good read. Outside of some essays that are to be honest not my cup of tea topic wise and the aforementioned disappointment of Birkett’s clear rejection of Genesis as representing a literal historical account of creation, I will submit this tome was worth my time. I might even take a look at those essays that I did not find that interesting at this point in my studies at a later time. Who knows, studying Wesleyan theology might have an appeal. I do recommend this study except as noted earlier for Birkett’s essay.

I received this book for free from Eerdmans and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

[Ben K · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bible’s authority is under attack from every direction. Postmodern, relativistic thinking has eroded Scripture’s claims to truth in the eyes of many. Even in Christian circles, new scholarship is changing how we formulate the doctrine of Scripture, and revisionist history attempts to prove that the doctrine was never understood the way many of us think of it today. Advances in science, studies in philosophy, and comparisons to other religions have also caused many to question Scripture’s authority. This book, an eclectic and fascinating collection of 35 scholarly essays, is an attempt to engage with a broad array of issues like these. The essays are grouped under discrete topics relating to history, Biblical and theological issues, philosophy and epistemology, and comparative religions. With such a broad scope, not every topic will appeal to every reader, but there is almost certainly something that every reader will appreciate.

The historical essays cover every period in church history, but weigh more heavily on the post-Reformation period. Accommodation, canon, and inerrancy are some of the prominent themes. There are also essays dedicated to notable figures such as Karl Barth and the so-called Old Princetonians. I found the essay on natural philosophy in the 17th century by Rodney Stiling to be especially interesting and relevant to today's conversations about the Bible and science.

The best content in my opinion was the collection of chapters on Biblical and theological topics. Many of these essays explored how certain characteristics of Scripture interface with Scripture's authority, from Bruce Waltke's chapter on myth and history, to Barry Webb's look at the diverse literary genres. Kevin Vanhoozer's take on what it means to "go beyond the text" in our doctrinal development was notably helpful and interesting.

The philosophical essays were the most difficult to get through. With their highly technical language and complex logic, I found myself at times confused. But I at least came away with some broad categories for understanding better how philosophy and epistemology relate to Scriptural authority. This section's treatment on foundationalism was especially helpful as the authors explored the question of how we come to "know" or be certain of something.

Finally, the brief section on comparative religion offered some engagement with other major world religions: Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. These were very helpful in highlighting some of the key similarities and differences between the sacred texts of these religions, and the Christian Bible. Ida Glasser's chapter on Islam was particularly well-written, helping the reader to see the Bible from an Islamic perspective.

A short review like this cannot do justice to a 1,200 page book. There is a treasure trove of knowledge and careful scholarship here, and even if you buy the book for a few of the chapters, it is well-worth the price of admission.

[Adam Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirty-seven highly-competent Bible-loving scholars have gathered together to produce this important defence of the divine authority of the Scriptures, covering a wide range of topics such as inerrancy, epistemology and canon. It's a serious slab of scholarship, and no doubt will be an invaluable reference work for decades to come. Anyone in Christian ministry will find it well worth borrowing a copy, skimming the contents and working through a few chapters. The full 1100+ pages will find a good home in an academic context, or in the hands of those who have a lot of unexpected free time because of appendicitis.

The book is divided into four main sections, with a few other chapters either side of the main body. The first section is on "historical topics," and the standout chapter for me was Charles Hill's discussion of Scripture in the early church, where he challenges commonly espoused views and makes a case for there being a "limited collection of authoritative, new covenant books by the end of the second century." The rest of the historical topics were interesting, but a bit too specialist to be of much immediate benefit.

The main section of the book is (unsurprisingly) on "Biblical and Theological Topics." This is where the busy preacher will want to spend their time. So much great stuff here: Dempster's rich argument for a canonical consciousness in first-century Judaism; Williams's expose of Ehrman's fallacies, particularly in terms of the confusion between the physical autographs and the non-physical text on the autographs, and his unreasonable demands for proof; Thompson's presentation of Scriptural clarity as "a confession of faith in the benevolence of our heavenly Father"; Moo and Naselli's canonically-driven defence of the NT authors against the charge that their misuse of OT texts entails a denial of inerrancy; and more!

The next section is on "philosophical and epistemological topics" and people (like myself) who have not done formal philosophical study will probably struggle. I never knew it was so complicated to answer the question, "What did you have for breakfast this morning?" The final main section is on "comparative religions topics," which will be most helpful for people working with those who follow another major world religion.

In a final "thinking holistically" chapter, Doriani helpfully extends the hermeneutical spiral to discuss how obedience leads to further understanding, and understanding to obedience. And then the last sentence gives us an important exhortation: "Let us therefore take and read this mirror to the soul, see our flaws, and turn afresh to the Lord, who loved us and gave himself for us."

[Jimmy Reagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Likely the most important book of its kind for this generation, this massive volume covers the doctrine of Scripture from every conceivable vantage point. Edited by the redoubtable D. A. Carson, this book maintains a consistently high level of scholarship. Though I did not read every page (I wanted to provide somewhat of a timely review), I read much and was impressed throughout.

The volume begins with a spectacular introductory essay by Carson that was fascinating. He at once laid bare the lines of debate and an outline of the history. Starting a trend that carried through the book, he named names. He was never ugly, but he put people with positions and then evaluated positions in this successful romp through the issues.

Next comes nine chapters on historical topics. There might be more information than you feel the need to know, but in any future historical questions you will likely find your answers here.

The heart of the book was chapters 11-24 on biblical and theological topics. These articles were excellent even if certain parts were somewhat esoteric. Still, the great subjects were fully addressed. The next section on philosophical and epistemological topics carried the theological discussion forward. The section on comparative religion topics was much less interesting to me, but that is likely a matter of taste. The book ends with Daniel Doriani encouraging us to think holistically and then some FAQ by Carson.

This book is a major publishing event. Pastors will find some that is helpful clarification, but some that is needless complication. We must remember, though, that the book is dedicated to scholarly concerns in addition to what is helpful to us. There were statements that I could not agree with in these pages, but this book is a presentation of the conservative position. To that end, it was just what was needed in our complicated days.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

[Felicity Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very long haha. Felt a little overambitious in scope….like it went well beyond the topic you would expect based on the title. Lots of great information. Also sometimes it felt very technical and sometimes like it was extremely basic information (nothing against either, I just wish it was more consistent. Felt like it wasn’t sure of the intended audience). I think that’s due to the variety of authors writing each chapter, but it made it a bit difficult to get momentum with.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ponderous, long, mixed effectiveness. Update to Scripture and Truth. Some sections were homiletically powerful. Others less so. Should be read if for nothing else to get an update on current debates on scripture, what it is, what it is not, and how if functions.

[Cody Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

An invaluable and extensive resource on the authority of Scripture from an evangelical perspective

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good material. Since it is a compilation of essays, there are a lot of repetitive ideas. Book could have been shorter. It was dreadfully long.

[Joshua Loftin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve read on the authority of Scripture. It is a very large read, but I highly recommend it to anyone desiring to learn more of this subject.

[Jacob O'connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enduring Authority is a behemoth at 1700 pages, and you can't skip any essays. They're all good. Plan on being at it a while.


Notes:

Abuse of the allegorical method (90)

Irenaeus on progressive revelation being an accommodation to its era (347)

Bias is best Known by its fruits: misrepresentation of evidence (2) omission of evidence, (3) implication of facts known to be false, and (4) failure to mention cases of events in an explanation (510)

The link between God and human kind is wisdom (723)

Second Naiveté (1541)

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read the work in it's entirety, but the various essays that I read about my own concerns were not as dry as books of the genre. I personally found the arguments to be persuasive and interesting.

[Dougald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read all of it....but enough of it to be more than three other books I have read this year. So I am counting it. I only had to read about 60% for a class.

[Paul Gesting · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of the articles in this are first rate. However, many are lacking in substance. The article on canon is especially weak, as is Rea's philosophical treatment.

[Richard Klueg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I graduated from seminary a half a century ago (!), I thought I was long overdue for an extensive "update" on this subject. Unbelievers and skeptics - many claiming to be Christians - have of course come up with new and creative ways to deny the inerrancy and authority of the Bible. This collection of essays brought me up to date, refined my thinking, and expanded my exposure to new areas. While the book is academic (that's a *good* thing), only one essay came across to me as tedious. That was the chapter "Authority and Truth" by Michael Rae. I ended the chapter not certain if he believed in inerrancy and wondering how his essay ended up in this collection. Still five stars (which I reserve for only the very best).