Living and Active: Scripture in the Economy of SalvationFor all of the Bible's popularity both in the church and in Western culture, confusion reigns about what the Bible is, its relationship to God, its relationship to its human authors and readers, and its proper use. Living and Active answers these fundamental questions by looking anew at Scripture from the perspective of Christian doctrine. Rather than treating the Bible as a sourcebook for theology, Telford Work uses systematic theology to build a compelling new doctrine of Scripture: the doctrine of God establishes the Bible's triune character and purpose; the doctrine of salvation explains the mission of Scripture in ancient Israel, in the career of Jesus, and in the life of his followers; the doctrine of the church relates the Bible's qualities to those of its reading communities, describes the relation of Scripture and tradition, and appreciates the Bible's role in worship and in personal salvation. Drawing in this way on the full resources of Christian dogmatics allows us to see the Bible at work accomplishing God's purposes in the world. Throughout the book, Work incorporates insights from the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, Anabaptist, and evangelical traditions in order to produce a truly ecumenical doctrine of Scripture. He also interacts with patristic theology and practice, historical-critical methods of interpretation, and postmodern thought, refusing to draw lines between biblical studies, ethics, history, philosophy, and theology. As a result, Living and Active is the most comprehensive, balanced, and relevant statement of Scripture now available. It clearly portrays the Bible as integral to the economy of salvation and the life of the church, it offers solutions to the current crisis of biblical authority and practice, and it prescribes fruitful ways to preach, teach, and live Scripture in today's world. |
Contents
Foreword by Richard B Hays xiii | 19 |
The Structure of Systematic Bibliology 9592 | 29 |
The Bible in the Sensus Fidelium 15 | 35 |
The Objections of James Barr and Markus Barth 27 | 47 |
THE GOD OF WORD I Athanasius The Words SelfInvolvement in the World 33 33 | 53 |
The Divine Ontology of Biblical Practice | 70 |
The Threefold God and the Threefold Word | 87 |
The Divine Transcendence of Indirect Identity | 94 |
Scriptures Cosmic Mission to Israel 130 | 150 |
The Work of Scripture on Scripture 149 | 169 |
Scripture and Jesus 167 | 187 |
The Bible as Transformer 259 | 279 |
The End of Scripture 301 | 321 |
AFTERWORD | 335 |
References 329 | 349 |
359 | |
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Common terms and phrases
account of Scripture affirm apostolic argument Athanasius Augustine Augustine's authority Balthasar baptist Bible Bible’s biblical interpretation biblical practice bibliology calls canon Catholic Chalcedonian Chapter character Christian Christian Doctrine Christian tradition Christological Christological analogy Church claims context creation criticism discourse divine Word docetism doctrine of Scripture ecclesial ecclesiology economy of salvation epistemology eschatological evangelical exegesis faith Father flesh God's God’s Word Gospel hermeneutical Holy Scripture Holy Spirit human words hypostatic union Iconodules incarnation inspiration Israel Jesus Christ John John of Damascus Karl Barth Käsemann kenosis kerygma logos Luke McClendon means mediated messianic narrative Old Testament ontology ontology of Scripture Orthodox patristic preaching presence prophets Protestant Psalms radical reflection relationship revelation rhetorical role sacramental saving Scrip Scripture Scripture’s soteriology speaks speech Staniloae story Tanakh teaching theologians theology tion Trinitarian Trinity Triune truly truth ture unity vision wisdom witness Wolterstorff worship