I’ve been reading Donald Bloesch’s A Theology of Word & Spirit, the first in the Christian Foundations series. I chose it at random of a shelf at Mardel, and I’ve been very impressed. Of course, how could I not be impressed by the level of scholarship necessary to write such a substantial theology text?
The thing I’m really surprised about is how faithful Bloesch’s theology is to both the Word and the Spirit. He fleshes out some ideas that make thing so much clearer for me…some that I already believed but couldn’t articulate, and some that I’d never thought of before.
The major thing that struck me is this: the Bible has authority over the church, but not because it’s the Bible; the Bible receives its authority from the One who is revealed in it. Christ was given all authority, and since his teachings and deeds are recorded in the Bible, it is authoritative. There is no authority in the words of the Bible themselves, which is why a statement taken out of context and misused is not an authority bearing statement. The authority lies with the Author.
Before reading that, I knew that following the Bible wasn’t the goal of our faith, but in order to pursue our goal we would need to follow the Bible. I just couldn’t explain it.
The reason I’m so surprised by the theological positions of this book is that Donald Bloesch is a part of the United Church of Christ. While trying not to bash any individual, the UCC is the most liberal Christian church in the US. I just wouldn’t have expected such faithful thinking from a UCC seminary professor. But God knew that, which is why He had me just grab it randomly off the shelf.
I have about 50 pages to go, which could take me a month at the rate I’m going, but it’s worth every minute I’ve spent and will spend. Once I finish, I’ll have a more detailed review up.
