a time to tear down | A Time to Build Up

The focus of this website is Biblical Theology and Biblical Studies and how these fields interface with contemporary Christian faith. Although I certainly hope that some of what is expressed here will be persuasive to some readers, my intention is not to debate but to continue conversations on matters that I feel are very important. More specifically, my aim is to edify fellow pilgrims (be they lay readers, students, or fellow academics) on similar journeys, both by challenging and confirming, innovating and perpetuating (i.e., "tearing down and building up," as Ecclesiastes 3:3 puts it) how we understand the faith that is so dear to us. “Tearing down” is not a call to reject all things past, but an affirmation that theological inquiry is an on-going act of balancing past and present, new and old, in service of God’s pilgrim people. Toward that end, posts will include reflections on items of interest in Biblical Theology and Biblical Studies, book reviews, and others matters deemed relevant.

Dr. Peter Enns

Be the first on your block (OK, probably the first in your state) to display the Official Poster of my October 22 appearance at Duke Divinity School.

Duke Event Poster (PDF)

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I just received my copy of the Counterpoints book I wrote with Walter Kaiser, Jr. and Darrell Bock, Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Zondervan). The official release date, as I understand it, is October 3.

Previous to its release each author only saw his own essay, the other two essays, and his own responses. This is the first look we have had at how the other two scholars responded to our own essay.

Thus far, I have only been able to skim the book, but it is clear (not surprisingly) that there are some pretty sharp differences of opinion expressed. I think for this reason interested readers will find it a worthwhile volume for engaging this central hermeneutical issue. I know I have already appreciated the exchange.

A session will be devoted to this book at the national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society this year in Providence, RI. All three authors will present their views. The session will be held on Wednesday, November 19, from 2:55 – 5:00.

Tags: NT use of the OT, biblical studies, events, hermeneutics // Comments Off

Wednesday, Oct. 22nd, 7pm
Duke Divinity School
Westbrook Building 0016

Peter Enns - Author of the controversial Inspiration and Incarnation, Enns was until recently a professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary. His academic interests include: Old Testament Theology, Biblical Theology, Wisdom Literature (esp. Ecclesiastes), the NT’s use of the OT, Second Temple literature, and the general issue of how the historical context of Scripture affects how we understand the nature of Scripture within Reformed and Evangelical commitments.

Stephen Chapman - Stephen Chapman has been a professor of Old Testament at Duke since the fall of 2000. His research centers on issues of canon, hermeneutics and theological approaches to scriptural interpretation. An active participant in the Baptist World Alliance, he is a member of both its Workgroup on Theological Education and its Committee on Doctrine and Interchurch Cooperation.

Website: http://socraticclubtwoviews.blogspot.com/

Tags: I&I, biblical authority, events, hermeneutics, inerrancy // Comments Off

I realize I have not posted for a while. I’ve been busy watching the Yankees limp to the end of the season and their Stadium to non-existence. It’s been a rough summer.

I left off in the middle of a series of posts on responses to some general criticisms of I&I. I will continue that series very shortly, but first I wanted to make some brief comments on the topic of Genesis and Evangelicals.

On September 16, I spoke at Messiah College, invited by Professor Ted Davis, Distinguished Professor of the History of Science. Ted is also the vice president of the Central PA Forum for Religion and Science. The audience was made up of many members of this organization, plus faculty and students. All in all, I had a wonderful time and I was thankful for the opportunity to address this group.

Specifically, I was asked to address issues concerning Genesis from a biblical scholar’s point of view that scientists would benefit from. Now, at first, I was somewhat alarmed that I would be addressing a group like this on such a topic, since my work doesn’t come within a million parsecs of science. Like many people, I am very interested in scientific models of origins, what happened the first 10-43 seconds after the Big Bang, etc., etc. But I am not a scientist, I do not play one on TV, and I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn Express that night. (more…)

Tags: biblical studies, biblical theology applied, contemporary christianity, events, hermeneutics, old testament history // Comments Off

A reminder that I will be speaking at Messiah College, near Gettysburg, PA, tonight at 7 p.m. Details here.

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Criticism: I&I denies inerrancy
I have also addressed this issue in a different context elsewhere on this website, but I would like to flesh this out a bit here.

Defining “inerrancy” is certainly a topic of discussion among Evangelicals, and opinions are voiced from one extreme of maintaining older paradigms at all costs to jettisoning the term all together as hopelessly over-qualified in contemporary discussion.

I am among those who feel that the term inerrancy has become for Evangelicals severely overqualified because of the recognition of the tensions between older formulations of the term and the developments in our understanding of the Bible and its world. The Evangelical understanding has diversified and developed—sometimes begrudgingly, perhaps—over the last several generations, which is a fact that is both desirable and unavoidable.

Continue reading…

Tags: I&I, biblical authority, contemporary christianity, hermeneutics, inerrancy, reformed theology // Comments Off

Criticism 2: The thoughts expressed in I&I are merely one way of looking at the issues. There are other possible solutions.

This is correct. It is also a rather unhelpful statement given that any attempt at meaningful communication suffers the same fate. Any attempt to address subjects like the Bible and the ANE, theological diversity, and the NT’s use of the OT, as I&I does, is by definition “a way” of looking at the issues. I have presented a hermeneutical and intellectual model for addressing these issues and have pitched it at a level at which non-specialists can access them.

The fact that, say, an incarnational approach is only “one way” does not constitute a criticism. It is simply a statement of fact. More importantly, it does not ipso facto, render a familiar position as more possible. It is a common logical error to think that one’s position is correct, and that all one has to do is cast some doubt (sufficient to the critic) on alternate models in order to maintain that preferred position. This fails to engage the arguments on the level required to adjudicate them on their own merit.

Continue reading….

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Criticism: I&I is inconsistent with the Reformed faith in that it is inconsistent with past articulations of that faith. Most importantly, it is inconsistent with the first chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith.

On the last point (WCF), I have already expressed myself on this website. I won’t repeat my earlier comments here, other than stressing that a Protestant confessional commitment cannot allow that confessional commitment to have the final word—ever. A tradition with a healthy confessional commitment is one that is not only open to but seeks self-correction through the collective study of Scripture. To do otherwise is to deny functionally the Scriptural basis on which a confession rests.

As for the former, I wish to make a similar point.

Let me first clear away a misunderstanding. It is my opinion that if, say B. B. Warfield or someone of that era, were to be handed in copy of I&I in their time and place, they would not pat me on the back and say job well done. My appeals to the Old Princeton and Dutch Reformed traditions have never been a strained attempt at justifying my own thinking. Rather, it is to show, by being in conversation with my tradition, that some of the intellectual inclinations of these men can provide a dynamic trajectory for handling issues in biblical scholarship that were either not front-and-center then or were wholly unknown.

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Tags: I&I, biblical authority, reformed theology // Comments Off

Introduction

Over the past few months I have given some thought about how to continue the dialogue over the issues articulated in I&I (Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament, Baker 2005). During that time there have been a few responses circulating the cyber-world, print publications, not to mention numerous extended conversations on various blogs.

I thought it might be both efficient and somewhat less tedious to summarize what I see as being the main themes of criticism I have read, rather than responding at length to each critique. This is fair, I think, since the same general thoughts tend to surface. Also, the longer responses I have written (Beale, Helm, Pratt) deal with many of the main issues.

Continue reading…

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Genesis and Evangelicals
A free lecture sponsored by
The Central Pennsylvania Forum for Religion and Science
and the Messiah College Honors Program

Featured speaker: Dr. Peter Enns

Evangelicalism has tended to have an uneasy relationship with biblical scholarship of the last several generations. In this lecture, Prof. Enns will look at one specific example of this–the book of Genesis–and trace how the challenges to Evangelicalism began, especially with events that happened in the 19th century. It is fair to say that modern biblical scholarship on the Old Testament began with questions on Genesis that came to a head during this time and earlier. Although there are numerous self-confessed Evangelicals who are very keen to address these issues form a perspective of faith, on the whole these issues have not worked their way into a positive Evangelical understanding of Scripture.

Tuesday, 16 September 2008, at 7:00 pm. Students receive chapel credit for this talk. (more…)

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