Theology: Defense For or From the Bible?
I am reading a book right now entitled "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne. In it he had a very interesting quote that has both stirred and convicted me. Here it is:
"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament."
--Soren Kierkegaard--
What do you think?
4 comments:
I think ol' Soren was pretty close to right on this one. The simple becomes so convoluted that we think we need "experts" to interpret it and "professionals" to teach it.
When Jesus said that the kingdom belonged to ones like little children, I wonder if he was being sarcastic... ;)
i doubt it:) The words of Jesus are sometimes hard, but are they really hard to understand?
So...theology is our defense against truth?
Kat
This is spot on. And my fallen nature cringes. Thank God for His indwelling Spirit - or I would forever be stuck in that trap, swindling myself out of an authentic experience of true Christianity. Reminds me of that passage of scripture: Obediance is better than study, oops, I mean sacrifice...
"Theology is our defense against truth". Wow, there's so much irony in that statement! Tragic!
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