Failures
of the Reformation: Part 2 Sola Scriptura and Knowing God
2017 is the 500th year
since the Reformation began. In keeping
with this milestone I have composed a couple of reflections upon how I think
the Reformation failed and or brought about deleterious effects to the practice
of the Christian faith.
I have been reading through the
Henri de Lubac’s Medieval Exegesis as
of late. He made a reasonable argument
that Biblical interpretation was fairly consistent until the rise of
scholasticism around 1000 to 1100. I
think that his argument works quite well with the caveat that many in the East
continued in the same manner and did not join the scholastic bandwagon. A prime example is Gregory of Palamas (d.
1359) whose exegesis is dramatically more in keeping with patristic exegesis
than say that of Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274).
Scholasticism altered biblical
interpretation primarily through the types of questions that were asked of the
biblical text. The deeper shift happened
with the rise of the university. With
the rise of university, the study of the Bible began to take place outside of a
contemplative and liturgical life which monasteries provided. These things combined to make the Bible (and
I daresay theology) a topic of study treated as another science (although
ostensibly the highest of the sciences).
In all of this shift in practice,
there appears to have been a shift in how the Bible and the study of theology
was viewed. Earlier, there was an
understanding that a correct knowledge of God and His revelation required a
certain type of person in a particular context.
According to Gregory of Nazianzus, theology must be discussed in
stillness when there is opportunity to judge the rightness of what is
said. It should only be heard by those who
consider it a serious undertaking and only then should they listen to those
things which they are capable of understanding.
It should be done with meditation and prayer.[1] Indeed, Gregory’s points here place true
learning about God in a liturgical setting.
Despite Gregory’s admonitions, scholasticism altered the assumption and
began to make information about God objective.
This added to the newly arisen University meant that Theology became a
common topic. This approach was largely
reaffirmed by the Reformational focus on Sola
Scriptura. Now, Bible became a thing
of study that was open for everyone to read and determine the truth.
If you are alive and have been
formed in the Western mindset which formed this practice, you are probably
neutral to positive about this current state of affairs vis-à-vis the Bible. Yet, this is not necessarily a biblical view
of knowledge about God. Jesus and Paul
teach that the knowledge of God is not merely objective, but requires a certain
moral character and maturity to understand.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see
God.” This is not a very democratic or
egalitarian statement. In fact, the
entire section of who is blessed in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount continues in
this vein of promising special things to people who have a certain character or
experience.[2]
Paul even has a statement which also
demonstrates that knowledge about God is not a purely objective thing for all
study equally: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned” (1st Corinthians 2:10). Indeed, from the greater context in 1st
Corinthians, it would even appear that not all Christians are capable of
equally discerning spiritual matters.
This is why Paul wrote of babes in Christ not ready for meat. This means that not every Christian has the
same ability to rightly understand God or even Scripture. Regarding Scripture, this can be seen in Acts
17:10-11: “The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by
night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in
Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the
Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” The reason why many Berean Jews were
converted and many of the Thessalonian Jews were not converted (according to
Luke) was that the Bereans were of a more noble character and searched the
Scriptures. I am implying that the
Thessalonians would have had access to Scripture (the presence of a synagogue
makes this safe) and that they could have made recourse to Scripture to
determine if Paul’s preaching fit with their texts. The difference in these two towns then lies
in the character of the people who were reading the texts of Scripture.
Returning
to sola Scriptura, the notion of
Scripture alone could preclude an external norm for how Scripture is to be
read. The Reformers were at least
implicitly aware of this and produced creeds and catechisms to serve as
communal rules for theology and biblical interpretation. However, it did not take long for some to
read Scripture outside of these norming documents. At this point, it became a matter of
disputation as to whom was correctly interpreting the texts of Scripture. What is largely lacking from the Reformers
and their heirs is the teaching of the ancient biblical practice of acquiring
spiritual knowledge through a change in the interpreter’s character.[3] Instead, the practice has been to set forth
in the Scriptures as an objective something and then argue about and divide
over differences of interpretation. This
is far more societally acceptable than considering that prayer and purifying
the soul makes one person a better biblical interpreter and theologian than
another person.[4]
[1] Gregory of
Nazianzus, Oration 27.
[2] Matthew 5:
3 "Blessed are
the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those
who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the
meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those
who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the
merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the
pure in heart, For they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the
peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those
who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
[3] I would hold that
there were many men and women who practiced this approach to Scripture (such as
Calvin) and benefitted greatly from it.
However the practice of something is quite distinct from the teaching of
something to others.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment