{"id":1949,"date":"2012-07-23T10:27:32","date_gmt":"2012-07-23T14:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/peterenns\/?p=1949"},"modified":"2012-07-23T11:41:31","modified_gmt":"2012-07-23T15:41:31","slug":"scripture-is-not-perfect-more-from-kent-sparks-and-sacred-word-broken-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/peterenns\/2012\/07\/scripture-is-not-perfect-more-from-kent-sparks-and-sacred-word-broken-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Scripture is not Perfect: More from Kent Sparks and “Sacred Word, Broken Word”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Today we look at chapter 5 of Kent Sparks\u2019s\u00a0\u00a0Sacred Word, Broken Word: Biblical Authority and the Dark Side of Scripture<\/a>\"\"<\/em>. Sparks is professor of Old Testament and interim provost at Eastern University, St. Davids PA. The first post of the series can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The chapter is entitled \u201cThe Brokenness of Scripture,\u201d and in it Sparks further clarifies ideas he has been developing since the beginning of the book.<\/p>\n

Following his remarks on God\u2019s violence in chapter 4<\/a>, Sparks asks:<\/p>\n

But is it not a very deep paradox that the Shoah, in which Nazis systematically exterminated the Jews because of their religion and ethnicity, is mirrored so\u00a0vividly\u00a0by the Deuteronomic ban in Jewish Scripture, according to which Israel exterminated the Canaanites\u00a0because\u00a0of their religion?<\/em> (p. 45).<\/p>\n

Clearly, Sparks is not swayed to\u00a0defend\u00a0the issue by saying that God can kill Canaanites anytime he wants<\/a>, and how dare you suggest in any way that it is comparable to the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

For Sparks, a better way forward is to admit that Scripture here is theologically problematic, and he repeats his analogy that Scripture is \u201cbroken\u201d as is creation. Remember for Sparks Scripture is part of fallen creation, not above it<\/a>; even though it is inspired, it is still written by fallen men and so exhibits effects of the fall.<\/p>\n

Just as God\u2019s good and beautiful creation stands in need of redemption, so Scripture\u2013as God\u2019s word written within and in\u00a0relation\u00a0to that creation, by finite fallen beings\u2013stands in need of redemption<\/em> (p. 46)<\/p>\n

Some might respond that you can\u2019t compare creation and Scripture like this,\u00a0complaining\u00a0that Sparks fails to make the\u00a0distinction between general revelation (creation) and special revelation (Scripture); the former is subject to the fall, the latter is preserved from it.<\/p>\n

Sparks does not address this directly, but if I may channel my inner Sparks, I would imagine he would say something like this:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis\u00a0distinction between general and special\u00a0revelation\u00a0comes in handy, certainly, but on what basis do you feel you can separate Scripture out from the rest of the created and fallen world? In other words, how do you know this is a valid theological\u00a0distinction\u00a0to make?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis distinction may make for an interesting discussion in\u00a0the abstract, that is, until you begin dealing with the details of Scripture that don\u2019t seem to work with this same\u00a0distinction.\u201d<\/p>\n

At any rate, if Scripture bears the effects of the fall like creation, Sparks continues, \u201cthe church should not defend Scripture\u2019s uniqueness as the divine\u00a0word by appealing to its\u00a0perfection<\/em>.\u00a0Rather\u00a0a proper account of Scripture\u2019s goodness and divine origins will closely follow the\u00a0traditional\u00a0Christian response to\u00a0the\u00a0problem of evil\u201d (my emphasis; p. 47).<\/p>\n

By this, Sparks argues that the church has to discern what in Scripture is marred by the fall\u00a0just as\u00a0<\/em>the church makes those same judgments of creation:<\/p>\n

Both humanity and Scripture are God\u2019s good works and serve in his redemptive work. And though this is true, both are marred by the effects of the Fall. The presence in Scripture of this distortion no more compromises its status as God\u2019s word than the distortion in humanity compromises its status as God\u2019s creation<\/em> (p. 47).<\/p>\n

Sparks also points out, citing William Holladay\u2019s The Psalms Through Three <\/em><\/a>\"\"<\/a>Thousand Years<\/em>\"\",<\/em>\u00a0that the church has been making these sorts of decisions all along anyway, for example when liturgies omit passages that are \u201charsh in tone.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of this raises the question how Scripture can retain any notion of authority. Sparks concludes the chapter by promising to\u00a0address\u00a0this in the pages to follow. He hints, \u201cAny workable solution will require some manner of ordering the Bible\u2019s diversity, so that we give priority to biblical texts that speak with more clarity and deeper theological logic than those that are more partial or distorted by the human condition\u201d (p. 49).<\/p>\n

Challenging ideas, not doubt, but Sparks is addressing head on the Christian paradox of\u00a0Scripture, that it is theologically foundational\u00a0while\u00a0also posing a\u00a0theological\u00a0problem. Alternate proposals would need to come to terms with Scripture as Sparks is trying to do.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we look at chapter 5 of Kent Sparks\u2019s\u00a0\u00a0Sacred Word, Broken Word: Biblical Authority and the Dark Side of Scripture. Sparks is professor of Old Testament and interim provost at Eastern University, St. Davids PA. The first post of the series can be found here. The chapter is entitled \u201cThe Brokenness of Scripture,\u201d and in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,40,146,139,147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canaanite-genocide","category-kent-sparks","category-old-testament-ethics","category-sacred-word-broken-word","category-the-problem-of-scripture"],"yoast_head":"\nScripture is not Perfect: More from Kent Sparks and "Sacred Word, Broken Word"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today we look at chapter 5 of Kent Sparks's\u00a0\u00a0Sacred Word, Broken Word: Biblical Authority and the Dark Side of Scripture. 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