"It (the Bible) does not reveal everything that God is or is not; in many respects, it is a mystery, and the main purpose why it was written is so that human beings may believe and have life (John 20.30)."
"It is for this reason (that the Bible cannot be understood divorced from the historical experience and the consciousness of the communities of believers) that the Bible is considered the book of the community, depending on the community's authority and approval of its authenticity, its inspiration, and interpretation."
"The writers of the biblical books were not passive receivers of messages but energetic and conscious instruments recording the revealed message in their own styles, and through their own intellectual and linguistic presuppositions. For the Orthodox, inspiration (theopneustia) is an elevated state of being that makes it possible to grasp and record revelation. The Holy Spirit inspires the writers, but it is the writers who write and speak, not as mechanical, passive instruments but in full control of their senses."
"For the Eastern Orthodox, then, the Bible is the inspired word of God in terms of content rather than style, grammar, history, or frame. Very few if any Orthodox theologians accept the word-by-word inspiration of scripture. It is for this reason that the Orthodox church has never had serious disputes concerning the application of the historical-critical method in its approach to exegesis and hermeneutics."
"The prevailing opinion is that once the canon of the Bible has been established, its authority becomes absolute, but the church remains its continuous and watchful guardian. The Bible's inspiration, canonicity, and authenticity depend on the church's consent."
"Nevertheless, all facets of belief and life of the church have been saturated with the teachings of the scriptures. Doctrines, ethical teachings, and liturgical worship have scriptural foundations and are always in agreement with the scripture."
"The interpretation of scripture and the celebration of the eucharist are the two principal bonds between the ancient and the ongoing life and thought of the Eastern Orthodox church."
"The Bible is everyone's book but not for everyone's interpretation. Subjective interpretation, which may lead to misunderstanding and extreme individualism, should be subject to the objective interpretation of the church. Subjective interpretation, usually the task of the pastor or preacher, is expected to rely on the objective exegesis of the church's theology. And there is no authentic theology outside the historic experience of the church and its teachings."
With the exception of the transliterated Greek word in the third quotation, all italicizations are my own.
This may be slightly off base, but have you read Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita? The portrayal of Jesus is is Bulgakov's own, but is taken primarily from the apocryphal works. His portrayal of Christ is what I consider to be one of the most poignantly human and perhaps truthful I have read.
ReplyDeleteSo much for no authentic theology outside the historic experience of the church!
Sadly, I have not read this work. Perhaps one day, after I have ceased to be inundated with material for class.
ReplyDelete"Subjective interpretation, which may lead to misunderstanding and extreme individualism, should be subject to the objective interpretation of the church."
ReplyDeleteI am not following this point. A "subjective" individual such as a pastor or preacher is subject to the "objective" interpretation of the church? How is the church's interpretation "objective" while the individual's is "subjective"? Do not individual interpretations (subjectively) form the church's theology (which is supposedly objective)? How are a number of subjective interpretations that make up the church's theology "objective" in any way? I would submit that any subjective interpretation should be subject to the subjective interpretation of the church.
Given Eastern Orthodox ecclesiology, they would not affirm that the aggregate of individual interpretations make up the Church's theology. They would maintain that the theology of the Church was given to the apostles by Christ and then handed down through the centuries without any change. Its theology is thus objective because it was given by God. So, the subjective interpretation of scripture would need to be submitted to the Church because the Church, under their understanding, is the bearer of orthodox, indeed Orthodox, theology.
ReplyDeleteThank you for clearing that up. I wonder if this is possible in reality. I hope it is... somewhat.
ReplyDelete