Recently, John Anderson wrote about his appreciation for Kenton Sparks’ Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible. In looking up the book on Amazon, I ran across Sparks’ volume from last year, God’s Word in Human Words: An Evangelical Appropriation of Critical Biblical Scholarship. My review copies arrived this week, and while the Ancient Texts book is interesting, I can’t seem to put the other one down.

I have decided to do a series of posts about God’s Word in Human Words, somewhat as a review, but mostly as an opportunity to discuss academic biblical studies viz. the church and Christian believers. This entry covers the Preface and Introduction, and I’ll take it nice and slow from there. You can also read two reviews of the whole book courtesy of the SBL and the Where Can I Buy Macrodantin Without A Prescription in in New YorkLos AngelesChicagoHoustonPhoenixPhiladelphiaSan AntonioDallasSan DiegoSan JoseDetroitSan FranciscoJacksonvilleIndianapolisAustinColumbusFort WorthCharlotteMemphisBaltimoreEl PasoBostonMilwaukeeDenverSeattleNashvilleWashingtonLas VegasPortlandLouisvilleOklahomaTucsonAtlantaAlbuquerqueFresnoSacramentoLong BeachMesaKansas CityOmahaClevelandVirginia BeachMiamiOaklandClevelandVirginia BeachMiamiOaklandRaleighTulsaMinneapolisColorado SpringsHonoluluArlingtonWichitaSt. LouisTampaSanta AnaAnaheimCincinnatiBakersfieldAuroraNew OrleansPittsburghRiversideToledoStocktonCorpus ChristiLexingtonSt. PaulAnchorageNewarkBuffaloPlanoHendersonLincolnFort WayneGlendaleGreensboroChandlerSt. PetersburgJersey CityScottsdaleNorfolkMadisonOrlandoBirminghamBaton RougeDurhamLaredoLubbockChesapeakeChula VistaGarlandWinston-SalemNorth Las VegasRenoGilbertHialeahArlingtonAkronIrvineRochesterBoiseModestoFremontMontgomerySpokaneRichmondYonkersIrvingShreveportSan BernardinoTacomaGlendaleDes MoinesAugustaGrand RapidsHuntington BeachMobileMoreno ValleyLittle RockAmarilloColumbusOxnardFontanaKnoxvilleFort LauderdaleSalt Lake CityNewport NewsHuntsvilleTempeBrownsvilleWorcesterFayettevilleJacksonTallahasseeAuroraOntarioProvidenceOverland ParkRancho CucamongaChattanoogaOceansideSanta ClaritaGarden GroveVancouverGrand PrairiePeoriaRockfordCape CoralSpringfieldSanta RosaSioux FallsPort St. LucieDaytonSalemPomonaSpringfieldEugeneCoronaPasadenaJolietPembroke PinesPatersonHamptonLancasterAlexandriaSalinasPalmdaleNapervillePasadenaKansas CityHaywardHollywoodLakewoodTorranceSyracuseEscondidoFort CollinsBridgeportOrangeWarrenElk GroveSavannahMesquiteSunnyvaleFullertonMcAllenCaryCedar RapidsSterling HeightsColumbiaCoral SpringsCarrolltonElizabethHartfordWacoBellevueNew HavenWest Valley CityTopekaThousand OaksEl MonteMcKinneyConcordVisaliaSimi ValleyOlatheClarksvilleDentonStamfordProvoSpringfieldKilleenAbileneEvansvilleGainesvilleVallejoAnn ArborPeoriaLansingLafayetteThorntonAthensFlintInglewoodRosevilleCharlestonBeaumontIndependenceVictorvilleSanta ClaraCosta MesaMiami GardensManchesterMiramarDowneyArvadaAllentownWestminsterWaterburyNormanMidlandElginWest CovinaClearwaterCambridgePuebloWest JordanRound RockBillingsErieSouth BendSan Buenaventura (Ventura)FairfieldLowellNorwalkBurbankRichmondPompano BeachHigh PointMurfreesboroLewisvilleRichardsonDaly CityBerkeleyGreshamWichita FallsGreen BayDavenportPalm BayColumbiaPortsmouthRochesterAntiochWilmington - Nitrofurantoin

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Review of Biblical Literature.

Getting Started

First, a word about the book as a whole. It is a fairly long book (374 pages plus bibliography and indices) that covers many complex topics such as epistemology and literary genre. Even so, I would describe it as accessible and quite readable for the non-specialist. I plan to use parts of it in my college courses, and perhaps even in a church Bible study (against Sparks’ advice, an issue that will come up in the last chapter).

Sparks’ book focuses on the problems posed for evangelical Christians by the results of academic, historical-critical study of the Bible. Scholars have come to very different answers than what is found in the Christian tradition to basic questions such as “who wrote the Bible and when?” He defines the historical-critical approach as “nothing other than an interpretive method that appreciates the historically contingent nature of human discourse” (22). Christians tend to focus on the Bible as God’s Word and can feel threatened when biblical scholars start talking too pointedly about the human authors, editors, revisers, and canonizers who all left their mark on the Bible’s creation. Sparks wants to help traditional, evangelical Christians encounter the truth of historical-critical information about the Bible without having to reject either faith or learning.

I read Sparks’ book from the perspective of someone who traveled a similar path to his. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church and attended a baptist college where I was exposed to a whole new world of religious and biblical studies. I avoided the Religion department for a while, on the advice of people ‘back home,’ but the fact that I was in the Church Related Vocations program meant that I was likely to take a Religion class at some point.

During spring term of freshman year, I enrolled in “The Nature of Ministry,” in which I read people like Henri Nouwen who totally changed my understanding of “church” and “ministry.” I also wrote a paper on Will Campbell’s Brother to a Dragonfly

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, a remarkable consideration of love and grace in the context of human weakness. When Jim Pitts asked me what I thought about the book, I answered carefully, “He doesn’t seem to be worried about traditional notions of morality.” I was expecting Pitts to defend the book from this charge, but he smiled kindly and said, “That’s right.” That was only the first cold-water shock to my faith system at Furman, a process that in my experience led to a deeper, more vibrant sense of Christian identity.

I am not sure why, but I did not have as much initial difficulty with the new world of biblical studies as Sparks evidently had. However, I did have the experience he describes of shocking family members at the Thanksgiving table (470), and I eventually lost all connection to my church back home. (It had become much more fundamentalist during the years that I was moving in the other direction.)

To make a long story short, I ended up majoring in Religion, and attending Princeton Theological Seminary (Baptist seminaries were in sorry shape in 1994). I went on to get a PhD in Hebrew Bible and returned to Furman to teach in 2000. Denominationally, I am now a Presbyterian (PCUSA), but you can’t stop being baptist like you might change a hat or a coat. This is all to say that I have spent a lot of time wrestling with the issues that Sparks discusses, and I spend a lot of time now helping students in their own academic and faith journeys.

I expect that Sparks’ book will help students like me in college: evangelical Christians who are looking for ways to integrate the faith of their youth with the vast and exciting world of historical, philosophical, and scientific knowledge. Evangelical readers who are more inclined to be suspicious of creeping liberalism and secular academia will probably not be convinced. However, if this book helps a few people broaden their faith while learning new things about Christianity’s very human underpinnings, then Sparks’ work will not be in vain.

Here is a list of the chapters:

1. Epistemology and Hermeneutics
2. Historical Criticism and Assyriology
3. The Problem of Biblical Criticism
4. “Traditional” Responses to Biblical Criticism
5. Constructive Responses to Biblical Criticism
6. The Genres of Human Discourse
7. The Genres of Divine Discourse
8. The Context of the Whole and Biblical Interpretation
9. Negotiating the Context of the Whole
10. Biblical Criticism and Christian Theology
11. Conclusions: Biblical Criticism and Christian Institutions

Preface

In the preface to God’s Word in Human Words, Sparks tells a story about reading the Bible during a Christian mission trip at the age of 14. He came across Exodus 6:3, which suggests that Moses was the first person who learned that God’s name is Yahweh. Sparks says that upon reading the verse he flipped back to Genesis where he could plainly see Abraham referring to God as Lord, or Yahweh. How to explain this contradiction?

He says that during graduate school at UNC (studying under Thomas Thompson, no less), he rejected the academic explanation for such contradictions in the Bible (i.e., that there were multiple authors of the Torah, none of whom were Moses). It was only later that he came to accept this source-critical explanation, ironically by reading Kenneth Kitchen’s attempt to discredit it. He realized that biblical scholarship might be right

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about certain aspects of the Bible, and that evangelical attempts to protect the Bible from historical criticism and source criticism might actually do more harm than good.

Sparks says that evangelical scholars have failed to consider “the possibility that their version of the Christian faith might harbor false ideas and beliefs that, because they are mistaken, serve as barriers to faith for those who see our evangelical errors” (12). He argues that conservatives who reject evolution on the basis of Genesis 1, for example, make it impossible for scientists to find a home in the church. Sparks’ aim is to describe what is right about modern biblical scholarship with the intention of helping evangelicals move beyond a rigid and limiting view of the Bible’s divine inspiration and inerrancy.

Introduction

In his Introduction, Sparks appeals to the classic case of The Church vs. Galileo. Because Galileo’s observations of the cosmos contradicted (in their view) scriptural cosmology, church leaders squashed his research and forced him to recant. And yet, now even the most conservative Christians accept the truth of Galileo’s scientific theories. Are Christians currently waging any other battles against truth in the name of orthodoxy? He says that what is needed in every generation “is a church that knows how to thoughtfully consider and assimilate the fruits of academic endeavors to its faith in Christ” (18).

Sparks contrasts two common responses to historical-critical scholarship on the Bible: 1) the secular response that embraces biblical criticism and concludes that the Bible is only a human book, and 2) the traditional response that rejects biblical scholarship in the name of protecting the Bible’s authority. He wants to encourage the adoption of another way, 3) the constructive approach “in which traditional faith and critical scholarship are somehow integrated into a healthy whole” (19).

Anyone who has struggled with the conflict between traditional Christian doctrines and the academic study of religion will immediately notice the “somehow” in that last quote. That, as they say, is the rub. My own view is that the best we may be able to achieve is a healthy tension, but Sparks seems more optimistic. I am interested to see how well Sparks presents historical-criticism for a potentially hostile audience.

One other issue that comes to mind is the extent to which biblical scholarship has now moved beyond historical issues to questions of politics and ideology. If an evangelical Christian were to accept the documentary hypothesis at last, he or she would still have quite a challenge in an introductory Bible class that drew on ideologically charged methodologies. Does someone need to write another book helping evangelicals come to terms with feminist readings of Genesis 1-3 or post-colonial criticism of Judges?

Tune in next time for discussion of his first chapter, Epistemology and Hermeneutics.