My seminary classes at Liberty University have started back up for the fall. I am taking Systematic Theology and this is the most recent discussion board question and my response.
What is the most recent form of biblical criticism and how has it effected biblical study today?
Biblical criticism is defined as the study and investigation of biblical writings that seeks to make discerning and discriminating judgments about these writings. According to Erickson in Christian Theology, “since the late 1960’s, biblical criticism moved increasingly in the direction of the supremacy of the reader over the text” (pg 108). This fits right along with the postmodernist generation that we live in today that denies the existence of absolute truth. People refuse to admit that something is true if it isn’t comfortable or easy for them to grasp. This type of biblical criticism is called reader-response criticism.
We live in a society where the next Christian celebrity is always just a “Prayer of Jabez” or “Purpose-Driven Life” away. Those books and ones like them are great if they draw people to dig into God’s Word to see His truths for themselves. Those literary phenomenons are dangerous if they cause people to base their belief in God solely on the opinions of the authors rather than the One that authored the greatest story ever told.
It is a dangerous line we walk when we start to listen to Christians more than we are willing to listen to the still small voice of God. Psalm 46:10 challenges us to “Be still and know that I am God.” It doesn’t call us to “Be still and ask someone else how they are experiencing God.” If we are utilizing the fare of the local Christian store to supplement daily Bible reading and prayer, that can be helpful. However, if you are using these things in place of reading God’s word and begging for His insight, you run the risk of missing out on God’s greatest revelations for your life.
Placing the thoughts of the reader over the truth of the text make reader-response criticism the source of confusion for many new believers and lost people. This is where denominational lines also come into play because some denominations are known for taking phrases out of context merely to satisfy their own doctrinal errors.
As believers, God’s word must be our foundation that everything is built on and the filter through which all of life is lived. When we start using God’s word as a canvas for our own thoughts and ideas, we run the risk of missing out on the abundant life that God has promised in John 10:10.
Megan, thank you for this post. I am glad that there are still those who realize that other’s opinions are exactly that: opinions.