Where now is your authority? (part I)

Where now is your authority?

I attended a Christian conference in 2008 that inspired and challenged me.  One speaker ended their talk with the question above.  It has haunted me ever since.  The speaker had summarized the historical roots of evangelicalism* by analyzing each of the major Church “splits” and describing how each of them had fundamentally changed Christianity.  Specifically each transition involved a fundamental shift in what we believed to be the central authority in the Christian religion. 

For example, shortly before The Reformation, Roman Catholics viewed the Church itself as the ultimate representation of God’s authority on Earth.  Christians were expected to turn to the Church to find expressions of God’s power, His love, and His Truth.  Hierarchical structures were clearly delineated (all the way to the Pope) to settle disputes on church matters and doctrinal orthodoxy.  The Protestants however, became fed up with the corruption and inadequacies of the Roman Church and consequently rejected the Church’s authority and replaced it with the Bible.  Sola Scriptura is now the pillar of Protestantism which affirms that the Bible is the ultimate and only source of Truth.

The speaker made a number of observations about the various movements and trends currently at work within Christendom which are consistent with the idea that we are once again undergoing a transformational shift in where we place our authority.  The reasons for this change are many, but the speaker mentioned one that struck me as particularly insightful.  As evangelicals have earnestly reached for deeper Biblical insights by examining ancient cultures and the nuances of the Greek and Hebrew language, we have accidentally discovered that there is no such thing as THE Bible.  There is only the Bible “as interpreted by” or “as seen through the eyes of”, and therefore the distinctive claim of the Bible as a truly objective arbiter of Truth has been lost.  Additionally, for many evangelicals, the Bible’s other shortcomings are being increasingly highlighted in this connected and well-informed world.  The speaker did not make any suggestions as to where Christianity will turn next for its authority, but rather left us with the question maddeningly unanswered and hanging in the air, “Where now is your authority?”

I find myself in a position spiritually that I would never find myself in financially or professionally.  I am a proactive and methodical planner.  Though I have changed jobs/employers a number of times in my career, I have never left a job before having been hired for my next job.  I have never purchased a car or a home until I knew that the previous one was sold.  In other words, in these areas of my life, I step out only when I know that there is something to step onto.  But now spiritually I see that as I relinquish my death-grip on the Bible, I don’t really know for sure what will take its place. 

Many early Protestants must also have been more than a bit apprehensive.  For centuries the Roman Catholic Church was the representation of God, His blessing, His Truth, and His refuge.  Christians could go to Cathedrals to see the Beauty of God.  They went to the Priests to confess to God and be assured of their forgiveness and acceptance.  In times of need the Church provided for their physical needs and even provided a place of safety in times of war.  If anyone had a theological question, no one was more learned or knowledgeable than the monks.  The Church in all this and more was the manifestation and revelation of God.

And yet the Protestants replaced the Church with a cold hard book (during a time of wide-spread illiteracy no less!).  The very nature of “the Church” and “the Bible” are so different from each other that to replace one with the other was incomprehensible and blasphemy to many.  How could a material object replace the Church with its spirit-filled flesh and blood members and clergy?

But Protestants of course did not completely eliminate church.  We Protestants still meet regularly.  We still worship together, take communion, hear teaching and use the church community as a means of support in times of need.  But the Protestants did “repurpose” church.  We stripped it of its position.  No longer was it the complete revelation of God, no longer was it the ultimate repository of Truth, no longer would it be venerated.

Likewise as I consider replacing the Bible with some other authority, I am deeply struck by just how different this other authority must be.  And just as the Protestants undoubtedly missed certain aspects of having the Church as their authority, I also will miss certain aspects of the literally black and white Bible as my ultimate and unquestioned source of Truth.  But just as the Protestants never eliminated church, likewise I do not intend to void my life of Scripture.  I still will read and learn from the Bible.  I will learn about God, about man, and about life from the Bible.  I still believe in the centrality of the Bible (and of the Church) to the life of the believer. Nonetheless I have given the Bible a different role in my spiritual journey, and I must answer the question, “where now is my authority?”

 

*Evangelicalism is rooted in Protestantism which split from the Roman Catholic Church about 500 years ago during The Reformation.  The Roman Catholic Church had split from the Greek Orthodox church some 500 years before that (known as The Great Schism), and the Greek Orthodox church had split from the Coptic Church about 500 years before that.  Going back yet another 500 years brings us to Christ himself walking the planet and founding Christianity in the first place.  The speaker noted that from a historically perspective Christianity is due for a significant upheaval.