The Role of Words in Revelation

Darrell Jodock

Article Type: Article

Publication Date: 7/1/1986

Issue: What Words Will Do (Vol. 6, No 3, Summer, 1986)

A pastor says, “Now that you ask me, I realize that, though I use the historical-critical method, I have no integrated view of how it fits with revelation and the authority of Scripture.” A seminary student expounds at length about the positions to be rejected but, when asked, is hard pressed to express a coherent view of revelation, Scripture, and exegetical procedures. A parishioner wonders how to explain that the Bible is the Word of God without becoming a literalist. These situations all suggest large agendas and call for thorough, extended responses. This essay will consider but one piece of that larger project. It is a small yet important and often troublesome piece because images and assumptions from the past “show through” theological statements even after new learnings have occurred. Until more adequate ones have captured our imaginations, old images and assumptions are not easily abandoned.

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