Evangelical Theories of Biblical Inspiration This page intentionally left blank Evangelical Theories of Biblical Inspiration A REVIEW AND PROPOSAL Kern Robert Trembath New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1987 Oxford University Press Oxford New York Toronto Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town Melbourne Auckland and associated companies in Beirut Berlin Ibadan Nicosia Copyright ©1987 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Trembath, Kern Robert. Evangelical theories of biblical inspiration. Based on author's thesis (doctoral)—University of Notre Dame. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Bible—Inspiration—History of doctrines — 19th century. 2. Bible—Inspiration—History of doctrines — 20th century. 3. Bible—Inspiration. 4. Evangelical- ism—United States—History—19th century. 5. Evangeli- calism—United States—History—20th century. 6. Theol- ogy, Doctrinal—United States—History—19th century. 7. Theology, Doctrinal—United States —History—20th century. I. Title. BS480.T69 1987 220.1'3'0973 87-11301 ISBN 0-19-504911-X 24689753 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper To Philip Wayne Trembath, the past, who began in me the process of faith seeking understanding, and To Mark Philip Trembath, the future, in whom God's grace so happily resides. This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments This work began as a doctoral dissertation at the University of Notre Dame. Even more than most books, therefore, it reflects the influence of many col- leagues and friends. Perhaps this is only fitting for a book on inspiration. Foremost among the colleagues are those who sat with patient and imagi- native oversight on my dissertation board: Fr. David Burrell, C.S.C., Dr. Nathan Hatch, and Fr. Robert Krieg, C.S.C. In addition, several graduate students risked many hours of their lives to encourage me to think more rig- orously as both an evangelical and a critical theologian: David Hunter, Sr. Theresa Koernke, I.H.M., Edward Laarman, Gerard Pare, Charles Pinches, and Judith Sanderson. A word of sincere and heartfelt thanks is gratefully expressed to the Department of Theology of Notre Dame, and especially to Fr. Richard McBrien and Dr. F. Ellen Weaver, who have gone far out of their way both to teach me and to employ me in my attempt to make the transition from student to teacher. William Abraham, on whose shoulders much of the structure of this work rests, was comprehensive in his review and criticism of one of the prepublication drafts, and it is doubly stronger because of him. Finally, in this age of word processors it is usually the case that one will do one's own manuscript preparation, but I would be remiss were I to overlook all of the time, counsel, and resources which the Notre Dame Computing Center literally donated to me. Among those whose contribution was less academic but not less real, I am especially indebted to my families. My brother, Rev. Raymond Trembath, contributed many insightful comments about the work. Patricia Haag gave me large doses of encouragement during the year it took to write it. And my parents, Harry and Caroline Trembath, have been nothing less than saints in supporting my interminable graduate education. This is a small first step in what I hope is a long career whose foundation was provided by them. viii Acknowledgments Finally, how does one adequately express thanks to a dissertation director? Fr. James T. Burtchaell, C.S.C., saw far earlier than I the possibilities and the outline of the work which this eventually became, and thus its strengths are mostly his while its weaknesses are entirely mine. His theological insights are explicitly mentioned only a few times in the pages which follow, but they reside between the lines of nearly every one of them. The value of his contribution is exceeded only by the degree to which he let me work on my own, and his grace as a person, as a theologian, and as a writer will never leave me. I can only hope that other dissertationists enjoy their directors as much as I did mine. There are a few places where the material herein overlaps with some that I have published elsewhere. I would like to acknowledge the permission to republish these materials which was generously extended by The Evangeli- cal Quarterly ("Biblical Inspiration and the Believing Community: A New Look," vol. 58, no. 3 (July 1986), pp. 245-56); and Horizons: The Journal of the College Theological Society ("Was the Incarnation Redundant? A Catholic and an Evangelical Respond," vol. 13, no. 1 (1986), pp. 43-66). Bible quotations have been taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, ©1946, 1952, and 1971, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. Contents Introduction 3 1. Deductivist Theories of Biblical Inspiration 8 Charles Hodge 10 Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield 20 John Warwick Montgomery 27 Edward John Carnell 37 Conclusion 45 2. Inductivist Theories of Biblical Inspiration 47 Augustus H. Strong 48 Bernard Ramm 57 William J. Abraham 64 Conclusion 70 3. Inspiration and the Human Recipient 72 Interest in Methodology 72 Basic Anthropology 75 The Activity of the Mind and Biblical Inspiration 81 Conclusion 86 4. Inspiration and the Means 87 The Verbal Inspiration of the Bible 88 The Plenary Inspiration of the Bible 92 x ContentsY The Inerrancy of the Bible 96 Conclusion 103 5. God as the Initiator of Inspiration 104 The Transcendental Theology of Karl Rahner 105 Divine Inspiration and Biblical Inspiration 109 A Concluding Comment 114 Notes 119 Bibliography 143 Index 151 Evangelical Theories of Biblical Inspiration This page intentionally left blank Introduction The past decade has seen an energetic resurgence of books and articles by Protestants on the subject of biblical inspiration. For many prior decades the topic lay dormant, a condition fostered by naivete and neglect from church "conservatives" and outright dismissal from church "liberals." The current renascence of interest in inspiration may thus be seen as a judgment by both wings of the church upon their former ways of treating the subject, a judgment which, like all honest reappraisals, carries with it the potential of significant advances in theological understanding. As such, there is reason enough to justify the effort. There exists, though, another and perhaps more positive reason why this subject deserves greater attention within the church. Father James T. Burtchaell notes in his Catholic Theories of Biblical Inspiration since 1810 that "the controversy over biblical inspiration is an excellent test case whereby to diagnose many of the ills that have weakened Catholic theology, especially since the Reformation. The real issue here is what confounds scholars in so many areas: the manner in which individual human events are jointly caused by both God and man." He then goes on to suggest that "today the most easily examined instance of divine-human responsibility is the Bible."' This diagnosis and suggested therapy is one with which I heartily agree, not just for Catholics but for Orthodox and Protestants as well. The topic of inspiration gives theologians the opportunity to conjoin many discrete fields of inquiry: theology proper (the doctrine of God), theological anthro- pology (Christian reflection upon human beings), biblical exegesis (the sci- ence of text criticism and hermeneutics), and ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church). Inspiration thus calls for specialists in each of these fields to expand their horizons to the others, for at this conjunction, as at few others, nearsightedness guarantees superficiality. 3 4 Evangelical Theories of Biblical Inspiration This book is written from within a particular segment of the church- American evangelicalism—although it is addressed to both those who would and those who would not choose to describe themselves as evangelicals. Thus we need to define evangelicalism, however briefly, in order to account for our selection of inspiration theorists. There are three broad criteria or principles which, in our opinion, constitute the meaning of evangelicalism. The first two are the traditional "formaland material principles" of Protestantism and are accepted by nearly all as constitutive of evangelicalism.2 The formal principle recognizes the critical priority of the Bible for all of Christian life and reflection; according to the ancient dictum, the Bible is the standard of last appeal (norma normans sed non normatd). Evangelicalism thus accepts the priority but not the exclusivity of the Bible in religious matters; the dictum does not claim that the Bible is the only guide, but simply that it is the ultimate guide, for the church. The material principle of Protestantism further specifies the first one by confessing that Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, God's sign of reconciliation with the world. Because Jesus appeared empirically to be like all other persons of his time, this confession concerning him is not a simple historical observation. Rather, it is a confession of faith; it is a confession that in Jesus the world has been reconciled to God and has thus been empowered to live a life which reflects both the freedom and the responsibility of living as a community of believers. The third principle of evangelicalism is less traditional than the first two. It is that evangelicalism is constitutively transdenominational or pluralistic in nature.