The Bible as Word of God
In a Postmodern Age
by Terence Fretheim and Karlfried Froehlich
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
Terence E. Fretheim is Professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota. His books include The Suffering of God: An Old Testament Perspective (Overtures to Biblical Theology: Fortress Press, (1984), The Message of Jonah: A Theological Commentary (previously published by Augsburg, 1977, now published by Wipf and Stock Publishers) , Exodus (Westminster/John Knox: 1991), The Pentateuch (Abingdon Press: 1996), About the Bible: Short answers to Big Questions (Augsburg: 1999); A Theological Introduction to the Old Testament (with B. Birch, W. Brueggemann, and David Petersen; Abingdon, 1999); Jeremiah (forthcoming from Smyth and Helwys, 2002).
Karlfried Froehlich is Benjamin B. Warfield Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Emeritus, at Princeton Theological Seminary. His publications include Understanding the New Testament (with H.C. Kee and F.W. Young, 1965 and 1973), Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church (Sources of Early Christian Thought Series; Fortress Press, 1984), and an edition of the Standard Glossed Bible of the Middle Ages (4 volumes, 1992).
How is the Bible authoritative in this postmodern age? In this exchange from the 1995 Hein/Fry Lectures Series, Fretheim and Froehlich mount important, though divergent, analyses of the contemporary situation regarding Scripture and suggest varying strategies to meet it.
What does it mean to say that Scripture has authority for Christian faith and life in light of contemporary forms of biblical criticism? How do we understand a biblical text to be the Word of God when the meaning of the text can vary, depending on the perspective of the reader/hearer? Given the profound hermeneutical challenges of our time, how does Scripture serve as a guide in worship, doctrine, preaching, and ethical decision-making for the people of God?
-From the Foreword