The Bible in a Disenchanted Age: The Enduring Possibility of Christian Faith (Theological Explorations for the Church Catholic)
Digital Logos Edition
In our increasingly disenchanted age, can we still regard the Bible as God’s Word? Why should we consider the Bible trustworthy and dare to believe what it says? In this creative, accessible, and provocative book, leading Old Testament theologian R. W. L. Moberly sets forth his case for regarding the Bible as unlike any other book (and the Bible’s Deity as unlike any other deity) by exploring the differences between the Bible and other ancient writings. He explains how and why it makes sense to turn to the Bible with the expectation of finding ultimate truth in it, offering a robust apology for faith in the God of the Bible that’s fully engaged with critical scholarship and compatible with modern knowledge.
The Theological Explorations for the Church Catholic series is published in conjunction with Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. Leading scholars in biblical studies and systematic theology from a variety of theological traditions offer brief, suggestive treatments of specific topics, exploring the cutting edge of their current interests and latest thinking for the benefit of the whole church.
- Offers a fresh account of the nature of the Bible
- Examines the differences between the Bible and other ancient writings
- Explores appropriate attitudes towards it and ways of reading it
- Posing the Problem
- Approaching the Bible
- Towards Privileged Perspectives
- Towards Trust and Truth
- Epilogue: Towards Biblical Literacy
‘You’re gonna have to serve somebody,’ Bob Dylan famously said. ‘You’re gonna have to trust somebody or something,’ Walter Moberly says. Or rather, you do trust somebody or something: your own ideas or what your culture says. So think—about the way you approach the Bible and about your attitude to the God of the Bible. Reading this book is a rich experience, as you follow Professor Moberly in thinking about what studying the Bible means and what faith means.
—John Goldingay, David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary
Walter Moberly’s lucidly written book candidly explores the difficulties that those who revere the Bible as Sacred Scripture face in our postmodern context, and he illuminates a path forward by creatively reframing the discussion. Moberly is to be praised for his probing analysis, his theological insight, and especially for the balanced and lively manner in which he engages the Bible’s cultured despisers.
—Joel S. Kaminsky, Morningstar Family Professor of Jewish Studies, Smith College
Once again, Walter Moberly has put us in his debt with his rare combination of an eye for exegetical detail and a mind to ask (and answer!) the largest and most searching questions about Scripture. Starting with a comparison of Virgil’s Aeneid and the book of Daniel, Moberly works outward toward a remarkably holistic vision of how the Bible can be a vehicle of faith in God in our disenchanted world--why one would ‘look here,’ at Scripture, and not somewhere else. Moberly ultimately counsels both wisdom and discernment, and consistently models those virtues at every turn. He makes a fresh and compelling case for Scripture as the ‘lively oracles of God,’ to be sure, but does yet still more by uniting the skill of a biblical scholar with the work of a true theologian of the church universal. This book made me want to be a better Christian.
—Brent A. Strawn, Duke Divinity School
- Title: The Bible in a Disenchanted Age: The Enduring Possibility of Christian Faith
- Author: R. W. L. Moberly
- Series: Theological Explorations for the Church Catholic
- Publisher: Baker
- Publication Date: 2018
- Pages: 240
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Theology
R. W. L. Moberly (PhD, University of Cambridge) is professor of theology and biblical interpretation at Durham University, where he has taught for more than thirty years. He is the author of eight books, including Old Testament Theology, The Theology of the Book of Genesis, and Prophecy and Discernment. He is also an ordained priest in the Church of England.