Table Of Content·CHRISTIAN FOUNDATIONS·
HOLY
SCRIPTURE
REVELATION, INSPIRATION
& INTERPRETATION
G.
DONALD BLOESCH
ISBN 0-85364-589-2
HOLY
SCRIPTURE
In dialogue with Martin Luther, John
Calvin, P. T. Forsyth, Karl Barth and Emil
Brunner, Donald Bloesch's Holy Scripture
examines the implications of biblical
authority for the twenty-first century. It
surveys the role of the Bible as seen
within the Bible itself and as that role has
unfolded through centuries of Christian
tradition. It also explains and critiques
many highly contested late-modern
issues, such as the value of biblical crit
icism, the meaning of myth, the plethora
of hermeneutical options and the nature
of truth.
CHRISTIAN FOUNDATIONS
Holy Scripture is the second volume of Donald
Bloesch's comprehensive seven-volume systematic
theology. Also available is the first volume in the
series, A Theology of Word & Spirit: Authority &
Method in Theology. Subsequent volumes will
examine the doctrine of God, the person and work
of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, the church and
the sacraments, and eschatology.
Besides contributing significantly to modern
evangelical theology, Christian Foundations will be
of value to reflective Christians who wonder what
an ancient faith has to say to perplexing new times.
It will be of special help to students who want to
hold to orthodoxy, but honestly engage contempo
rary thought.
Donald G. Bloesch is professor of theology
emeritus at Dubuque (Iowa) Theological
Seminary. He has written numerous books,
including Essentials of Evangelical Theology
The Future of Evangelical Christianity The
Struggle of Prayer and Freedom for Obe
dience. He holds the Ph.D. from the University
of Chicago and has done postdoctoral work at
the Universities of Oxford, TUbingen and
Basel. He is a past president of the Midwest
Division of the American Theological Society.
Critical acclaim for A Theology of Word & Spirit,
volume I of Christian Foundations:
Bloesch moves with erudite ease from Pannenberg to
Tillich to Tracy to Ellul to Dulles. If successor volumes
fulfill the promise, Christian Foundations will be an
admirable introduction to the Christian theological
situation at the edge of the Third Millennium.
First Things
A Theology of World and Spirit represents the cul
mination and maturation of over thirty-three years of
teaching ministry for one of the English-speaking
world's foremost evangelical theologians.
Covenant Quarterly
The Paternoster Press
PO Box 300. Carlisle
Cumbria CA3 OQS UK
IN HOLY SCRIPTURE DONALD BLOESCH SETS FORTH THE PIVOTAL
evangelical doctrines of the Bible's revelation, inspiration
and interpretation.
Wishing to "defend the orthodox evangelical faith from its
friends as well as its enemies," Bloesch provocatively argues
against evangelical rationalism and liberal experientialism.
Instead, he proposes the alternative of biblical evangelical
ism, which sees Scripture as the written Word of God but
stresses that it becomes the livingWord of God only through
the illumination of the Spirit.
Unfailingly irenic, Holy Scripture seeks to build bridges
between various warring parties of the church. Deeply
congruent with historical Christianity, yet boldly determined
to interpret it for our times, it makes an important and
edifying contribution to vexed contemporary debates over
biblical authority.
ISBN 0-85364-589-2
The Paternoster Press
g() Box 300, Carlisle 45894
'Cumbria CA3 OQS UK
f
God teaches through his Spirit
and through the letter that has been written
by the inspiration of his Spirit.
ULRICH ZWINGLI
Without the Scripture,
which has only Jesus Christ as its object,
we know nothing, and see only darkness
and confusion in the nature of God
and in nature herself.
BLAISE PASCAL
The gospel of God's historic act of grace
is the infallible power and authority
over both church and Bible.
It produced them both.
P. T. FORSYTH
When I am asked ... which of these articles
of the Evangelical faith I am prepared to part with
at the instance o( modern thought,
and in the interests of a re-constructed theology,
I answer, with fullest confidence:
None of them.
JAMES ORR
Orthodoxy is a knife-edge, a narrow path,
a via media: a position hard to maintain,
a path difficult to follow, a way easy to get wrong.
KENNETH LEECH
Other books by Donald G. Bloesch
CENTERS OF CHRISTIAN RENEWAL
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AND SALVATION
THE CRISIS OF PIETY
THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS IN A SECULAR AGE
CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY EAST AND WEST (coauthor)
THE REFORM OF THE CHURCH
THE GROUND OF CERTAINTY
SERVANTS OF CHRIST (editor)
THE EVANGELICAL RENAISSANCE
WELLSPRINGS OF RENEWAL
LIGHT A FIRE
THE INVADED CHURCH
JESUS IS VICTOR! KARL BARTH'S DOCTRINE OF SALVATION
THE ORTHODOX EVANGELICALS (coeditor)
ESSENTIALS OF EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY, VOL. I: GOD, AUTHORITY, AND SALVATION
ESSENTIALS OF EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY, VOL. 2: LIFE, MINISTRY, AND HOPE
THE STRUGGLE OF PRAYER
FAITH AND ITS COUNTERFEITS
IS THE BIBLE SEXIST?
THE FUTURE OF EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY
CRUMBLING FOUNDATIONS
THE BATTLE FOR THE TRINITY
A HERMENEUTICS OF ULTIMACY: PERIL OR PROMISE? (coauthor)
FREEDOM FOR OBEDIENCE
THEOLOGICAL NOTEBOOK VOL. I
THEOLOGICAL NOTEBOOK VOL. 2
A THEOLOGY OF WORD & SPIRIT
·CHRISTIAN FOUNDATIONS·
HOLY
SCRIPTURE
REVELATION, INSPIRATION
& INTERPRETATION
G.
DONALD BLOESCH
The Paternoster Press
Carlisle
e I994 by Donald G. Bloesch
All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission
/Tom InterVarsiQt Press, P.O. Box I400, Downers Grove, 0/inois 60S IS.
The British edition published by permission /Tom the U.S. publisher above.
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 the publisher or a license permitting restricted copying.
Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the Revised Standard Version oft he Bible,
copyright I946, I9S2, I971 by the Division of Christian Education oft he National Council oft he
Churches of Christ in the U.SA., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
Cover illustration: Guy Wolek
ISBN 0-8S364-S89-2
Printed in the United States ofA merica
British Ubrary Qltaloguing-in-Publication Data
Bloesch, Donald G.
Holy Scripture: Revelation, Inspiration
and Interpretation. - (Christian
Foundations Series; Vol. 2)
l Title Il Series
230
ISBN D-8S364-S89-2
17 I6 IS I4 I3 I2 II /0 9 8 7 6 s 4 3 2 I
08 07 06 OS 04 03 02 OJ 00 99 98 97 96 9S 94
Dedicated to my mother,
Adele Bloesch,
and to the memory ofm y father,
Herbert Paul Bloesch
