Biblical Authority or Biblical Tyranny?

What is scripture's relation to the believer? What kind of authority is "scriptural authority"? How do we gain access to that authority for guidance in our lives? Professor Countryman proposes that the scripture be understood as a word which prompts more questions that it answers, that in scripture God has not uttered the last word for us but the first, and that in scripture God has given us "a word designed to set us off on a pilgrimage in pursuit of that life that God has willed for us to have." Biblical Authority is ideal for teachers and students of scripture in the parish and in the classroom. The book discusses and uses various tools and styles of exegesis. Countryman becomes the articulator for the critical right, those Christians who profess the Bible s authority, disagree with the fundamentalist s view, but are often at a loss to express, explain, or defend their own convictions. Theology Today Countryman presents a lucid, patient, and direct approach to both a fundamentalist attachment to and a liberal detachment from the scepters. This book offers some common ground on a sensitive and volatile subject. Interpretation L. William Countryman is Professor of New Testament at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, CA, and the author of Good News of Jesus and The Language of Ordination, both published by Trinity Press International.