The use of the Bible in theology: Theology as a ‘lived experience’ of God

Dirk G Van Der Merwe

doi:10.4102/hts.v76i4.6200

Abstract

If the theme of this special edition can be reformulated as a question (what was and is the current use of the Bible in theology?), it would be challenging and very difficult to answer the question because of a diverse usage of the Bible throughout history and today, stretching in a continuum of both vertical and horizontal probabilities: vertically, theism vs. atheism and horizontally, worldliness vs. holiness. The objective of this essay is to argue for the incorporation of the ‘spiritualities’ of divine immanence and divine transcendence in the composition of theologies, facilitated by a comprehensive and multidimensional reading of the Bible and the acknowledgement of contributions from the sciences. In this research, the reasoning will address the following relevant aspects: (1) taking into account the epistemology of the ‘Bible’ and ‘Theology’; (2) the consideration of postmodernity, post-secularism and spirituality and (3) the composition of neo-theologies. Contribution: This article pleads that biblical analyses should play a more comprehensive and determinative role in the composition and formulation of theology, pointing more explicitly to the transcendence and immanence of God. The reading of such theologies then must create different lived experiences of the immanence and transcendence of God.

Highlights

What does the Bible say? This is undoubtedly not an easy question to be answered straightforwardly
The answer will always be influenced by another question, what is the Bible?1 In theological doctrine, a person’s perception of the origin and nature of the Bible play a fundamental role
We find the variety of translations and interpretations of the Bible and the many conflicting claims made on its behalf

Summary

Introduction

What does the Bible say? This is undoubtedly not an easy question to be answered straightforwardly. The variety of Bible translations and interpretations resulted in divergent theologies: Orthodox, Catholic, Reformed, Pentecostal, Lutheran, etc. Added to these assumptions the question, ‘how can we speak about a being who is beyond any method of verification?’ a being nobody has ever seen (Jn 1;18; 1 Jn 4:12).. Added to these assumptions the question, ‘how can we speak about a being who is beyond any method of verification?’ a being nobody has ever seen (Jn 1;18; 1 Jn 4:12).2 Related to all this is the struggle to make sense of the Bible as a document that was written over a time interval of some centuries, a few millennia ago. Vast differences exist between the Semitic and Hellenistic societies and cultures in which the Bible was written, in comparison with the postmodern Western technologically based world today (Johnson 2002:2)

Objectives

Conclusion